how to share my presentation on teams

Think Outside The Slide

5 Options for How to Present a PowerPoint Slide Show in a Microsoft Teams meeting

If you are using Microsoft Teams to meet with others who are working remotely, you may not realize that you have seven choices when it comes to how you will present your PowerPoint slides to the group (I added two options I discovered after the article was first published). In this article I will share more details on these seven options and you will get a link to that option in my video that shows you what your audience will see. In this article I am using the Teams app in Windows 10. The seven options are:

• Share your entire screen/desktop
• Share the Slide Show window
• Share the editing window with a clean look
• Run the Slide Show in a window and share that window
• Use the PowerPoint sharing option in Teams
• Use Presenter View to show the audience your slides while you see Presenter View
• Present with your video beside your PowerPoint slides

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Option 1: Share your entire screen/desktop

This is the default method that most people choose because it is the closest to what we would do if we were in a meeting room with the participants sitting around the table. In Teams, you choose the sharing option called Desktop. The audience sees everything that is on your desktop, so if PowerPoint is not full screen, they will see any wallpaper you have and any other open applications with potentially confidential information displayed. They will also see the small Teams window in the lower right corner of your screen unless you minimize it.

You start your slide show in PowerPoint and all features will work, including animations and transitions. You can use a presentation remote to advance through your slides or use the arrow keys. Because the slides take up the whole screen, you can’t see the Teams controls so you may miss any chat or questions from the audience. If you use Alt+Tab to switch to the Teams window to see the chat discussion, the audience sees this as well because they see everything on your screen.

Here is the section of my video that shows Option 1: Share your entire screen/desktop

Option 2: Share the Slide Show window

Because Teams allows you to share any window that is open on your computer, another option you have is to share the window that has the Slide Show in it. Before you start sharing in Teams, start the Slide Show in PowerPoint. This will display the slides on the entire screen. Use Alt+Tab to go back to the Teams window. In the Teams sharing options, choose the window that is displaying the slide show (make sure you select the slide show window, not the PowerPoint regular window).

Again, since you are using full PowerPoint, all features work and this is similar to presenting before an audience in a meeting room. Because you are only sharing a window, the audience won’t see anything else on your screen. Because the slides take up the whole screen, you won’t see the Teams window with any chat or discussion. But you can switch to the Teams window using Alt+Tab to check the chat conversation without the audience seeing what you are doing.

Here is the section of my video that shows Option 2: Share the Slide Show window

Option 3: Share the editing window with a clean look

The first two options don’t allow you to see any other documents or notes that you may have on your screen because the slides cover the entire screen. If you don’t need any animation or transition features and are comfortable with the audience seeing the edit view of PowerPoint, you can choose to use a view that minimizes the PowerPoint interface so the slide is the focus.

In the normal editing view, minimize the slide thumbnails by dragging the vertical divider all the way to the left until it just shows the text indicating that thumbnails are available. Drag the horizontal divider at the bottom of the slide down to hide any notes that are below the slides. Third, collapse the ribbon by clicking on the collapse indicator (an upward arrow head) in the lower right corner of any ribbon. Finally, maximize the size of the slide in the editing window if it did not automatically resize itself. Now your slide is large in the editing window and PowerPoint has a cleaner look than the normal editing view.

In the Teams sharing options, choose the window for this PowerPoint presentation. When you move through the slides, you are not using Slide Show mode so there are none of the animation or transition features available. Any embedded media will not run automatically and must be manually played. You can move through the slides using the down and up arrow keys or the PageDown and PageUp keys.

This is not as clean as Slide Show mode, but it allows you to see other open documents on your screen without the audience seeing them. To see the full Teams window you can click on the small Teams window in the lower right of your screen and the audience will not see this either. This allows you to keep up with any chat discussion while presenting.

