When delivering a presentation, the last thing you want to do is break your flow by exiting full-screen mode, frantically clicking through your computer’s file explorer, and awkwardly waiting for Adobe Acrobat to open just so you can show the audience a PDF report.
To maintain a professional, seamless presentation, you can embed a PDF document directly onto a PowerPoint slide. This allows you to display a high-quality snapshot of the PDF directly on the screen, and even double-click it during the live presentation to instantly open the full document without ever searching for the file.
This guide explains how to properly embed a PDF file into Microsoft PowerPoint.
Step 1: Prepare the PDF File
Before you begin, ensure the PDF file you want to embed is completely closed. If the PDF is currently open in a web browser, Adobe Reader, or Mac Preview, PowerPoint will throw a “file in use” error and refuse to embed it.
Step 2: Insert the PDF as an Object
You must insert the PDF as an OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) object, rather than just dragging and dropping it onto the slide.
- Open your Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.
- Navigate to the specific slide where you want the PDF to appear.
- Click the Insert tab in the main ribbon at the top of the window.
- Look toward the far right side of the ribbon for the “Text” group, and click the button labeled Object. (If your window is small, it might just be a tiny icon that looks like a blue calendar with a white window).
- An “Insert Object” dialog box will appear. On the left side, select the radio button labeled Create from file.
- Click the Browse button and navigate through your computer to find your PDF file. Select it and click OK.
- Ensure the checkbox labeled Link is unchecked. Leaving it unchecked guarantees the PDF is permanently physically embedded inside the PowerPoint file, meaning it will still work if you email the presentation to a colleague.
- Click OK.
Step 3: Format the PDF on the Slide
PowerPoint will now place an image of the very first page of your PDF directly onto the slide. You can click and drag the corners to resize it or move it around, just like a standard photograph.
During your live presentation:
When you reach this slide, the audience will see the image of the first page. If you want to show them page 2, or scroll through the entire document, simply double-click the embedded image of the PDF on the slide. PowerPoint will instantly launch your computer’s default PDF reader and display the full document. When you close the PDF reader, you will be right back in your full-screen PowerPoint slide, exactly where you left off.