PowerPoint Design Ideas in Designer works with pictures and charts and is built into PowerPoint 365. Have the Design Ideas suggestions give you options for arranging text, photos, or other graphics along with any included text automatically for stunning slides!

Note: Requires Office 365 subscription. (For PowerPoint Online, PowerPoint Designer is available to subscribers when they are using files stored in SharePoint Online.)

PowerPoint Design Ideas for Pictures or Charts

PowerPoint Designer automatically suggests options for you when you’re online and you add a picture or chart to your PowerPoint presentation.

• Click the slide to which you want to add a picture, chart or any type of graphic
• Click Insert tab and choose Pictures, Chart or another graphic
• The first time you use Designer, a message will appear asking your permission to get design ideas for you. If you want to use Designer, select Turn on.

Once you’ve turned on intelligent services, PowerPoint will automatically show you design ideas when you upload photographic content.

Add Photo to Cover Slide

Designer will work on any slide layout. For instance, add a photo of your own or from the web to your Title slide.

Designer opens a task pane for you with suggestions. Click a thumbnail to apply that design idea to your slide:

Previous two graphics from Microsoft.

Tip:   You can open Designer any time by going to Design tab, Design Ideas in Designer group.

Combine Text and Graphics with PowerPoint Design Ideas

If you just have steps in bullets or numbering and want to insert or rearrange an existing graphic, Designer comes to the rescue here too.

Inserting a Picture:

• Click anywhere on the desired slide
• Click Insert tab and make your choice of graphic type from the Illustrations group
• Insert the graphic
• Designer will display the visual options on right
• Scroll down and click the thumbnails to preview

• Choose one and make that eye-appealing (and mouth-watering) slide!

Big disclaimer here…Don’t try this recipe at home or anywhere else – for design demo purposes only. I’m guessing – not edible!

A Real Tip: You can add more than one photo to a slide and the Designer will automatically adjust the options to reflect the new addition(s).

Add Design to Existing Graphic Slide

You’ve inserted a picture with no text on a new Title and Content Layout slide, and want to see what Designer would do with it:

• Click on the picture
• If Design Ideas does not display, click Design tab and choose from end of Ribbon*
• Design ideas displayed will depend on your slide layout. (Experiment with different slide layouts by right clicking over the slide thumbnail in the Navigator at left, and Designer will auto-adjust to new layout)
  
• You can choose a design that adds text or one that is just the best arrangement for your picture

*If you are using the Designer regularly, add it to the QAT: Right click over its icon on the Ribbon and choose Add to Quick Access toolbar. It will now be available with one click whenever needed.

Note: When inserting pictures from online or any source not your own, always ensure that it is copyright-free. To use, you may have to seek permission and/or give credit to the owner of the content. However, there are many sources that are in the public domain and/or are license-free and safe to use, such as Creative Commons License Zero (CC0); emphasis on the 0.

Install Add-ins to PowerPoint and Word for Free Images

Speaking of free and safe images to use, there are plenty available on a couple of Add-ins. Again, it may depend on what version of Office you are using, but here’s how to install from the Microsoft Store:

• Inside PowerPoint or Word, click the Office Add-ins icon under Home tab (far right on Ribbon)
• In the Search, type Pickit to display it for download
• Download and follow the instructions on the pop-up
• Do the same steps again but in Search, type Pexels

You now have access to free images from both apps in both programs. How cool is that! One odd thing to note…Pickit gets installed at the end of the Home tab, and Pexels gets installed under the Insert tab in both programs. A head-scratcher but they’re free so we don’t criticize! To use either, just click on their icon which will display a task pane to the right; type in a category or specific item you are looking for and let the images flow. You may find some videos as well!

Auto Arrange Chart and Text on a Slide

Designer is versatile and can make a spiffy chart slide (from Excel) in no time too…

• I created a new Title and Content slide
• Typed the Title text and the line of text in the Content area
• Clicked Insert tab, Chart (column). You could also click on the Chart icon in the slide
  
• After you choose your chart, an Excel worksheet window auto displays with guide content for you to replace
• As you fill in your data, the chart is being created on your slide. It may look a mess (like this one) but no need to faint as fixable with a click!
  

• When completed, close the Excel window to return to your PowerPoint
• Click on chart, if needed, and click on your Designer shortcut on the QAT (you added it right?) as it may not automatically display.
• Choose your favorite look from the options
• Add a title to chart and done! You could also size the chart and the size and/or move them manually, if desired
  

Designer is so amazing. No longer do you spend precious time wrangling with the slide layout to create dazzling presentations, and new features get added monthly to Office so be sure to check them out on a regular basis. It makes us look so smart!

Want to use Designer to convert a bulleted or numbered list to an amazing graphic? Here you go:  https://gaylelarson.com/powerpoint-designer-converts-lists-to-graphics/

Hope you had fun with this. What new things have you discovered in Office 365? Let me know in the Comments below!