Software/Add-Ins

Presentations are very visual, and sometimes PowerPoint’s internal tools are not up to the job of creating all design elements for a professional presentation slide design. I am continuing our Adobe Express series looking at how it can help presentation design with techniques such as removing the background from a photo, designing stylized text or creating videos. These can be done within PowerPoint, but its internal tools are often not able to provide polished and professional results. Adobe Express adds a next level quality to these image needs.

Adobe Express is a free, online platform which provides a new option that is a straightforward, user-friendly approach to photo and video editing. It has an amazing Remove Background feature for images that is incredibly easy to use, and an immediate fit for presentation design needs.

Many times at TLC Creative, we use photos that need to be masked and the background elements removed. We sometimes will use the Remove Background tool within PowerPoint – sometimes… Our general go-to process is pulling the image into Photoshop and either manually clip and mask with a pen tool (still a great design skill!) or utilize Photoshop’s Generative AI to isolate the subject and remove the background. The image is then cropped to the visible pixels, exported as a PNG, then imported into PowerPoint.

The background removal tool in Adobe Express uses the same AI-powered technology to automatically detect and separate the subject from the background in an image. It has fewer adjustments and tools over Photoshop, but the results are fast and quite literally amazing. Plus, it is web-based, so there is no software to install. This is ideal for masking profile pictures or product shots without the need for advanced editing skills.

In this example, you can see the original, and how PowerPoint’s remove background vs. Adobe Express’s remove background perform. Of special note is the curly, feathered hair. PowerPoint’s remove background tool is just not up to the task, even with lots of fine tuning on the removed parts. The Adobe Express image, completed in 1-click is presentation ready. The only downside is the extra steps and work outside of PowerPoint.

Now let’s take a look at the Adobe Express interface and how to use the Remove Background feature. There are two ways to do this:

Option 1: Modify an Existing Photo on Your Computer

1. From the web-based app home page.
   
2. Under More ways to start section, click the Remove background
   
3. In the new screen click the BROWSE button or drag and drop an image.
   
4. That’s it – done! Here is the original image:
   
5. And Adobe Express’s background removed:
   
6. Two notes:
   1. This option does not allow you to select from stock photos or the cloud.
   2. The image must be a JPEG, JPG or PNG, and under 40MB in size.
7. DOWNLOAD as a .PNG with transparent background,
8. Or before downloading, use the options to add a colored or patterned background,
9. Last, Adobe Express does have an online image editor with more advanced features, click the OPEN IN EDITOR

Option 2: Modify a Photo from Adobe Stock

Before demonstrating this option, it is important to know that Adobe has Adobe Stock. Adobe Stock is a paid service with literally millions of royalty free photos, illustrations, videos and music assets (TLC Creative has selected Adobe Stock as the resource for our design team). But for this blog post, the key bit of information is that Adobe Express, which is free to use, provides access to what they list as “over 1 million royalty-free photos”!!

TIP: this is a great, free, photo resource for presentation design!

1. From the Adobe Express home page, in the upper right corner, click the big blue plus buttons.
   
2. This opens the GET STARTED screen, which in other areas of the app is labelled as starting an “image from scratch.”
   
3. For slides, click the LANDSCAPE aspect ratio button.
   1. TIP: Adobe Express has dozens of options. From the basic square, landscape and portrait modes to the pre-set sizes of all major social media, video and print media needs.
4. Choose the Media option on the left column tool bar.
   
   1. There is an UPLOAD FROM DEVICE button, which is the same process as Option 1, just a longer way of getting there.
   2. The GENERATE IMAGE is Adobe’s AI that creates images from text prompts (the same engine is available on Adobe Stock, and it creates some really great images – but it is free here!).
   3. Below that is where you can search the Adobe Stock images available through Adobe Express. Use the SEARCH bar or the categories.
5. Find a desired photo, click on it and Express will automatically add onto the editing canvas.
   
6. Click the Remove background button and it’s gone. In the example below, we purposely have chosen a subject with a busy background to show the capabilities. Notice the thin strands of hair that remain.
   