Here is the section of my video that shows Option 3: Share the editing window with a clean look

Option 4: Run the Slide Show in a window and share that window

Many presenters are not aware that PowerPoint has the option to run a slide show within the window it is in without taking up the entire screen. PowerPoint refers to this as the “Browsed by an individual” mode or Reading View. To use this mode, on the Slide Show ribbon, click on the Set Up Slide Show button. In the dialog box, in the Show type section in the to left corner, change the option by clicking on the radio button for “Browsed by an individual”. Click the OK button to save the change and exit the dialog box. Now whenever you enter Slide Show mode, the slides are run just in this PowerPoint window, not the full screen. You can change this back to the default of “Presented by a speaker” after the meeting is done.

In the Teams sharing options, choose the window for this PowerPoint presentation. Start the Slide Show mode in PowerPoint. You will see the slide show with some additional controls at the top and bottom of the window and possibly black bars on the top/bottom or left/right depending on the size of the window relative to the size of the slides. This is a slightly different look for the audience if they are used to the full screen version of Slide Show mode.

Because this is Slide Show mode, all animations and transitions work as expected. What is different than the full screen Slide Show mode is that the laser pointer, inking, and some other features are not available. Since you are only sharing this window, the audience does not see any other documents you may have open on the screen. To see the full Teams window you can click on the small Teams window in the lower right of your screen and the audience will not see this either. This allows you to keep up with any chat discussion while presenting.

Since this option is only sharing one window, it uses less bandwidth than sharing a full screen which may help users on lower speed connections have a better experience with less lags or distortion. This option may give you the best combination of PowerPoint features and presenter controls and options.

Here is the section of my video that shows Option 4: Run the Slide Show in a window and share that window

Option 5: Use the PowerPoint sharing option in Teams

Because Microsoft created Teams and PowerPoint, they have built in a presentation method that is unique amongst other meeting platforms. The PowerPoint sharing option allows you to load a PowerPoint file from your SharePoint library or from your computer. It then runs the slide show using PowerPoint on the Web inside Teams. This option offers some advantages according to Microsoft, including the use of far less bandwidth compared to screen sharing ( this video shows the dramatic drop in network usage with this method), not requiring PowerPoint to be installed on the computer, use of the PowerPoint on the Web accessibility features, availability of co-presenting features, and less battery usage compared to sharing the screen.

While all of these advantages are great, the biggest disadvantage is that the method uses PowerPoint on the Web, which does not support all features of PowerPoint yet. As you will see in the video, depending on what transitions or animations you use, they may not work properly or they may allow the audience to see parts of the slide before you build them on the slide. Microsoft is working on improving PowerPoint on the Web so it is a better experience but at this time I would advise you to test every slide in advance in a setup so you can see what the audience sees so you make sure the slides appear the way you want them to.

Because this method is integrated into Teams, the slide show happens in the Teams window and you see the Teams control bar on top of the slide show when you are presenting. You have access to all the Teams options in the window. Since the slide show is just in the Teams window, you also have the rest of your screen available for other documents you want to refer to.

Here is the section of my video that shows Option 5: Use the PowerPoint sharing option in Teams

Option 6: Use Presenter View to show the audience your slides while you see Presenter View

If you prefer to use Presenter View to see your speaking notes while the audience only sees your slides, I have instructions for using Presenter View in Teams with 1 or 2 screens and in Windows or on a Mac in my Complete Guide to using PowerPoint Presenter View in Teams .

Option 7: Present with your video beside your PowerPoint slides

You can present in a Microsoft Teams or Zoom meeting with your video beside your PowerPoint slides so your facial expressions can be easily seen along with the slides. The idea is to arrange our video and slides on our desktop and share the entire screen, so we control the size of both the video and the slides. This does not require you to install any software and uses the built-in features of the operating system and PowerPoint. For Windows 10 I explain the detailed steps in this article and show you how this is done in this video . For a Mac I explain the detailed steps in this article .

In my opinion, Option 6, using Presenter View, is perhaps the best option because it In my opinion, Option 5, using Presenter View, is the best option for most presenters because it allows you to see your notes and access all the expert features of Presenter View while the attendees see your full slides. It is what I use when I deliver my customized training courses .

