Sometimes it’s useful to convert your Power­Point present­a­tions into Word documents. The resulting handouts help your audience follow the present­a­tion, make notes, and read over your material after your present­a­tion. In this article, you’ll learn how to convert a file in .ppt format to Word and what steps are involved.

Con­vert­ing Power­Point to Word: how it works

To generate a Word document from your existing Power­Point project, you can use the export function offered by the present­a­tion software. Not only does this enable you to convert your Power­Point to Word, you can also continue to work on a Word document afterward. The software provides a range of options for exporting a Word document.

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Con­vert­ing Power­Point to Word – explained in three steps

A project in Power­Point is quickly trans­formed into a Word file. Simply open the relevant present­a­tion and then follow the steps below.

Step 1: Export the Power­Point file

First, start the export process for the present­a­tion into Word. Click on “File” and then “Export”.

Image: PowerPoint: Click on “File” to access the export option
Clicking on “File” opens the file menu that contains the “Export” option.
Image: Converting a PowerPoint to Word using the export function
Select “Export” in the File menu.

Step 2: Create handouts

The option to convert Power­Point to Word is called “Create Handouts”. Click on the as­so­ci­ated button.

Image: Converting PowerPoint to Word using “Create Handouts”
Click on “Create Handouts” to convert the Power­Point to a Word document.

Step 3: Convert slides in Microsoft Word

A menu called “Send to Microsoft Word” will appear. Here, you’ll see a preview of the page layout and can decide which option you prefer. Choose the page layout that best suits your needs.

Image: Menu window “Send to Microsoft Word”
You have many options for con­vert­ing Power­Point to Word.

The following options are available:

  • Notes next to the slides
  • Empty lines next to the slides
  • Notes beneath the slides
  • Empty lines next to the slides
  • Outline only

You can either add notes or empty lines for your audience. The “Outline only” option is useful if you want to provide the audience with a present­a­tion plan.

In the section below, you can choose between “Insert” and “Insert link”. “Insert” adds all the Power­Point content into Word as static elements. If you choose the link instead, the content in the Word file will auto­mat­ic­ally change when you alter the Power­Point file.

Convert Power­Point to Word: what to do if problems arise?

In the case of long present­a­tions and embedded media, con­vert­ing a file can take much longer and even result in an error message. If this happens, you can split the Power­Point present­a­tion into several parts before con­vert­ing them to Word. Each component can then be exported and combined with others in Word.

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