Editing Microsoft PowerPoint (section)

{{short description|Presentation application, part of Microsoft 365}}
{{About|the presentation software program by Microsoft Corporation|other uses|Power point (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Microsoft PowerPoint
| logo = Microsoft Office PowerPoint (2018–present).svg
| screenshot = Microsoft PowerPoint.png
| caption = A photo presentation being created and edited in PowerPoint, running on [[Windows 10]]
| developer = [[Microsoft]]
| released = {{start date and age|1987|4|20}}
| latest release version = 2312 (Build 17126.20132)
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2024|01|09}}<ref>{{cite web|website=[[Microsoft Learn]]|url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/current-channel|title=Release notes for Current Channel releases - Office release notes|access-date=2024-01-10|archive-date=2024-01-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240110150723/https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/current-channel|url-status=live}}</ref>
| operating_system = [[Microsoft Windows]]
| language count = 102
| language footnote = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Language-Accessory-Pack-for-Office-82ee1236-0f9a-45ee-9c72-05b026ee809f |last=Microsoft Corp. |title=Language Accessory Pack for Office |date=2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828200853/https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Language-Accessory-Pack-for-Office-82ee1236-0f9a-45ee-9c72-05b026ee809f |url-status=live |archive-date=August 28, 2017 |access-date=August 28, 2017}}</ref>
| language = Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Azerbaijani (Latin), Bangla (Bangladesh), Bangla (Bengali India), Basque, Belarusian, Bosnian (Latin), Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Indonesian, Irish, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili, Konkani, Korean, Kyrgyz, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Macedonian (Macedonia), Malay (Latin), Malayalam, Maltese, Maori, Marathi, Mongolian (Cyrillic), Nepali, Norwegian (Bokmål), Norwegian (Nynorsk), Odia, Pashto, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Punjabi (India), Quechua, Romanian, Romansh, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia), Serbian (Latin, Serbia), Serbian (Cyrillic, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sesotho sa Leboa, Setswana, Sindhi (Arabic), Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Tatar (Cyrillic), Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Ukrainian, Urdu, Uyghur, Uzbek (Latin), Valencian, Vietnamese, Welsh, Wolof, Yoruba
| genre = [[Presentation program]]
| replaces = Forethought Powerpoint
| license = [[Trialware]]
| programming language = [[C++]] (back-end)<ref name="C++ in MS Office">{{Cite web |date=July 17, 2014 |title=C++ in MS Office |url=https://cppcon.org/bonus-talk-cxx-in-ms-office-2014/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107064047/https://cppcon.org/bonus-talk-cxx-in-ms-office-2014/ |archive-date=November 7, 2019 |access-date=June 25, 2019 |publisher=cppcon}}</ref>
| website = {{URL|https://powerpoint.cloud.microsoft}}
}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Microsoft PowerPoint for Android OS
| screenshot = [[File:Powerpoint for Android.png|100px]]
| caption = PowerPoint for Android running on [[Android 13]]
| developer = [[Microsoft Corporation]]
| latest_release_version = 16.0.16501.20160
| latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|2023|05|26}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/microsoft-corporation/powerpoint/|title=Microsoft PowerPoint: Slideshows and Presentations APKs|website=APKMirror}}</ref>
| operating_system = [[Android Pie]] or later
| genre = [[Presentation program]]
| license = [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]] [[commercial software]]
| website = {{URL|https://products.office.com/en-us/powerpoint}}
}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac
| logo = <!--For 2016, it is the same as above-->
| screenshot = PowerPoint for Mac screenshot.png
| caption = PowerPoint for Mac (version 16.69.1), running on [[macOS Ventura]] (13.2)
| developer = [[Microsoft]]
| released = {{Start date and age|1987|4|20}}
| latest release version = 16.70 (Build 23021201)
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2023|02|14}}<ref>{{cite web|website=[[Microsoft Docs]]|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac|title=Update history for Office for Mac|date=June 13, 2023 }}</ref>
| latest_preview_version = 
| programming language = [[C++]] (back-end), [[Objective-C]] (API/UI)<ref name="C++ in MS Office" /> <!-- Don't forget your source please -->
| operating_system = [[macOS 11]] or later
| language = English, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish
| language count = 26
| language footnote = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/microsoft-powerpoint/id462062816  |title=Microsoft Powerpoint on the Mac App Store |access-date=March 2, 2023}}</ref>
| genre = [[Presentation program]]
| license = [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]] [[commercial software]]
| website = hide
}}

