Most people are not graphic designers. When building a presentation, users often struggle to arrange images, select complementary fonts, or align text boxes, resulting in slides that look cluttered and unprofessional. To fix this, Microsoft built an AI-powered layout engine into the software called PowerPoint Designer.
Designer automatically analyses the text and images you place on a blank slide and instantly generates a dozen professionally designed layout options for you to choose from with a single click.
How to Activate PowerPoint Designer
Designer requires an active internet connection to function because the AI processing happens on Microsoft’s cloud servers, not on your local computer.
- Open your presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint.
- Create a new, blank slide.
- Add your raw content to the slide. For example, type a title, paste in three bullet points, and drag two photographs onto the slide. (Do not worry about resizing or aligning them; just drop them onto the canvas).
- Click the Design tab in the top ribbon menu.
- On the far right side of the ribbon, click the button labelled Designer (it features an icon of a lightning bolt).
Choosing a Generated Layout
The moment you click the button, a side panel will slide open on the right side of your screen. This is the Designer panel.
The panel will populate with several thumbnail images showing different ways to arrange your content. Depending on what you added to the slide, Designer will suggest various visual treatments:
- Image Cropping: If you added photos, Designer will automatically crop them, apply artistic filters, or arrange them into a grid.
- SmartArt Generation: If you typed a list of dates, Designer might automatically convert your text into a visual timeline. If you typed a list of steps, it might convert them into a flowchart.
- Icon Suggestions: If your text includes actionable words (like “Security,” “Speed,” or “Cost”), Designer will automatically find relevant vector icons from Microsoft’s library and place them next to your bullet points.
- Video Backgrounds: For title slides, Designer will often suggest looping, cinematic video backgrounds that match the theme of your presentation.
Scroll through the options in the side panel. When you see a layout you like, simply click the thumbnail. Your slide will instantly transform to match the design.
How to Reverse or Edit a Design
Designer is non-destructive. If you click a layout and decide you hate it, you are not stuck with it.
- To try another option: Simply click a different thumbnail in the Designer panel.
- To undo the change: Press Ctrl + Z on your keyboard to instantly revert the slide back to your messy, original layout.
Furthermore, because Designer uses standard PowerPoint shapes and text boxes to build its layouts, every element remains fully editable. If you like a layout but want to change the colour of a specific box or adjust the size of a font, you can click on those individual elements on the slide and modify them exactly as you would normally.