Google Presentations as an alternative to PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint has established itself as one of the leading programs for presentations on the market in recent years. But there are other programs similar to PowerPoint that are very good alternatives to Microsoft's application. One of these programs is Google Presentations. In this post, we will dedicate ourselves to the comparison of PowerPoint vs Google Slides. Which of the two programs best suits your use cases?

Why PowerPoint? Microsoft PowerPoint has been the preferred program for presentations for many users for decades, especially since Microsoft offers the software as part of the Office 365 suite bundled with Word and Excel. As with Word and Excel, its roots go back to the 1980s, when Microsoft acquired Forethought and its Presenter software. Subsequently, Microsoft developed the application under the new name PowerPoint, first for Apple macOS, and later for the in-house platform Windows.

PowerPoint works basically page-oriented and offers extensive options for the individual pages, also known as slides or slides. In the course of its development, PowerPoint has added a large number of features such as animations, transitions, fonts and designs. It is also possible to integrate Word, Excel as well as other file types, including audio and video clips, into presentations. With all these functions, PowerPoint has established itself as a useful software in companies, schools, universities and public administration.

Possibilities and limitations of PowerPoint Online

PowerPoint was originally designed as a desktop application for Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows and thus for use by individual users. Possibilities for team collaboration, especially for working on presentations simultaneously, were only upgraded by Microsoft with the further development of Microsoft 365 Apps (formerly known as Office 365). However, the full range of functions is still reserved for the desktop version, which users would consequently have to install on a client computer running Windows or macOS.

Microsoft has now released a modern version, PowerPoint Online, which can be used as an app for Google Android and Apple iOS or directly online in the browser, regardless of the platform. However, these online versions only offer a greatly reduced range of functions. PowerPoint Online displays new and old templates as well as presentations with macros in them (*.ppam), but users cannot execute the macros, change the files, or save them in a different format.

Several other differences between the desktop and PowerPoint Online are revealed in advanced features. Outline and slide master views only work on the desktop. Furthermore, not all animation effects and slide transitions can be used online. The "Animation Area", with which users can determine the sequence of animations on the desktop and configure their sequence in detail - individually or together, on click or time-controlled - is completely missing online. In addition, the options in the "Insert" menu are also limited in PowerPoint Online. Users can only insert Excel and other objects into PowerPoint slides on the desktop. PowerPoint Online displays such objects, but changes to them can only be made with the full-blown PowerPoint on the desktop.

Another challenge is fonts. If, for example, older fonts are still used as part of the corporate design on the desktop that are not available online, the layout and display of the slides in PowerPoint Online may differ. So when migrating from the desktop to modern web-based collaboration, there are a number of points to consider, even within Microsoft's product family, and there will be work involved in the migration.

PowerPoint Alternative - Google Presentations

Google Presentations, also known as Google Presentation or simply Google Slides, on the other hand, was developed from scratch as a web-based alternative to PowerPoint. So which points are particularly worth mentioning when comparing Google Presentation vs. PowerPoint?

Google Presentations, as part of Google Workspace, is a powerful alternative to PowerPoint, as it offers many comparable features and has additional benefits. It requires no installation and can be used anywhere and anytime across platforms. Another advantage of Google Presentations is that it allows real-time collaboration. This means that multiple people can work on a presentation without having to send the file back and forth. This is especially useful for geographically dispersed teams working together on presentations. Google Presentations also offers automatic storage in the cloud. This means that the presentation is continuously synchronized as users make changes.

So, is the "PowerPoint by Google" the best choice when it comes to creating powerful presentations? Google Slides is fully competitive with PowerPoint. How quickly you get up to speed depends largely on whether you have a legacy of PowerPoint presentations whose designs and features may need to be adapted.

Are you interested in modern team work with Google Slides and need support in migrating from Microsoft PowerPoint?