Exporting as a Microsoft PowerPoint

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About this lesson

Learn how to export a Keynote file to a PowerPoint format.

Quick reference

Topic

Learn how to export a Keynote file to a PowerPoint format.

When to use

Working with other users or team members who are using Microsoft PowerPoint doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult. In this lesson, we’ll show you hoot bridge that gap.

Instructions

Many people use PowerPoint, and Keynote makes working with PowerPoint easy.

To open a PowerPoint file in Keynote:

  • double-click the PowerPoint file

That’s it! Opening PowerPoint files in Keynote is seamless to us.

Note: when we open a PowerPoint file in Keynote, some of the animations may look a little different because PowerPoint uses slightly different animations than Keynote (likewise, Keynote uses slightly different animations than PowerPoint).

When possible, try to use system fonts. This will help minimize the differences when importing/exporting files between Keynote and PowerPoint.

To export a Keynote file to a PowerPoint format:

  • open the Keynote file
  • go to File > Export To… PowerPoint

The export process is pretty straight forward.

We can choose to set a password and the specific format to save the new file format (PPT or PPTX). If you’re not sure on the file format, default to PPTX).

If your end-result is to email the PowerPoint file, we can save a few steps by going to Share > Send a Copy > Mail > Export as PowerPoint

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  • 00:05 While I consider Apple's Keynote application to be far superior to
  • 00:08 Microsoft's PowerPoint product in many ways,
  • 00:11 I do realize that many people use PowerPoint.
  • 00:14 Sometimes because they want to, and
  • 00:15 sometimes because it's a business requirement.
  • 00:18 Either way, we may find ourselves needing to exchange keynote files back and
  • 00:22 forth, to and from these users.
  • 00:25 Fortunately for us and them, this is not a problem with Keynote.
  • 00:30 In this lesson, we'll walk through how to open a PowerPoint formatted file,
  • 00:34 as well as how to prepare a Keynote file to send to a PowerPoint user.
  • 00:39 First, let's start by talking about opening PowerPoint formatted files.
  • 00:44 To open a PowerPoint file in Keynote, we double click, that's it.
  • 00:49 Okay, so its a little more involved then that for key note.
  • 00:52 But as far as we're concerned, that's all we need to know.
  • 00:55 The great engineers at Apple realized that we would need to open PowerPoint files in
  • 00:59 Keynote occasionally, so they kind of included all of that conversion capability
  • 01:05 right into the application.
  • 01:06 They are 100% automatic and seamless to us.
  • 01:11 The only gotcha is that when we open a PowerPoint file, sometimes the formatting
  • 01:15 builds and transitions may look a little bit different than they did in PowerPoint.
  • 01:20 This is because PowerPoint contains some effects that Keynote doesn't have.
  • 01:25 The same will be true for sending a Keynote file to a PowerPoint user.
  • 01:30 These will be things that you will need to consider when sending files
  • 01:32 back and forth.
  • 01:34 The other consideration is with font.
  • 01:36 If I'm using a custom font in a slide deck that I'm using in keynote, and
  • 01:41 the other user doesn't have that,
  • 01:42 it will obviously look slightly different because they don't have the same font.
  • 01:46 When possible, I tried to use System Native font.
  • 01:50 These are fonts that everyone will have,
  • 01:52 because they're part of the standard operating system.
  • 01:55 Now, let's talk about how to prepare a Keynote file to send to a PowerPoint user.
  • 02:00 To get started, let's go to file, then choose Export To, then PowerPoint.
  • 02:07 The export process is pretty straightforward for us.
  • 02:10 Keynote does all the heavy lifting.
  • 02:12 All we need to do is choose whether or
  • 02:14 not we want to require a password to open the file or not.
  • 02:17 If you're looking for more advanced options,
  • 02:19 you can expand the advanced section below.
  • 02:22 But again, you won't find many options because Keynote takes care
  • 02:25 of all that for us.
  • 02:27 We can, however, choose whether the PowerPoint file will be formatted in
  • 02:31 a PPTX format, which is compatible with newer versions of PowerPoint, or
  • 02:36 a PPT, which is compatible with older versions of Power Point.
  • 02:40 If you're not sure, I recommend sticking with PPTX, it's a pretty safe bet.
  • 02:47 Once you have set the parameters, it's time to save and send the file.
  • 02:51 Let's click next, where we can choose the name and location of the file.
  • 02:55 When this is done, we click export.
  • 02:59 If your end result is to email the exported PowerPoint file, we can shave
  • 03:03 a couple of steps off the process by going to Share, Send a Copy, Mail.
  • 03:09 From here, we can choose Export as PowerPoint.
  • 03:12 We are presented with the same options as before.
  • 03:15 When we click Next, the file will be exported and
  • 03:18 an email will be generated containing our PowerPoint file.
  • 03:21 All we need to do at this point is to add the recipient's address and hit Send.
  • 03:27 Exchanging Keynote files with PowerPoint users is simple and effective.
  • 03:31 Now, it's your turn.
  • 03:32 Spend a few minutes now preparing a Keynote file of your own,
  • 03:35 to send to a PC user with PowerPoint.
  • 03:38 When you do this, ask them for feedback.
  • 03:40 What looks different?
  • 03:42 This will give you an idea of what features to avoid in the future to keep
  • 03:45 this workflow trouble free.

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