PowerPoint

Picture Effects in PowerPoint’s New AI Powered Edit Picture

In our last post, we looked at how PowerPoint’s new AI powered Photo Editor can help fix a photo with a variety of tools. This time, we’ll cover the last photo editor tool in the tool bar, which is called “Effects.” These are styling effects, and currently, there are 5 different picture effects:  

  1. Glass 
  2. Border 
  3. Sphere 
  4. Pixel 
  5. Glitch 

To get to this menu, you simply click the Picture Format tab and then click Edit Picture to pull up the interface.  Now, we can start editing pictures!

You will see the effects tab all the way to the right. Clicking this will bring up the menu with those 5 picture effects.  

Glass creates a sort of frosted glass effect on your picture, and you can adjust how much of the picture uses the effect, and also change the style of the glass texture.  

Border removes the background of the image, and then applies 2 borders to the image, an inner white border, and then another border that can be any color of your choosing.  

Sphere is sort of a unique effect, like Border, it removes the background, but this one adds a glowing sphere in the background, and subtle highlights to the subject that match whichever color you choose.  

Pixel simply applies a pixelization effect to your photo, and you can adjust the area being affected, as well as the intensity of the pixels. The left side of the slider will create smaller pixels, while sliding it to the right will create larger pixels. 

Glitch is a pretty cool effect that applies a glitchy look to the photo, and once again, this one has an intensity slider to adjust how pronounced the effect is.  

The picture effects panel in the new Image Editor is a bit limited, but it can help make images more interesting, and you can even combine tools to push the image even further. Here’s an example using the background remover tool, glitch effect, and text effects all in one: 

The new AI Image Editor toolbox in PowerPoint has introduced some genuinely useful creative tools right out of the box. While it won’t replace professional photo editing software (e.g. Photoshop, Figma, Affinity, etc.) for heavy lifting, it’s perfect for giving your slides a modern edge without the hassle of switching apps. It will be interesting to see where Microsoft takes this in the future, but for now, it’s a solid upgrade to our daily workflow!

-The TLC Creative Services design team 

By |2026-02-06T12:42:47-08:00February 10th, 2026|PowerPoint, Software/Add-Ins|

PowerPoint’s New AI Powered Edit Picture

We’ve all been there. You’re building a PowerPoint deck, and you find a GREAT image to complement the talking point… but it’s not quite perfect. Maybe there’s a random stranger walking through the background of your team photo. Or perhaps the image could use a touch-up to make it pop more. In the past, stopping for edits like this meant pausing your workflow entirely to head over to your photo editing app of choice.  

If you have Adobe Creative Cloud, this means launching Photoshop and opening the same image separately and then proceeding with the editing yourself. Time-consuming tasks such as removing a background or adjusting the brightness, contrast, etc., are certainly a friction point that forces you out of your presentation mindset.  

But with this new update, Microsoft has just changed that workflow! Powerful AI photo editor tools are now baked directly into PowerPoint’s ribbon. You get decent editing capabilities without ever having to leave the PowerPoint application.  

Here is a high-level look at the new “Edit Picture” interface and what these tools can do. And before you read any further, no, the new Edit Picture tool does not have the ability to expand the background of a photo. ☹️

Accessing the new editor is in a slightly different spot on the Picture Format tab. Once you insert a photo (for this example, we just used Microsoft’s stock library), click the Picture Format tab and then select “Edit Picture” way over there on the left: 

This will open up the new interface as PowerPoint shifts into a focused photo editor mode, with a dedicated AI toolbar at the top. 

We’ll walk through a few of the editing options starting with Add Text: This will add custom text with a variety of different effects.  

Erase: You can use a quick selection or manually brush an area of the photo you’d like to erase. This isn’t the best example of a photo to use for this tool, but here’s a look: 

Move: This feature allows you to select a part of the image using the same auto selection or brush tool and then move that to another part of the image area (great for adding space for copy!) 

Upscale: Using this feature requires a fairly low-resolution image (most stock images, including the library within PowerPoint, are already very high resolution). For the sake of this walkthrough, I’ve downsized the resolution of our sample image here so that the upscale feature can be used. The photo editor will use AI to upscale the image to a higher resolution with no pixelation. You’ll notice it shows you a “before and after” slider so that you can see the changes: 

Remove Background: This will auto-select the background and remove it, like the old Remove Background feature that’s been in PowerPoint for quite some time, but AI-powered (and a lot less clunky).  