( Get more articles on using Teams effectively here )

Full video with all five original options

Dave Paradi has over twenty-two years of experience delivering customized training workshops to help business professionals improve their presentations. He has written ten books and over 600 articles on the topic of effective presentations and his ideas have appeared in publications around the world . His focus is on helping corporate professionals visually communicate the messages in their data so they don’t overwhelm and confuse executives. Dave is one of fewer than ten people in North America recognized by Microsoft with the Most Valuable Professional Award for his contributions to the Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams communities. His articles and videos on virtual presenting have been viewed over 4.8 million times and liked over 17,000 times on YouTube.

By Dave Paradi

Dave Paradi has over twenty-two years of experience delivering customized training workshops to help business professionals improve their presentations. He has written ten books and over 600 articles on the topic of effective presentations and his ideas have appeared in publications around the world . His focus is on helping corporate professionals visually communicate the messages in their data so they don't overwhelm and confuse executives. Dave is one of fewer than ten people in North America recognized by Microsoft with the Most Valuable Professional Award for his contributions to the Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams communities. His articles and videos on virtual presenting have been viewed over 4.8 million times and liked over 17,000 times on YouTube.

Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How to Share a PowerPoint Presentation on Microsoft Teams

How to Share a PowerPoint Presentation on Microsoft Teams

In recent years many remote meeting tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom have become the norm for regular remote meetings. If you’re new to Microsoft Teams, the chances are you are still finding your way around various options. One of the most common questions a Microsoft Teams newbie might ask is how to share PowerPoint on Teams.

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is a messaging app by Microsoft for online collaboration and remote meetings that comes integrated with Microsoft 365. It provides a real-time workspace where end users can collaborate via chat, Teams Channels, Live calls, etc. Microsoft Teams also integrates with other Microsoft products like PowerPoint and OneDrive, enabling instant file sharing via the cloud.

Why use Microsoft Teams to Present Your PowerPoint Presentations?

Many organizations use Microsoft Teams for online collaboration and remote meetings. Organizations with integrated Microsoft products like its Windows operating system, Microsoft Office, and Azure Active Directory prefer Teams as the primary internal and external communication app. Organizations use Microsoft Teams to provide secure accounts to employees, with two-factor authentication and data encryption. These accounts are integrated into the Active Directory, providing scalability and control for IT administrators to offer people within an organization an online collaboration platform that can be securely used within the limits of the organization’s data protection policies.

While there are many alternatives to Microsoft teams, such as Zoom and Google Meet, the integration of teams with other Microsoft products, such as Azure, Microsoft Office apps, and OneDrive, makes it attractive within a secure enterprise environment.

How to Present PowerPoint in Teams?

How to present your PowerPoint slides on Microsoft Teams, let us tell you there are at least two methods for sharing presentations. This includes sharing a PowerPoint file directly and presenting your slide deck before one or more meeting participants, or perhaps PowerPoint templates or Google Slides templates to help a colleague design a slide deck.

How to Attach and Share Your PowerPoint Slides on Teams

To share a PowerPoint file on Microsoft Teams, go to an ongoing conversation or meeting window and click Attach files . This will provide you with the option to either fetch a file via OneDrive or from your device. This option can be used for sharing PowerPoint files and other types of files, such as documents, spreadsheets, videos, compressed files, etc.

When sharing a file, you can add a message optionally before hitting Send .

The recipient and the sender can download the file, open it in a browser, or copy the file link for further sharing.

How to Present Your PowerPoint Slides on Teams

Method #1: use the share button in powerpoint.

You can also directly present your slide deck via Microsoft Teams by sharing your screen to start a Live presentation during a remote meeting instantly. Suppose your organization uses Microsoft Teams regularly. In that case, the chances are you will be using it for presentations during remote meetings; therefore, it’s essential to know how to use the screen-sharing option to present online.

Method #2: Share Screen to Present a PowerPoint Presentation

Another way to present a PowerPoint presentation on Teams is by sharing the screen with your audience. If you share your screen, this will show the audience whatever is visible on the entire screen on your device.

