Convert a PDF file to PowerPoint, one page per slide.

To convert a PDF file to PowerPoint here, drop the PDF on the box, press Make the PowerPoint and download a .pptx file with one slide for every page. Each slide holds its page as a picture, so the layout, fonts and images look exactly like the PDF. The text on the slides is part of the picture, so you cannot click into it and edit it. If you need words you can change, use PDF to Word instead. This page is for the case where you want the pages in a slide deck, to present them, add your own slides around them or drop them into an existing deck.

How to use it

1. Drop a PDF on the box, or click it to choose a file. A PDF with a password asks for it first.
2. Every page shows as a small picture. Click a page to leave it out, or type page numbers under Pages to use, such as 1-3, 5. Select all and Select none help with long files.
3. Choose a Slide size. Same as the PDF page makes a slide the shape of your first page. Widescreen, 16:9 and Standard, 4:3 make every slide that shape and fit each page inside it.
4. Choose a Picture quality. Standard, 150 dpi suits most slides. Pick Sharp, 220 dpi for small print or Small file, 96 dpi when size matters more.
5. Leave Put the page text in the speaker notes ticked if you want the words searchable. Type a File name if you like.
6. Press Make the PowerPoint. The slide appears in a large preview. Press Download the PowerPoint to save the file.

The slides are pictures

This is the honest part. A true PDF to PowerPoint conversion that gives editable text has to guess where each line, box and table belongs, and often gets it wrong. This tool does not guess. It draws the page exactly as it looks and places that picture on the slide. You get a perfect copy of the look, and no editable text.

That makes it a good fit for handouts, reports, scanned forms, contracts and design proofs that must look the same everywhere. It is a poor fit if you plan to reword the text or move the boxes around.

Searchable text in the notes

When the PDF has real text, the tool copies each page's words into the speaker notes of its slide. PowerPoint can search notes, and you can copy the words out of the Notes pane. The words are in reading order as the PDF stores them, so a page with several columns may come out mixed. A scanned PDF has no text to copy, only pictures of text, so its notes stay empty and the result summary says so. Run a scan through OCR PDF first if you want text in the notes.

Slide size and picture size, with numbers

With Same as the PDF page, the slide takes the size of the first page you picked, and every other page is fitted inside it. An A4 page is 595.28 by 841.89 points, which is 8.27 by 11.69 inches, so the slide is 8.27 by 11.69 inches. A US Letter page is 8.5 by 11 inches.

Choose Widescreen, 16:9 and the slide is 13.33 by 7.5 inches. A Letter page is taller than that, so it is fitted by height: 7.5 inches tall and 7.5 × 8.5 ÷ 11 = 5.80 inches wide, with about 3.77 inches of empty space on each side.

The picture quality sets how many pixels each inch of the page gets. An A4 page at each setting:

JPEG makes smaller files and suits photos and normal pages. PNG keeps flat colours and thin lines perfectly clean but the file grows quickly with every page. Very large pages are drawn a little smaller than the setting says, so the browser does not run out of memory.

Common problems

• The text looks soft on a big screen. Convert again at Sharp, 220 dpi. The slide stays the same size and only the picture gets more pixels.
• The file is very large. Choose Small file, 96 dpi, or leave out pages you do not need. You can also shrink the PDF first with Compress PDF.
• The pages have different sizes. The first page sets the slide size, and the rest are fitted inside it with empty space around them.
• A page looks blank. Some PDFs hold pages that are blank on purpose. Click such a page to leave it out.

The file is written in the standard .pptx format. It has not been opened in every presentation app, so check the slides in the app you use before you share the deck.