7. Change the canvas background to none. This will ensure a transparent background when exporting.
   
8. Click Download and choose the PNG option. One thing to note, because we chose a template size of 1920px x 1080px (16:9), the new image will export at that size. Not the size of the edited photo. Adobe Express does have a crop tool, however it will only crop the photo on its layer. It does not crop the entire canvas size.
9. Insert the new image into a PowerPoint file or set as background so the image fills page.

The new offering from Adobe, Adobe Express, is separate from Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions, so it can be a standalone set of design tools or used in conjunction with an Adobe CC subscription. These are just a few of the photo editing and design tools that work for presentation design where images are needed. Explore the Adobe Express offering here.

Mike @ TLC Creative

What is Adobe Express? Formerly known as Adobe Spark, is a user-friendly tool that lets you create professional-looking social media posts, flyers, videos, and more in just a few clicks. Whether you’re running a small business, managing your personal brand, or just love pretty visuals, Adobe Express might just become your new best friend.

At its core, Adobe Express is a simplified web-based design tool. Think of it as Adobe Photoshop’s cooler, less intimidating cousin. You don’t need advanced skills to create polished content; Adobe Express provides an extensive library of templates, fonts, colors, and even royalty-free stock photos to make your designs look like they were created by a pro.

It’s perfect for creating Instagram posts, YouTube thumbnails, or even business cards—basically, if it needs to look good and you need it done fast, this is the tool. It also can be helpful to presentation designers, which is the focus of the next 2 posts.

HOW MUCH DOES ADOBE EXPRESS COST

Here’s the good news, Adobe Express offers a free plan! It includes access to many templates, fonts, and basic design tools.

The more advanced features require a paid premium plan, ~$100 annually. It is also collaboration focused and offers “team” plans, that are lower pricing, ~$50-80 annually per team member. But the most exciting offering is if you already subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud, chances are you already have access to the premium version as part of your CC subscription!

WHAT ARE THE PREMIUM TOOLS

The free version is great, but the premium tools really make Adobe Express shine:

• Remove Backgrounds: A click is all it takes to remove the background from an image. No need to fiddle with a million settings.
• Resizing Magic: Want to turn an Instagram post into a Pinterest pin? The premium version resizes your design for different platforms in seconds.
• Exclusive Templates & Fonts: More options mean less time spent tweaking designs.
• Brand Kit: Save your logos, colors, and fonts to keep your branding consistent across all designs.
• Access to Adobe Stock: Get premium stock images and graphics baked right into the platform.

DO I NEED TO INSTALL ANYTHING

Nope! Adobe Express is web-based, so you can use it directly from your browser without installing anything. Adobe Express is available for Windows, Mac, iPad, and smartphones (both iOS and Android). It’s basically wherever you need it to be.

The mobile version is especially handy if you’re managing social media on the go. It syncs with your Adobe account, so you can start a design on your computer and finish it on your phone or vice versa.

WHAT POWERS ADOBE EXPRESS FEATURES

Adobe Express is powered by Adobe’s AI technology, including Firefly. Just Adobe Photoshop, Firefly in Adobe Express can generate images from text prompts. This AI generated tool can assist with automatically removing the background or automatically resizing the layout for every social channel.

WHAT POWERS ADOBE EXPRESS FEATURES

Adobe Express is perfect for anyone who wants to create beautiful content without spending hours learning complicated software. As a team of professional presentation designers, we can see Adobe Express being part of a presentation design workflow.

Now that we have an overview and introduction to Adobe’s newest offering, Adobe Express, in the next few posts we are going to focus on using it to create presentation ready images.

Techsmith’s Snagit app is a must-have at TLC Creative. Literally everyone from the design team, to IT manager, to Project Coordinator and Accounting department – everyone has Snagit installed on their computer and uses it daily (note: TLC Creative maintains an Enterprise license for Snagit. It is a great value – and no sponsorship to endorse it!). 

One of the go to features is Snagit’s ability to capture documents or webpages that are longer, or wider, than your screen. Start an image capture, scroll as long as needed, and Snagit creates a super long, or super wide, image! For many years the access has been a series of click; expand the task bar, right-click the Snagit icon, go to Presets, and select SCROLLING CAPTURE. (TIP: on my computer setup I added a custom hotkey in the Snagit app and created a button on my Stream Deck to launch that hotkey, making it nearly instantaneous to start a Snagit Panoramic Capture) 

TIP: long images, like webpages or apps, are great to use on PowerPoint slides and animate under an image of a computer screen or mobile phone! 