Auto Enhance: Using this will do an automatic photo touch-up. However, for better or worse, there are no customization settings, just one click, and it’ll enhance the image. This feature also uses the before and after slider so that you can see what was changed.  

Effects: These are special effects that we’ll be going into more detail in a future blog post.  

Now you might be thinking this is all powered by Microsoft’s flagship AI, Copilot. Technically, it’s not. While Copilot acts more as a “Project Manager” within the Office ecosystem, the Edit Picture feature is actually a two-part system: 

  1. Computer Vision: To “see” the image and separate the subject from the background – this is part of the larger Microsoft Azure toolbox.  
  2. Generative AI (DALL-E 3): To draw new pixels when you erase or move objects.  

Ultimately, this update isn’t just about cool AI photo editing tricks. You can think of it more as maintaining your workflow momentum. Every time you must minimize PowerPoint to open another app, it can make you lose focus. By bringing these image editor tools directly into the ribbon makes it easier to stay in the flow. Of course, these tools won’t replace the touch of a professional graphic designer, but for quick image fixes and touch-ups, they can really help keep you in the zone. 

-The TLC Creative Services design team

By |2026-02-05T11:38:36-08:00February 5th, 2026|PowerPoint|

The Take-Home Slide

At a recent conference, one presenter did something that immediately caught my attention – and apparently everyone else’s too! You know how most talks end with a “Take-Home” slide? It’s that tidy little 2-4 bullet point summary that tells you, “Here’s what you should remember, even if you forgot everything else.” It’s usually labeled something like Summary, Key Takeaways, or In Closing, and it usually shows up near the end of the slide deck – when everyone is already thinking about lunch. 

But this presenter? They put the Take-Home slide as slide #2. Right after the title. No warm-up. No agenda slide. No rambling intro. Just – bam! – “Here’s what you’re going to walk away with.” 

And honestly? The audience loved it. 

Most presentations have an Agenda, Roadmap, Outline, Table of Contents, or Navigation slide to cover the structure of their talk. It’s familiar, it’s expected, and it gets the job done. But leading with a Take-Home slide does something a little different: it sets expectations, not just structure. Instead of saying, “Here’s what we’ll talk about,” it says, “Here’s what you’ll get from listening.” 

It reframes the whole presentation from a content list to a value promise. 

And that tiny shift, from outlining the journey to highlighting the destination, changes how the audience pays attention. They know exactly why it matters, right from the start. 

Just another idea for the next presentation you are designing. 😊 

-Troy and the TLC Creative Services Presentation Design Team 

By |2026-01-09T10:55:52-08:00January 29th, 2026|PowerPoint|

Hack PowerPoint Transitions for a Great Effect!

When using dynamic PowerPoint transitions there is a hack to giving the transition a custom middle color! For example, on this Reveal transition below, we see the slide background during the transition effect. It’s black or white by default, according to the Background Style of the master slide assigned. In this example the slide background is set to white, which is the mid-transition color we see.

However, there is a transition hack for PowerPoint’s dynamic transitions – the background color in the middle of the transition can be customized! To confirm, this is dependent on which transition is in use, and it will not work with all transitions (see transition types below). 

For example, the Reveal transition above uses the CURRENT slide background color, which is white, as part of the transition. By default, this is the Background Style assigned to that Master slide (almost always white or black).   

TIP: Use caution when changing Background Styles! Changing a Background Style has a lot of tangent updates that can change slide content. 

SET THE SLIDE BACKGROUND COLOR  

For example, create 2 slides, and set the first slide to a blue background and the second slide to an orange background. This must be the true slide background setting – it will not work if you add a blue or orange box to the slide – the background must be set via Format Background > Solid Color. 

To set the slide background color, click on the Design tab and then the Format Background button to the right of the toolbar (or simply right-click off the slide and select Format Background).  

With the SOLID FILL button selected, click on COLOR to change to blue for the first slide and orange for the second slide of the presentation.  

Now the Reveal transition has a subtle fade from blue to orange, which is like getting a bonus, custom visual effect! 

