powerpoint file types

Maybe you haven’t thought too much in the past about saving your PowerPoint presentations. You’ve clicked the Save button on the Standard toolbar or selected File > Save from the menu and just routinely saved your files.

Each time you save a presentation file using the default settings, you save it as a Presentation (.ppt) file. In most situations this is fine, unless you want to save the file for review by coworkers, as a template for future presentations, as a Web page, or so that the presentation automatically opens in Slide Show view.

In these cases, and in many other special circumstances, you’ll want to save the presentation as a different file type. This article tells you how to do that, and provides an overview of the different file types available in PowerPoint.

Saving as a different file type

Saving a presentation as a different file type isn’t too different from regular saving.

First, select File > Save As from the menu. The Save As dialog box appears. Browse to the location where you want to save the file and type a name for the file in the "File name" text box.

Next—and this is the important part—click the "Save as type" list arrow and select a file type for saving the presentation. If you’ve already saved the presentation as another file type, choosing a new one here won’t override the old file, it will just create another file using the new file type. Finally, click the Save button. Tada! Your file is saved in the new file format.

File formats overview

Check out the list below to learn more about when you’d want to save your presentations as different file types.

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View the Save As dialog box