TIP: capture extra wide Excel documents using this feature! 

Well, Snagit at some point in the past year eliminated the need for something like my Stream Deck hotkey by adding Panoramic Capture as a button directly on its capture bar! 

Christie on the TLC Creative design team takes us through how to get this new shortcut. And demonstrates how to use it. 

In order to use this new feature, Snagit must be updated to Version 2024.2.4, or higher. 

Updated Capture Dialogue Box: 

• Capture an image with Snagit by using the PRINT SCREEN button on your keyboard 

• A new dialogue box will appear with several capture options 

• 1. Image, 2. Video, and the new 3. Panoramic ratio, then info about the pixel size of the capture, reset and close options. 

• What we are excited about is the “new” Panoramic Capture button on the Snagit dialog. 

TIP: the pixel width and height, and position, of the capture can still be adjusted before the capture type is selected.  

• Click the PANORAMIC CAPTURE button and choose to scroll down vertically or horizontally to the right. 

• When all of the content is added to the small Snagit capture thumbnail, click DONE.  

• Depending on how big the capture is, a progression bar with cute clipart and phrase tells you how things are going for the image to process. 

• When processing is complete the Snagit editor opens showing the image. 

• Modify the image here (crop, add callouts, merge with other images, etc. – Snagit is powerful and full of useful editing tools). 

• Here is my example vertical panoramic capture of the TLC Creative website – as one long image. The capture process took around 25 seconds to create this image – and no needing to manually stitch separate captures together!  

PowerPoint has a wonderful eye dropper tool to update a shape fill, outline, shadow, etc. to any color on the slide. Outside PowerPoint, the TLC Creative team has a small Windows app installed on every computer – Instant Eyedropper.

Instant Eyedropper is a FREE color detection tool. Instant Eyedropper is an installed app, and Windows OS only. To use: click the Instant Eyedropper icon, move the mouse to spotlight the color needed, and click. The color value is added to the clipboard. This color eyedropper is an app that does 1 thing and does it well.

There are numerous supported color formats; RGB, Hex, HTML, HSL, and others. Our team preference is between RGB, like what the eyedropper in Paint and PowerPoint uses, and HTML. To get started, click the icon in the taskbar.

The cursor becomes a target (A), displays the color to be picked up (B), and the color value that will be copied (C).

Click and done, the color value is copied to the clipboard. The cursor then reverts back to a regular cursor. Paste the color value into any project notes or app as needed.

Instant Eyedropper is free to download from their website: http://instant-eyedropper.com/

If you’re frequently working with large files, especially images and presentations like the TLC Creative design team does every day, you might already be familiar with the pain point of dealing with oversized files. WeCompress is an online app designed to alleviate this problem by compressing a wide variety of file types — whether you want to compress PDFs, PowerPoint Presentations, Word documents, or images.

At its core, WeCompress is essentially a free, web-based version of the popular NXPowerLite desktop application. Developed by the same team at Neuxpower (who makes NXPowerlite), WeCompress allows users to upload and compress files without the need for installation, account or subscription. This makes it incredibly convenient for anyone who needs quick, on-the-go file compression, especially for presentations or documents that exceed email attachment limits.

One thing to keep in mind when using WeCompress, especially for images, is that it doesn’t save your files into different formats. For instance, if you’re working with a TIFF image that you’d like to use in a presentation, you want to convert it to an optimized PNG. But that’s not how WeCompress works. Instead, it will compress the file while keeping its original format intact. So, if format conversion is part of your workflow, you’ll need to use a different tool.

TIP: there is a file size limit. WeCompress will allow files up to 50MB.

TIP/or maybe this is a Public Service Announcement (PSA): the wecompress website contains A LOT of sponsor ads – everywhere on it. While these ads help keep the service free, they can be distracting or misleading, so be cautious about what you click on. Stick to the main functionality of the site, and you’ll be good.