Pros of sharing your screen with the audience to present a presentation:

• It is easier to activate
• You can easily switch to other windows besides the PowerPoint presentation and also share them with the audience

Cons of sharing your entire screen on Teams for presenting:

• If you have confidential data in other windows, you may want to avoid switching the windows and keep only the Slideshow window in front.
• You may accidentally switch to other windows, and your audience can lose focus of the presentation.

Method #3: Share PowerPoint Window to Present Your Slides

If you intend to hide parts of your screen, you can simply share the relevant PowerPoint window so that your audience can only view the presentation. During a Live call, click the Share button and select your screen or window to share.

5 Features to Make the Most from Your Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation Sharing in Teams

Microsoft Teams offers a wide array of features that make it a robust remote meeting and online collaboration app since it leverages the full force of Microsoft 365 and other Microsoft products.

1. Translate Slides into a Different Language

This is a private feature that individuals can use to translate slides in their language instantly. As a presenter, you can ask your audience to use this feature if they deem it convenient to help bridge a gap that might exist due to a language barrier.

Slides can be viewed in a different language via More actions > Translate Slides . From the drop-down list, you can pick a preferred language.

2. Use Live Captions

Microsoft Teams supports Live Captions / Closed Captions (CC) to help persons with disabilities, including those suffering from hearing impairment. Closed Captions can also be helpful for people to translate or view text in a preferred language.

Turn on Live Captions: To enable Live Captions on Teams, go to More options > Turn on live captions . Translate Spoken Language: To translate Live Captions, go to Captions settings > Change spoken language .

Turn Off Live Captions: You can turn off Live captions anytime via More actions > Turn off live captions .

3. View Slides in High Contrast

Viewing slides in high contrast on Teams can have several benefits. For example, it helps you focus on the content and is also helpful for people with visual impairment. To configure your slides to appear in high contrast, follow the steps below:

1. Launch your PowerPoint presentation.

2. Click on the Present tab at the top of the window.3. Go to More action > View slides in high contrast .

4. Annotate your Slides in Real Time

Like any standard remote meeting app, Microsoft Teams also provides a number of handy annotation options to help you make the most out of your PowerPoint presentations. You can click on Start annotation when sharing your full screen during presentations to start annotating slides.

Powered by Microsoft Whiteboard, this powerful feature enables one or more meeting participants or the presenter to annotate presentations. It can also be a helpful feature when you’re looking to collaborate online during a Live presentation.

5. Pop Out the Window

You can separate the presentation window from the Teams window to make it easier to work with the two. This feature can be handy when working with multiple monitors or separating the two windows from uncluttering your screen. You can use this option by clicking on the Pop-out option from the toolbar during a screen-sharing session.

Until now, we have seen how to share presentations specifically on Microsoft Teams. However, there are other ways to share presentations. In our article How to share a PowerPoint presentation we review different methods to share a PPT with others.

How to Stop Presenting on Teams

When presenting your slide deck, you can also present your PowerPoint presentation using any view, be it as a SlideShow or in Normal view. Once you’re done presenting, click Stop Presenting to conclude your session. Furthermore, you can also choose to enable or disable your camera and computer sound when presenting your slides.

To turn off screen sharing during a remote meeting, you can click Stop Sharing .

Present in Teams Button in PowerPoint is Missing. How to Fix it?

Some users might have used the Present in Teams option to share a PowerPoint presentation during a meeting. Suppose you are wondering why the Present in Teams button in PowerPoint Presentations is missing. In that case, this option isn’t available for anyone using the free version of Teams, as only users with a paid subscription, such as a Business Standard or Business Premium Plan. Furthermore, you must share your PowerPoint presentation with OneDrive to use this option. To use the Present in Teams option, upload your PowerPoint presentation to OneDrive. You can do this via File > Save As > OneDrive .

Once done, the Present in Teams button will become available to instantly launch your presentation for sharing during a Teams call.