{{Infobox software
| name = Microsoft PowerPoint for iOS
| screenshot = 
| caption = 
| developer = [[Microsoft Corporation]]
| latest_release_version = 2.95.2
| latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|2025|03|21}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apps.apple.com/app/id586449534|title=Microsoft PowerPoint|website=App Store|date=March 22, 2025 |language=en-us}}</ref>
| operating_system = [[iOS 15]] or later {{break}} [[IPadOS 15]] or later {{break}} [[watchOS 8]] or later
| language = English, Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
| language count = 33
| genre = [[Presentation program]]
| license = [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]] [[commercial software]]
| website = {{URL|https://products.office.com/en-us/powerpoint}}
}}
{{Infobox software
| name = PowerPoint Mobile for Windows 10
| logo = 
| screenshot = 
| caption = 
| developer = [[Microsoft]]
| released = 
| discontinued = Yes
| latest release version = 16002.12325.20032.0
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2019|12|10}}
| latest_preview_version = 
| operating_system = [[Windows 10]], [[Windows 10 Mobile]]
| language = 
| language count = 
| language footnote = 
| genre = [[Presentation program]]
| license = [[Trialware]]
| website = {{URL|https://www.microsoft.com/store/productid/9WZDNCRFJB5Q}}
}}

'''Microsoft PowerPoint''' is a [[presentation program]],<ref name="Britannica-lead">{{Cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |title=Microsoft PowerPoint |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/Microsoft-PowerPoint |date=November 25, 2013 |access-date=August 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151008163642/https://www.britannica.com/technology/Microsoft-PowerPoint |url-status=live |archive-date=October 8, 2015 |quote=Microsoft PowerPoint, virtual presentation software developed by Robert Gaskins, Tom Rudkin and Dennis Austin for the American computer software company Forethought, Inc. The program, initially named Presenter, was released for the Apple Macintosh in 1987.}}</ref> developed by [[Microsoft]].

It was originally created by [[Robert Gaskins]], Tom Rudkin, and [[Dennis Austin]]<ref name="Britannica-lead" /> at a software company named [[Forethought, Inc.]]<ref name="Britannica-lead" /> It was released on April 20, 1987,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mace |first=Scott |date=March 2, 1969 |title=Presentation Package Lets Users Control Look |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1TAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5 |newspaper=InfoWorld |issn=0199-6649 |volume=9 |issue=9 |page=5 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240527085435/https://www.webcitation.org/6Ym2krMYP?url=https://filetea.me/t1sKNh0ZTl2S8xyckHWoi2ywg |url-status=live |archive-date=May 27, 2024 |access-date=August 25, 2017 |quote=The $395 program will be shipped to dealers on April 20, Forethought said.}}</ref> initially for [[Macintosh]] computers only.<ref name="Britannica-lead" /> [[Microsoft]] acquired PowerPoint for about $14 million three months after it appeared.<ref name="Britannica-acquisition-lead">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |title=Microsoft PowerPoint |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/Microsoft-PowerPoint |date=November 25, 2013 |access-date=August 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151008163642/https://www.britannica.com/technology/Microsoft-PowerPoint |url-status=live |archive-date=October 8, 2015 |quote= ... in 1987 ... [i]n July of that year, the Microsoft Corporation, in its first significant software acquisition, purchased the rights to PowerPoint for $14&nbsp;million.}}</ref> This was Microsoft's first significant acquisition,<ref name="NYT-lead">{{cite news |last=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=July 31, 1987 |title=Microsoft Buys Software Unit |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/31/business/company-news-microsoft-buys-software-unit.html <!-- full URL required --> |department=Company News |newspaper=New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |volume=CXXXV |issue=46,717 |publication-date=July 31, 1987 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524214338/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/31/business/company-news-microsoft-buys-software-unit.html |url-status=live |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |access-date=August 25, 2017 |quote= ... the acquisition of Forethought is the first significant one for Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash. Forethought would remain in Sunnyvale, giving Microsoft a Silicon Valley presence.}}</ref> and Microsoft set up a new business unit for PowerPoint in [[Silicon Valley]] where Forethought had been located.<ref name="NYT-lead" />