The TLC Creative design team has the desktop version, NXPowerlite, on all design computers. NXPowerlite allows for larger file sizes (ugh, 2GB + presentations!), batch compressing of multiple files, and more advanced features like custom profiles.

Let’s walk through a demo of how to compress a file using WeCompress.com:

1. On https://www.wecompress.com/, upload a file for compression by either dragging the file to the upload area or clicking the purple + icon in the middle of the screen.
   
2. Select a file for optimization, then click OPEN.
   
3. The file uploads (FAQ says it is a temp file and not stored after file compression completes)
   
4. After the upload is complete, there is a notice that file compression is in process.
   
5. Once the file is ready to download, a “File Ready” notice appears with the new file size, and information about the percentage of compression.
   
6. Click DOWNLOAD FILE. The new file name has (wecompress.com) added to the original file name.
   
7. After download, a successful download notice with a link to compress another file if needed.
   

That’s it. Easy, quick (depending on file size and internet speed), and free! WeCompress offers only 1 compress option with no levels of compression or profiles, which is possible in NXPowerlite. Bookmark WeCompress and test it, the TLC Creative design team has used it many times (especially when working on provided show computers that lack our suite of apps and settings).

-Amber

Build-A-Graphic seamlessly integrates with Microsoft PowerPoint, whether you’re using it on Windows, Mac, or PowerPoint Online. It offers a massive 10K+ library of pre-made, but fully editable graphics. Including graphs, charts, infographics, a favorite- Isometric (2D with a fixed 45º grid to easily align and mix-and-match) elements, and much more.

On the technical side, this is a JS Add-in (install through the “add-in” button on the PowerPoint Insert tab). As a JS add-in it enables it to be used within PowerPoint Online, and on any computer you are logged in with the registered Microsoft account.

Click the Build-a-Graphic button on the PowerPoint HOME tab. From the Build-A-Graphic action pane, search its library, or view the graphics by category and then by graphic type.

One of the best things about virtually all of the Build-A-Graphic content is they can be edited in PowerPoint; colors, text and other elements can be adjusted to align with a brand or the theme of the presentation. As an example graphic, here is a before (default on left) and after (customized on right) graphic. Colors and font changed; some content removed for a graphic customized to align with the presentation’s design.

A lot of the graphics include tips on how to edit them. As example, This Funnel graphic has a tip in the lower left about ungrouping to customize.

TIP: remove these tips before presenting!

As mentioned earlier, the primary advantage we see, is Build-A-Graphic content is PowerPoint native vector art and significant edits can be made directly within PowerPoint, saving time and simplifying the workflow. When ungrouped, elements can be deleted, customized, or replaced. A good example is that many of the graphics include icons. But the icons are not “locked” to the graphic, but separate elements (when ungrouped in PowerPoint) allowing each graphic element to be modified with different icons easily. For advanced editing beyond PowerPoint’s capabilities, graphics can be exported from PowerPoint as .SVG vector graphics and edited in Adobe Illustrator (then copy/pasted back to the slide).

Aside from the main draw of the graphic design library, one feature we like is the “Chunking” feature (yes, that is the real name!). With one click you can turn a slide full of text into separate smaller text blocks, in a stylized visual layout. Those smaller text blocks can then be modified as needed to better fit on the slide.

As example, here is a slide with 3, dense, paragraphs of text (Lorum Ipsum text for the example):

Using the “Chunk Text by Paragraph” tool, it separates the Lorem Ipsum text into separate text boxes and into separate paragraphs in one click. This can be just a starter and the new text boxes and styling elements can be edits, resized, recolored as best for the slide and content/message.

Incorporating Build-A-Graphic into a design routine can be a good time saver and an easy path to creating visual slides that stand out. Being able to quickly tweak graphics inside PowerPoint keeps things simple, especially when you’re working against tight deadlines. While it may not replace specialized graphic design software for more complex projects, it has the breadth of graphics to offer a convenient solution for enhancing slides directly within PowerPoint.

Note: Build-A-Graphic is a subscription and locks the subscription to the registered Microsoft ID (eg. your Microsoft 365 account) – and this is the first software we have used that leverages the Microsoft ID as the user.