5 Tips to Make your Presentation a Success on Microsoft Teams

Presenting PowerPoint in Teams can require being mindful of a number of things. This includes accounting for brevity to ensure your presentation does not take more than its designated time, using slides that are suitable for remote meetings. Below is a list of 5 tips to make your presentation successful using Microsoft Teams.

1. Check Your Audio and Video Settings

One of the most annoying problems faced during remote meetings is technical failures such as no or low audio quality. This becomes even more annoying when the meeting organizer or a presenter during their session faces the issue, wasting precious time. This is why you must check your audio and video settings beforehand to ensure everything works correctly. If you need to play a video during your session, make a test call with a colleague and get feedback if the sound and video quality are up to the mark.

2. Make Sure Your Slides are Clear and Concise

Presentations delivered via Microsoft Teams will often take place during scheduled remote meetings. This means that you will have to account for the designated time given for your session, which is why you must ensure that your slides are clear and concise.

3. Use Animations and Transitions Sparingly

Since remote meetings will be attended by participants using different types of computers and mobile devices, some animations and transitions might not be suitable. This is because they can cause Teams to slow down, or the slides might not display appropriately via screen sharing. For example, 3D animations , GIF animations , and objects with elaborate PowerPoint animated sequences might cause issues when displayed via Teams. 

4. Keep Your Slides on Topic

One of the banes of remote meetings is how a discussion can go off-topic very quickly. This is why it’s best to ensure that your slides remain focused on the topic and additional discussions are discouraged during the presentation session.

5. Use Team Members’ Names Sparingly to Call Out Specific Points

Calling out team members for their opinion or advice during a remote meeting can quickly lead to a very lengthy and off-topic discussion. This is why it’s best to call out team members’ sparingly. If you have been using Teams or other remote meeting apps long enough, you would have learned by now that for some topics, it’s best to ask participants to schedule a separate meeting so that the ongoing discussion remains on track.

Other Issues to Troubleshoot while presenting a PowerPoint presentation on Microsoft Teams

Someone has already set up Teams for your organization’s error

If you’re using a premium subscription for Microsoft Teams managed by your organization’s IT team, you might get an error when logging in to Teams. In such a case, you might get the following error:

“Someone has already set up Teams for your organization.”  

If you see the error message mentioned above, this means that your account isn’t ready yet, and you need to contact your organization’s IT team to ask when your account might be ready for use.

We’re sorry–we’ve run into an issue error.

Another prevalent issue is when the following error message appears:

“We’re sorry–we’ve run into an issue.”

This is a generic message, and usually, it can be resolved by clicking the Restart button that appears below the error. In case the issue isn’t resolved after restarting the Teams app, ensure your Internet connection is working. More often than not, the issue is associated with the Internet connection. If the issue persists, you can clear your cache , reinstall Teams or contact your IT support team. The error can also occur if there is an outage affecting Microsoft products or if there is a configuration issue for Microsoft 365 accounts associated with your organization.

Teams is integrated with Microsoft products like PowerPoint, OneDrive, and Office, allowing for seamless and secure sharing of files during remote meetings. It’s widely used in organizations for its ease of use and security features.

To share a PowerPoint file, go to a meeting or conversation, click Attach files, and choose the file from OneDrive or your device. You can send the file to other participants for viewing or editing.

You can present by sharing your screen or PowerPoint window during a Teams call. Click the Share button in Teams, select your PowerPoint presentation, and begin the live presentation.

During a meeting, click Share in the toolbar and choose Screen. This allows you to show everything on your screen, including the PowerPoint presentation and other open apps.

Pros: Easy setup, allows switching between apps. Cons: Potentially exposes sensitive information if you accidentally switch to other windows during the presentation.

You can turn on live captions by clicking More actions -> Turn on live captions. This feature can display captions to assist people with hearing impairments or non-native speakers.

The ‘Present in Teams’ button is available only for users with a paid Microsoft Teams subscription (e.g., Business Standard or Premium) and requires your PowerPoint file to be saved in OneDrive.

