Create a Presentation from an Existing File

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Create a Presentation from an Existing File

Create a new presentation based on text contained within an existing Word document. 

When to use

We can use text and images in an existing Word document or PowerPoint file to create a new presentation. We would do this when we already have the information stored elsewhere and want Copilot to use it to build a contextual presentation. 

Instructions

In this example, we want to build a presentation based on information stored in a Word document. 

  • Open the Word document. 
  • Click the Share button in the top right corner. 
  • Choose Copy link. 
  • Go back to PowerPoint. 
  • Type the prompt: 'Create a presentation from file...'

To reference the Word document we can either paste the copied link into the prompt area (CTRL+V), press / and search for the document using a keyword, or click the Files tab and choose the file from the list. 

  • Press Enter. 

Copilot will create a presentation using the information stored in the document. We can then use Designer to change the slide design. 

Hints & tips

  • Copilot will list the last files accessed under the Files tab. If you cannot see the file you are looking for, paste the link into the prompt area or search for it by keyword. 
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  • 00:04 If we have texts stored off in something like a Word document and we want
  • 00:08 to create a presentation using that Word document, we can do that with Copilot.
  • 00:13 Notice in the pane, we have an option to create a presentation from a file.
  • 00:16 Now, I have a Word document that I want to turn into a PowerPoint presentation.
  • 00:22 Now, there are two ways I can go about this.
  • 00:24 I can copy the link to the Word document or
  • 00:26 I can select the Word document from within Copilot.
  • 00:29 So let's copy the link from the Share button in the top right-hand corner.
  • 00:33 The link's been copied.
  • 00:35 I'm going to click the Settings button just to make sure that everybody can edit.
  • 00:41 Because currently, this document is set to view access only when I share it.
  • 00:46 So let's change this to Can edit and click on Apply and that link is now copied.
  • 00:51 So when we jump back to PowerPoint and click create a presentation from file,
  • 00:55 notice that we can either select the file in that list or
  • 00:58 we can simply paste the link in to the Prompt area underneath.
  • 01:02 We can also, just type in a keyword and
  • 01:05 it should search all of our files and find any files that match.
  • 01:09 So you can see here, it's found my file, Microsoft Teams for
  • 01:13 Collaboration.docx and if I send that through,
  • 01:16 it's going to build a presentation based on the text in that file.
  • 01:20 So I'm really interested to see what this comes up with.
  • 01:23 Now, remember, I didn't have any images in that Word document,
  • 01:27 it was literally just text and bullet points.
  • 01:29 So I can see it is creating an outline.
  • 01:31 So this basically shows me the number of slides it's going to create.
  • 01:34 And I can see here, we have seven slides.
  • 01:37 Now, if we just wait a moment for this to load.
  • 01:40 Some of these slides are pretty plain looking, which is fine.
  • 01:43 We can add our own imagery, but it's got all of that information in there.
  • 01:47 Now, if we click on Designer, we can go through and
  • 01:50 we can very quickly redesign the way that our slides look.
  • 01:54 So I'm just going to choose a couple of things for these planar slides.
  • 01:57 If I really didn't like any of these options, I can choose my own imagery.
  • 02:01 So let's just select a few of these.
  • 02:04 I'm actually really liking the font that it's used in this particular presentation.
  • 02:08 And I'm just choosing layouts that look a little bit more modern.
  • 02:12 And there we go, how easy was that to create a new presentation based on
  • 02:16 text we have stored off somewhere else.
  • 02:19 And once again, we have notes added into our presentation.
  • 02:23 If we expand that Notes pane, we can see all of those just there.
  • 02:27 The only thing you need to remember if you want to import information from
  • 02:31 an external file is that, that file also needs to be saved to OneDrive.

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