However, the slide backgrounds are only going to be seen during the transition effect. To demonstrate this, let’s add our full slide images from the first example to our blue and orange slides (an image on each slide that “covers” the assigned color background). 

The result: instead of the slides flashing to white during the transition, there is now a blue-to-orange color shift during the slide transition! 

MORE OPTIONS 

In addition to setting the background with a solid color, other options are supported, like gradients, and image backgrounds – if they are true embedded background images set in the Format Background dialog.  

As an example, here the same Reveal transition is used. In the first slide, the background is the default black background. The second slide has a background image of colorful glitter. The Reveal transition adds the colorful glitter image as part of the transition! 

THIS DOES NOT WORK EVERYWHERE 

Unfortunately, this transition hack doesn’t work on all transitions. Transitions indicated below with a (✓) use the slide background color as part of the transition effect, and the color can be modified as we described above. The transitions, noted with an (x) use a black between color – that cannot be changed. And the transitions without a symbol do not have a “between color” for the transition. 

Enjoy these PowerPoint transition hacks to further customize your presentations! 

-The TLC Creative Services design team 

By |2026-01-09T10:54:48-08:00January 27th, 2026|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

App Default Fonts

Fonts are critical! Well… words are more critical, but because words are displayed using fonts, that makes fonts critical. Of course, over the course of each year, working with literally thousands of presentations created by thousands of different authors, I can confidently say that fonts are one of the pain points of working with presentations. It is not uncommon to encounter various font issues due to the diversity of presentation authors, their work environment (e.g., app and device), and their font choices. Managing these differences can be challenging, as presentations are often shared across multiple devices, platforms, and even presentation applications, each with its own default font and font availability. 

Ever wonder what the absolute default font is for an application? For example, when you open the app and create a new presentation from scratch…what font is waiting for you to start working with?  

Well, here is some helpful information for everyone who works with presentations – a list of the default fonts for these presentation applications. 

Default Fonts by Application 


PowerPoint Desktop/Web/Mac: Aptos 

Aptos is a Microsoft font and will automatically install on all devices and operating systems (Windows, Mac, Android, desktop, tablet, or mobile device). The only caveat is if, by chance, Aptos is not currently installed on the device, then the device will need to be online when the presentation opens for the auto-installation to happen. 

 

Apple Keynote: SF Pro 

SF Pro is a Mac OS system font. It is automatically available on all Apple devices running Mac OS (desktop, tablet, phone). But note, this font cannot be installed on non-Mac OS devices (e.g., convert a Keynote presentation to PowerPoint, open that PowerPoint file on a Windows computer, and the SF Pro font is not going to work! PowerPoint will randomly assign a replacement font, which may or may not maintain the text alignment). 

 

Figma: Inter 

Inter is a Google font and will automatically install on all devices and operating systems (Windows, Mac, Android, desktop, tablet, or mobile device) when used in many programs. Note: PowerPoint is not one of these applications that trigger Inter to automatically download and install. But if using PowerPoint on Windows desktop or Mac desktop (where custom fonts can be installed), Inter can be downloaded from Google Fonts and installed on the device (tip: install the OTF version of the font, not the variable font, .VTF).   

 

Canva: Canva Sans 

Canva Sans is native to Canva and is the default font when no other Canva template is applied. Canva Sans will not automatically be installed if a presentation created in Canva is downloaded and opened in a different application. Canva Sans can be downloaded from third-party sites for use outside of Canva.  

 

Google Slides: Arial 

Arial, used by Google Slides, is a Google Font, and will automatically install on all devices and operating systems (Windows, Mac, Android, desktop, tablet, or mobile device) when used in many programs. PowerPoint will automatically use the Microsoft version of Arial for seamless use. 

 

Beautiful AI: no specific default font 

Beautiful.ai takes a different approach to fonts with no true default font. When creating a presentation, the user selects a presentation style that sets the font (which becomes the default font for that presentation). Beautiful.ai leverages Google fonts, so they will automatically download and install on all devices and operating systems (Windows, Mac, Android, desktop, tablet, or mobile device) when used in many programs. Note: PowerPoint will not automatically download and install Google fonts, but PowerPoint on Windows desktop and Mac desktop (where custom fonts can be installed), allows Google fonts to be downloaded and installed on the device (tip: install the OTF version of the font, not the variable font, .VTF). 