See examples and details at the Build-A-Graphic website here.

Figma is a collaborative web-based design tool that many consider a competitor to Adobe. There are different capabilities between Figma and Adobe apps, but the key difference being that Figma operates entirely web-based, requiring no software installs, or updates. Figma works on any operating system, Windows, Mac, Linux, and any device; computer, tablet, phone, even on Chromebooks.

Figma is popular in the design and UX communities. Its real-time collaboration capabilities are good for teams to work simultaneously on project design elements. Figma has integrated Slack as its communication channel, and any design edits or comments are easily “slacked” to the design team. The collaboration goes further with any update requests automatically update anywhere that design element is embedded in other files (very cool!). And similar to Microsoft Teams and Google apps, you can see who also has the file open (via small onscreen avatars).

FIGMA ENTERS PRESENTATIONS

Figma announced Figma Slides on June 26^th, 2024. The CEO’s clever reveal is worth a watch – go to 51:55 of the video:

FIGMA SLIDES

Figma Slides is like all other presentation and slideshow software. It creates visual aids for presentations as a series of “slides” with each slide being a combination of text, images, charts, diagrams, videos and other graphic elements. The interface is familiar, matching the layout PowerPoint established in 2010 with navigation pane on the left, current slide in the center, presenter notes under the slide, and a tools pane on the right.

The Figma slides as presentation software highlights we found include:

• Presentation templates and many customization options with workflows that seamlessly connect to the other Figma Design tools.
• Supports co-authoring of slides, presenter notes, and co-presenting controls.
• Slides can have several interactive element options, including live polls, alignment scales, and voting features designed to capture live feedback and facilitate decision-making.
• Figma expands beyond its app with a range of plugins that enhance workflows, such as a seamless Unsplash image integration, and the Figma integration with Slack.
• The Figma Slides app has integrated Figma AI within it, and focuses on the slide copy (aka text) with a unique way to modify copy using a “tone” slider to rewrite it.

Using these features, slide decks can be created from scratch or from the many templates, which can be customized. Each template is a set of layouts with preset text, image, diagram and chart placeholders.

PRESENTING

To present a Figma Slides presentation, simply click the play button in the upper right corner of the interface:

The option to present your slideshow with or without presenter notes is available. Similar to Google Slides, if presenting with notes, 2 browser tabs open; one for slides (that automatically opens full screen with no interface) and one of the presenter notes and slide navigation.

Advancing through slides can be using keyboard (eg. arrow keys), a standard presentation remote, or the onscreen interface.

You’ll see that the presenter view will open with the presenter notes, and the full screen presentation on the right.

WHO

Figma has designed its online platform to focus on graphic designers and work teams. Figma slides is going to appeal to those already using Figma for design projects that need to present content from those design projects, as everything in a Figma project is seamlessly available in Figma Slides.

FIGMA VS POWERPOINT

It’s difficult to imagine Figma Slides disrupting the position PowerPoint and Microsoft Office have in the industry. PowerPoint’s extensive feature set and integration with the other Office apps, and its 30 years of use in the business world.

PowerPoint is the king of presentation software from user base and features. PowerPoint Online, a standalone online app, has continuously improved and allows collaboration via sharing a link with permissions. You can save projects in real time to OneDrive and its UI is a little bit more streamlined than its desktop counterpart, which could be good for those newer to the platform or does not need as many robust features. However, the TLC Creative design team still prefers the desktop version for presentation design.

What’s The Price?

Figma slides, at the time of this review, is in beta and free to all Professional and above packages through the end of the year. It does not clarify if Figma Slides will continue to be included in the packages or become an add-on. For reference, Figma is available in 4 tiers:

1. Free: Access to the Figma editor, 3 collaborative design files, unlimited drafts (Free)
2. Professional Team: Unlimited files, team libraries, advanced prototyping etc. ($15/mo)
3. Organization: Organization wide libraries, design system analytics, branching and merging etc. ($45/mo)
4. Enterprise: Advanced design system theming, default libraries by workspace, etc. ($75/mo)

Conclusion

Figma Slides, like other web-based presentation apps, require a stable internet connection to function. The Figma Slides collaborative approach is robust and great to work with. Its fresh, modern appearance of the user interface makes Figma Slides a welcome addition to a Presentation Designer’s toolbox.