PowerPoint became a component of the [[Microsoft Office]] suite, first offered in 1989 for Macintosh<ref>{{Cite news |last=Flynn |first=Laurie |date=June 19, 1989 |title=The Microsoft Office Bundles 4 Programs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lzAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17 |newspaper=InfoWorld |issn=0199-6649 |volume=11 |issue=25 |page=37 <!-- Note pg in URL is correctly off by 20, PA37 doesn't work --> |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240527085716/https://www.webcitation.org/6Ym7SWz2j?url=https://filetea.me/t1s8ljg1ymETEWjSQxw5r2mMQ |url-status=live |archive-date=May 27, 2024 |access-date=August 25, 2017}}</ref> and in 1990 for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnston |first=Stuart J. |date=October 1, 1990 |title=Office for Windows Bundles Popular Microsoft Applications |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VTwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT17 |newspaper=InfoWorld |issn=0199-6649 |volume=12 |issue=40 |page=16 <!-- Note pg in URL is correctly off by 1 and PT, PA17 doesn't work --> |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240527085840/https://www.webcitation.org/6Ym8WVBD3?url=https://filetea.me/t1s24zfAGB3Qm6bLZB2JeRKdg |url-status=live |archive-date=May 27, 2024 |access-date=August 25, 2017}}</ref> which bundled several Microsoft apps. Beginning with PowerPoint 4.0 (1994), PowerPoint was integrated into Microsoft Office development, and adopted shared common components and a converged user interface.<ref name="austin-timeline-2001-lead">{{Cite web |url=http://www.gbuwizards.com/files/powerpoint-timeline-to-1995-dennis-austin.pdf |title=PowerPoint Version Timeline (to PowerPoint 7.0, 1995) |last=Austin |first=Dennis |date=2001 |website=GBU Wizards of Menlo Park |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240528055458/https://www.webcitation.org/6sWbRP9tx?url=https://filetea.me/n3wNc4xaoNgRPCO0cpdXD8mng |url-status=live |archive-date=May 28, 2024 |access-date=August 24, 2017}}</ref>

PowerPoint's market share was very small at first, prior to introducing a version for Microsoft Windows, but grew rapidly with the growth of Windows and of Office.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gaskins |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Gaskins |title=Sweating Bullets: Notes about Inventing PowerPoint |year=2012 |publisher=Vinland Books |isbn=978-0-9851424-0-7 <!-- hardcover ed --> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RC_5OCQQJ7YC |access-date=August 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624031005/http://www.robertgaskins.com/powerpoint-history/sweating-bullets/gaskins-sweating-bullets-webpdf-isbn-9780985142414.pdf <!-- webpdf ed --> |url-status=live |archive-date=June 24, 2017}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=402–404}} Since the late 1990s, PowerPoint's worldwide market share of presentation software has been estimated at 95 percent.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Thielsch |first1=Meinald T. |last2=Perabo |first2=Isabel |date=May 2012 |title=Use and Evaluation of Presentation Software |url=http://www.thielsch.org/download/paper/Thielsch_Perabo_2012.pdf |journal=Technical Communication |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=112–123 |issn=0049-3155 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809191010/http://www.thielsch.org/download/paper/Thielsch_Perabo_2012.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=August 9, 2016 |access-date=August 24, 2017 |quote=For many years, Microsoft has led the market with its program PowerPoint. Zongker and Salesin (2003) estimated a market share of 95% in 2003, and a Forrester study (Montalbano, 2009) widely confirmed this number, stating that only 8% of enterprise customers use alternative products.}}</ref>