 

Gemini (AI-created presentation): no specific default font 

Gemini also does not have a designated default font; rather, based on the presentation options, a font is selected, and that font becomes the default font for that presentation. All Gemini presentations leverage Google fonts, so they will automatically download and install on all devices and operating systems (Windows, Mac, Android, desktop, tablet, or mobile device) when used in many programs. Same note: PowerPoint will not automatically download and install Google fonts, but PowerPoint on Windows desktop and Mac desktop (where custom fonts can be installed), allow Google fonts to be downloaded and installed on the device (tip: install the OTF version of the font, not the variable font, .VTF). 

 

Adobe Express: Source Sans (when no template with fonts specified is applied) 

Source Sans is the default font in Adobe Express when no template (which specifies a font) is applied. Source Sans is an Adobe Font and will automatically load for Adobe apps, including PDFs. While Adobe Cloud fonts cannot be downloaded, they can be installed on any device through the Creative Cloud app, and other applications, like PowerPoint, will recognize and use those fonts. 

 

Now you know 😊. 

-The TLC Creative Design Team 

By |2026-02-02T15:35:56-08:00January 8th, 2026|PowerPoint|

A Look Back at Using PowerPoint’s Picture Fill for Dynamic Slide Design

Two years ago, we wrote a blog post about one of PowerPoint’s most underutilized features: the PICTURE FILL option. 

This option, with creative use, can take a presentation slide from good to GREAT! So, let’s revisit how to take stock vector art (such as .svg) and make it dynamic using PowerPoint’s Picture Fill. 

First, is adding a nice Christmas tree .svg graphic that is appropriately themed for this time of year. 

 

COLOR FILL 

Obviously, we can use the paint bucket to change the color of the tree, but a step further is to use PowerPoint’s gradient fill option. 

A gradient fill (left tree image) is a bit more stylized than solid green (middle tree image). 

 

But maybe hold off using the pattern fill options for this example (right tree). 

Just as a note: if you’re doing a pattern fill, the pattern colors and the background color can both be customized – but still, let’s hold off on using the pattern fill for this slide! 

PICTURE FILL 

And while these are all nice options, we can get an even more realistic result if we use the Picture Fill option! To use this option, select your vector art on the slide > open the FORMAT SHAPE dialog > then select PICTURE OR TEXTURE FILL > then locate the photo image you want to use within your computer. 

Here’s a tip! If you don’t want to go through the above rigamarole, you can also CTRL + C the photo image you’d like to use, and then simply click on your vector image and paste the photo into your vector art! 

You’ll also notice that the inserted image is distorted to fit into the size of the vector art (the tree). You can adjust the distortion and size by using PowerPoint’s CROP tool. 

First, select the tree > click the CROP tool > adjust the width of the fill image with its size/shape points. This, of course, applies to vector art of any shape or size! 

And here is the final slide from our December 21, 2023 blog post – polished vector art and all design created directly in PowerPoint. Download this slide to use in your own presentations here! 

-Troy @ TLC (with special thanks to Christie for this design example, created 2 years ago!) 

By |2026-01-09T10:58:28-08:00December 26th, 2025|PowerPoint, The PowerPoint® Blog, Tutorial|

Add a “Traffic Light” Timer to Speaker Notes Slides!

Speaker Notes have been part of PowerPoint for a loooong time. As a result, we’ve experienced many of the formatting, display, and export limitations that Speaker Notes has – usually during one of the many corporate event projects we handle.

However, limitations aside, Speaker Notes are definitely something in our standard workflow! Whether they be from a teleprompt system, using PowerPoint’s Presenter View, or separate “Notes Slides” (which is what we are going to talk about today), Speaker Notes are a must-use for us.

Notes Slides 

Lately, we have been asked more often to develop and manage “Notes Slides”.  First, let’s describe and define what “Notes Slides” are, as they are a hack to presenting with PowerPoint (the same can be done with Keynote or Google Slides). These are slides that have notes for a presenter to reference, but are not shown to the audience

The idea is simple: for every presentation slide, create a parallel slide that has the presenter notes. We are not using a teleprompt system (though always our preference for stage presentations!), and we are not using Presenter View. 