~Thanks Jake, on the TLC Creative presentation design team, for researching and assisting with this blog post

Starting with Slidewise version 2.1 there is a FREE version – and you should have it!

The free version is a feature-limited version of Slidewise. But the features it does include are invaluable (paying for all of the features is better)!

Basically, free-Slidewise is going to allow you to inspect a presentation, but not have access to the tools that automate fixing presentation issues.

As example, Slidewise shows there are are 25 fonts in this slide deck (ugh!) and several are not Microsoft fonts, because they are not embedded. The free version provides this super helpful information. The paid version enables tools to quickly update fonts throughout the deck (which is amazing!).

Another example is Slidewise Free shows a list of all images in the presentation – and displays the image file size of each image. This is super helpful in finding oversize images that are making the presentation file large. Slidewise Free keeps the ability to select an image from the list and jump to that slide, with that image selected (try it, it is fantastic!). But some of the image management tools are not available.

Two notes:

1. Slidewise is currently a Windows PowerPoint add-in. No Mac PowerPoint option available.
2. Just download the trial version and after the trial period ends it automatically goes to the free mode.

Checkout Slidewise at the developer website here.

Troy @ TLC

Slidewise 2.1 has released! Version 2.0 was released in October 2024 and added an amazing set of new tools (color audit, find cropped images, improved way to see assigned layouts and update the layout assigned to slides, and more). Now, only 3 months after having access to version 2.0, version 2.1 has been released!

Open a presentation and click the Slidewise button on the HOME tab to get an amazing audit of the slides.

Version 2.1 replaces the row of icons to select Slidewise tools with a dropdown menu. I particularly like this navigation improvement for 2 reasons; first, if the PowerPoint action pane was too narrow, not all of the icons displayed. And second, I was constantly spending time mousing over and waiting for the tooltip to display to remind me what icon led to what tool – in the drop down menu the tool names are instantly there (yay!)

The ability to audit what slides use what Master Slide, and what Master Layout has been a huge time saver in presentation clean up. The Consolidate Masters feature has gotten better!

• First note, this feature is still hard to find, so I feel a lot of people miss it (and it is awesome!). Go to the SLIDE MASTERS tool. Click the down arrow on any master slide listed and select CONSOLIDATE MASTERS from the fly out menu
  
• This is the updated Consolidate Masters dialog. The big improvement are the checkboxes next to each master. (1) select the Slide Master you want to move other slides too. (2) check mark 1 or more (yay!) of the “bad” Slide Masters. (3) click CONSOLIDATE MASTERS and all of the slides assigned to the “bad” Slide Masters are instantly moved to the selected “good” Slide Master (double yay!!).
  • Note: if the “good” Slide Master does not have a Master Layout of the same name, PowerPoint will create new/Frankenstein layouts for those slides, but everything is consolidated to the Slide Master selected.
    

The last Slidewise tool I am covering in this blog post is the IMAGE AUDIT and the addition of a CROPPED images audit.

• The first note is I think a lot of people miss the true Image Audit tool and features, because when Slidewise opens the default view is the FONTS AND MEDIA tab, which has an IMAGES section that provides a lot of great info and options.
  
• But the IMAGE AUDIT tab offers even more! For me, the Image Audit is turned off when going to the tab (not sure why(
  
• Turn ON the Image Audit and a number of amazing options are available to inspect, and correct, by image size – compression – quality – and more.
  
• Version 2.1 adds to the list of options, a CROPPED image audit. Expand and see a list of every image that has a PowerPoint crop applied.
  
• Click the down arrow next to any image and from the fly out menu click SHOW IN POWERPOINT to go directly to that slide and have that image selected.
  

Bonus: I am not 100% certain this is new in v2.1. I may have been added in v2.0, but it is new to me, all images and videos have an option to EXPORT ORIGINAL IMAGE/MEDIA now, which is another great addition to an already amazing productivity set of tools!

Check out the Slidewise PowerPoint add-in here.

Troy @ TLC