PowerPoint was originally designed to provide visuals for group presentations within business organizations, but has come to be widely used in other communication situations in business and beyond.<ref name="Britannica-uses-lead">{{Cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |title=Microsoft PowerPoint |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/Microsoft-PowerPoint |date=November 25, 2013 |access-date=August 24, 2017 |quote=PowerPoint was developed for business use but has wide applications elsewhere such as for schools and community organizations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828152107/https://www.britannica.com/technology/Microsoft-PowerPoint |archive-date=August 28, 2017 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The wider use led to the development of the PowerPoint presentation as a new form of communication,<ref name="Davies">{{Cite magazine |last=Davies |first=Russell |date=May 26, 2016 |title=29 Reasons to Love PowerPoint |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/powerpoint-birthday-defence |magazine=Wired UK |issn=1758-8332 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815170737/http://www.wired.co.uk/article/powerpoint-birthday-defence |url-status=live |archive-date=August 15, 2017 |access-date=September 6, 2017}} {{Cite web |url=http://www.russelldavies.com/writing/tuftepowerpoint/tuftepoint.html |title=29 Bullets |access-date=October 26, 2017 |archive-date=September 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911084850/http://www.russelldavies.com/writing/tuftepowerpoint/tuftepoint.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> with strong reactions including advice that it should be used less,<ref name="Tufte-2003-2006">{{Cite book |last=Tufte |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Tufte |year=2006 |orig-year=1st ed. 2003, 24 pg. |title=The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within |edition=2nd |location=Cheshire, Connecticut |publisher=Graphics Press LLC |pages=32 |isbn=978-0-9613921-6-1}}</ref> differently,<ref name="Mayer-Atkinson-2004">{{Cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228893840 |title=Five ways to reduce PowerPoint overload |last1=Atkinson |first1=Cliff |last2=Mayer |first2=Richard E. |author-link2=Richard E. Mayer |date=April 23, 2004 |version=Revision 1.1 |website=ResearchGate |format=PDF |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6ZMK2qMHz?url=https://filetea.me/t1sWlhUAjlwTqxmEj6Ds9ZT4Q |url-status=live |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |access-date=September 23, 2017 }}</ref> or better.<ref name="Kosslyn-2007">{{Cite book |last=Kosslyn |first=Stephen M. |author-link=Stephen Kosslyn |year=2007 |pages=222 |title=Clear and to the Point: Eight Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-532069-5}}</ref>

The first PowerPoint version (Macintosh 1987) was used to produce overhead transparencies,<ref name="CACM-Gaskins-2007-lead">{{Cite journal |last=Gaskins |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Gaskins |date=December 2007 |title=PowerPoint at 20: Back to Basics |url=https://www.academia.edu/1866305 |department=Viewpoint |journal=[[Communications of the ACM]] |publication-date=December 2007 |volume=50 |issue=12 |page=17 |issn=0001-0782 |doi=10.1145/1323688.1323710 |s2cid=48306 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107161639/http://www.robertgaskins.com/powerpoint-history/documents/gaskins-powerpoint-at-20-cacm-vol50-no12-dec-2007-p15-p17.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=January 7, 2016 |access-date=May 27, 2015 }}</ref> the second (Macintosh 1988, Windows 1990) could also produce color 35&nbsp;mm slides.<ref name="CACM-Gaskins-2007-lead" /> The third version (Windows and Macintosh 1992) introduced video output of virtual slideshows to digital projectors, which would over time replace physical transparencies and slides.<ref name="CACM-Gaskins-2007-lead" /> A dozen major versions since then have added additional features and modes of operation<ref name="austin-timeline-2001-lead" /> and have made PowerPoint available beyond Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows, adding versions for [[iOS]], [[Android (operating system)|Android]], and web access.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 19, 2022 |title=Compare PowerPoint features on different platforms |url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/compare-powerpoint-features-on-different-platforms-90986850-227c-4b25-938e-1c5838166b8b |access-date=October 23, 2022 |website=Microsoft Support}}</ref>
[[File:Microsoft PowerPoint 2013-2019 logo.svg|thumb|100px|Microsoft PowerPoint 2013-2019 logo]]