For example, on the left is the presentation of 10 slides. On the right is a matched set of 10 “Notes” slides, one notes slide for each presentation slide (and click-for-click aligned to any animations that may be used on the presentation slides, but that’s for another day). 

This example is based on a live event with at least 2 confidence monitors, viewable by the presenter from the stage. One confidence monitor shows the slide the audience sees on the screens, and the other confidence monitor shows the “Notes Slide” associated with that audience slide. 

Presentation Pace and Timing 

Another ask from presenters is to add timestamp notes or other indicators so they can target their pace for specific slides or pace their overall presentation. This is something we can easily do with Notes Slides (hint to Microsoft: this would be another good widget to add to Presenter View!). 

Traffic Light and Traffic Bar 

A novel and visual solution is to add an animated “traffic light” to each Notes Slides. The idea is that when the traffic light is green, the presenter is on pace and has time for the slide. When it is yellow, the presenter knows they need to wrap up that slide’s content. And when it shows red, it is time for the presenter to go to the next slide. 

Here is one way the TLC Creative design team implements a “traffic light bar” in Notes Slides. We basically add a thin, animated PowerPoint rectangle with a gradient from green to yellow to red, positioned either along the top of the slide, the bottom of the slide, or vertically top-to-bottom on the side. 

When used in a slideshow, it works just like a stoplight going from green to yellow to red. When animated with the “Wipe” animation, each bar is preset to finish animating at the allotted time for each slide. So, as you click on the Notes Slide, you see green – which means you are on track! When yellow appears, it is a reminder to wrap up. Red signals that it is time to move on to the next slide.  

One key benefit is that the traffic light bar timing can be adjusted for each slide. The above example is a 10-second timer: green for the first 7 seconds; yellow from 8-9 seconds; red for the last half-second.  

The goal is to make this visual simple and intuitive for presenters to monitor their pacing on each slide – the animating colors are easier to visually process than looking at an actual timer.  

The result is less stress on stage, smoother timing, and audiences get the full story without the show running long. This is a small production trick that makes a big difference in live events and is quickly becoming a favorite among the executive teams we work with.  

Create Your Own Traffic Light Bar 

Creating a “traffic light” bar is simple: 

  • Add a thin PowerPoint rectangle  
  • Size it to fit across the top or bottom of the slide 
  • The goal is to be thin so it does not interfere with the notes, but is clearly visible as well 
  • Fill the thin rectangle with a gradient 
  • Right-click the shape  
  • Select Format Shape  
  • Go to Shape Options 
  • Go to Fill 
  • Select Gradient Fill 
  • Add gradient stops for the green, yellow, and red sections, keeping the yellow section at the 80-95% area and the red at the very end.

Animate the Traffic Light Bar 

  • With the shape selected 
  • Go to the Animations tab  
  • Choose Wipe, and in the Effect Options, set to Direction from the From Left   

  • Set the animation to start With Previous 
  • Update the animation duration to match the determined speaking time for that slide. For our example further above, the wipe animation duration is 10 seconds.  

TIP: Adjust the yellow and red gradient stop positions to adjust when each traffic light color displays.  

Happy Presenting 

With Notes Slides and a traffic light bar working together, presenters know what to say and exactly how long they have to say it. The setup is quick and easy, and the payoff is a presentation that flows smoothly, stays on time, and delivers a stronger experience for the audience. 

-Jake & the TLC Creative design team 

By |2025-12-12T11:28:26-08:00December 22nd, 2025|PowerPoint, Tutorial|

A Look Back to Amazing PowerPoint Animations in this Holiday-Themed Post from 2017!

It wouldn’t be the holidays at the TLC Creative studio without holiday themed PowerPoint animations from the design team! 

As part of our Look Back series, where we revisit blog posts from the past, this Friday we are looking back at our fun Christmas animation collection from  from 2017 – eight years ago! Everyone on the team made their own animation, and then we compiled the slides and exported them as a video. Enjoy – again! 

Happy Holidays from all of us at TLC Creative Services! 

By |2026-01-09T10:59:53-08:00December 19th, 2025|PowerPoint|
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