Final Words

Using Microsoft Teams to share a presentation file is easy enough. However, when presenting a PowerPoint presentation in Teams, you must decide how to present your slide deck. If you need to switch back and forth between your slides and another document, spreadsheet, or browser window, it might be best to share your entire screen. However, if you wish to focus only on the slide deck, sharing your Window can help you avoid sharing the rest of your screen with the audience.

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Meeting, Microsoft Teams, Share Filed under PowerPoint Tutorials

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A successful PowerPoint presentation extends beyond just the content—its delivery is just as important, especially in a virtual space like Microsoft Teams.

In Microsoft Teams, you can choose to present your slide deck by sharing your entire screen, PowerPoint window, or using the Microsoft Teams' PowerPoint Live feature. Let's explore how you can use each of these three methods and discuss their pros and cons.

Method 1: Share Screen

Sharing your screen in Microsoft Teams is pretty easy and straightforward. It's best to minimize or close unnecessary tabs before joining the Microsoft Teams meeting to avoid exposing sensitive information. Once you're confident in your screen's content, follow the steps below:

• A red border appears around your desktop, indicating you're sharing your screen.
• Present your PowerPoint slideshow.

Sharing your screen is a straightforward method, especially when you want to present other documents besides your PowerPoint slideshow. However, the downside is that you may accidentally reveal sensitive information.

Method 2: Share PowerPoint Window

If you want only to present your PowerPoint slide deck, it's best to share just that window. Here's how:

• A red border will appear around your PowerPoint window, indicating you're sharing just that window.
• Launch your slides in slideshow mode and start presenting.
• Open the Microsoft Teams window and click Stop sharing when you're done presenting.

Sharing just your PowerPoint window prevents accidental display of sensitive desktop content. Even if you switch windows, viewers only see the PowerPoint presentation.

However, this method also has its limitations. One of the main limits is that you can't view your PowerPoint speaker notes without the audience seeing them as well. You also can't access Microsoft Teams features like the chat and reactions during your presentation.

Additionally, If your network connection has low bandwidth or slow upload speed , sharing your screen can result in a blurry and stuttering presentation for the audience. Thankfully, the PowerPoint Live feature provides the solution to these issues.

Method 3: Use PowerPoint Live

Presenting with the PowerPoint Live feature is easy and provides additional benefits. Your audience only sees the slides, while you get to see all the extra controls that come with the presenter view. When using the presenter view in your presentation, you have a few helpful tools at your disposal:

• You can easily adjust the font size of your slide notes to make them more readable.
• To navigate between slides, simply click on the corresponding thumbnail.
• You can use the laser pointer, pen, or highlighter tools to draw attention to specific areas of a slide.
• Use the Standout layout to place your camera feed on the slide without the background.
• Use the Cameo layout to insert yourself into the slide, provided you've set up Cameo to record customized camera feeds .

Here's how you can use PowerPoint Live to share your presentation:

• When it's your turn to present, click Share .
• When you're done presenting, click Stop sharing in the top toolbar.

The PowerPoint Live feature tackles the limitations of sharing your entire screen or PowerPoint window. It also comes with really cool features like co-presenting and allowing attendees to click on links in the presentation.

Your Audience's View When Using PowerPoint Live

In addition to the main slide view, your audience also has access to the slide navigation, grid, and more options controls (the three dots icon below the slides).

This means they can navigate the slides at their own pace and change specific slide settings to suit their preference without affecting your view and that of others. If you find this non-ideal for delivering an engaging presentation , you can disable the audience's navigation control. To do so, enable Private view in the top toolbar.

By default, each meeting attendee joins as a presenter. This means they can share their own content or control someone else's presentation. If that's not what you want, you can change each person's meeting roles in Microsoft Teams to prevent it.

Deliver a Seamless Presentation Experience in Microsoft Teams

Presenting your PowerPoint slides in Microsoft Teams might seem tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's a piece of cake. Practice makes perfect. So before your next Teams presentation, familiarize yourself with your chosen method to ensure an effective delivery.

• Productivity
• Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft PowerPoint