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25 Tools for Creating and Delivering Amazing Presentations

Fergal Glynn

Updated: August 10, 2022

Published: November 10, 2020

If you're in business, you need to know how to create captivating presentations. Whether you're trying to convince your boss to support a new campaign, talking with a prospect to close a deal, or building a new piece of marketing collateral, you need to know how craft a presentation that won't put people to sleep.

what is online presentation tools

The best (and easiest) way to do that? Use the right tools to create and deliver your presentation.

→ Free Download: 10 PowerPoint Presentation Templates [Access Now]

If you're not sure which tools to use, look no further than this blog post. We’ve compiled our list of the top presentation tools for sales and marketing professionals. They’re listed below, in no particular order. But first ...

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Best Presentation Tools

best presentation software: canva

Canva makes design easy -- even for marketers and salespeople who feel like they're design-challenged. The platform gives you a bunch of presentation templates to use right away, and it's very easy to customize them to your organization and presentation objective. Plus, a variety of apps that integrate with Google Drive, Instagram, and YouTube, to name a few.

Pricing : Free; Pro, $12.95/month for up to five people; Enterprise, $30/month per person

best presentation software: powtoon

Often, being different is what attracts prospects, and Powtoon can help you do that in your presentations. Powtoon’s animation software lets you easily create videos with props, characters, and more -- which can help you differentiate your company when talking with prospects.

Pricing : Pro, $19/month; Pro+ $49/month; Agency, $89/month

3. PowerPoint

best presentation software: powerpoint

For years, PowerPoint has been the standard in presentation software, but it hasn’t remained static. PowerPoint is full of features to make sales and marketing presentations dynamic and engaging. ( Here are just a few ways you can do that .)

Pricing : Business Basic, $5/user/month; Business Standard, $12.50/user/month; Business Premium, $20/user/month

4. Slidesgo

what is online presentation tools

Slidesgo is your creative companion in the world of presentation design. This website specializes in crafting visually stunning Google Slides and PowerPoint templates that breathe life into your ideas, making them shine on any screen. With a wide variety of templates ranging from business and marketing to medicine and education, Slidesgo empowers presenters of all backgrounds to engage, educate, and inspire their audiences.

Pricing: Free plan, $0; Premium, $4.99; Education, $2.99

best presentation software: oomfo

A PowerPoint add-in, Oomfo helps sales and marketing pros create those oh-so-important interactive charts for presentations. Specialized charts, live charts from multiple files, data from cloud applications, interactive options, one-click conversions -- it’s all possible, and more, with Oomfo.

Pricing: Free

best presentation software: keynote

Apple’s Keynote allows users to work between their Mac and iOS devices, as well as with people who use Microsoft PowerPoint. With easy-to-use visual tools, drag and drop functionality, interactive charts, and more, Keynote is a popular choice among sales and marketing professionals.

Pricing : Free

7. SlideModel

best presentation software: slidemodel

SlideModel contains thousands of ready-made and 100% editable presentation templates to help any presenter save time creating engaging and aesthetically pleasing presentations. Their collection of presentation templates covers a variety of business purposes and even gets updated periodically to add new business and education templates. You can find a collection of visually appealing slides on the site including dashboards, creative infographics, editable Maps, funnels, timelines, mindmaps, and presentation slides depending on the need of your presentation. Their slides templates are easy to edit and are compatible with PowerPoint and Google Slides.

Pricing :  Free plan, $0; One-Day Access, $24.50; Annual Unlimited, $199.90/year

8. Beautiful.ai

best presentation software: beautiful.ai

Create beautiful slides, pitches, and proposals without a team of designers. AI applies design rules in real time, and a library of free photos and icons are at your fingertips.

Pricing : Basic, $0; Pro, $12/month; Team, $38/user/month

9. Haiku Deck

best presentation software: haiku deck

Available for the web or iPad, Haiku Deck has become a favorite of sales and marketing pros. With Haiku Deck, professionals can quickly create presentations that can be "easily projected, shared, posted, embedded on a website or blog, or viewed on any web-enabled device." Though it's another tool that helps you create presentations from scratch, its ease-of-use sets it apart from the rest.

Pricing : Pro, $9.99 - $19.99/month; Premium, $29.99/month

best presentation software: vyond

Vyond is an online animation software that allows you to create animated videos for marketing campaigns, sales enablement, or even human resources. Use their library of customizable templates or create your own from scratch.

Pricing : Essential, $229/year; Premium, $649/year; Professional, $999/user/year; Enterprise, contact for pricing

11. Storydoc

best presentation software: storydoc

With templates for all the most popular business use cases, Storydoc is an interactive presentation maker built to help sales teams and marketing professionals engage more prospects and boost conversion rates. 

You can create amazing and engaging decks where you can embed video and social media content to tell your story the right way. Then, integrate your CRM into Storydoc decks, as well as calendars, sign-up forms, and other solutions that will make your presentation. Additionally, you have access to Storydoc's tracking analytics which shows who viewed your presentation and which components they interacted with the most. 

Pricing :  Free trial 14 days); Starter Plan, $40/month

best presentation software: emaze

Busy sales and marketing pros choose emaze because it makes creating amazing presentations quick and easy. The options abound with emaze: Choose a professionally designed template and then create a slideshow, video presentation , or 3D presentation.

Pricing : Business Plan, contact for pricing; Executive Plan, $40/month; Pro Plan, $13/month

13. Camtasia

best presentation software: camtasia

TechSmith’s Camtasia is an amazing tool that helps you create professional videos. You can record screen movements, import HD video from another source, customize and edit the video, and then share the completed video presentation on practically any device. 

Pricing : Individual, $249.99/user/year; Business $249.99/user/year; Education, $169.99/user/year; Government and Non-Profit, $223.99/user/year

14. SlideShare

best presentation software: slideshare

SlideShare is a popular choice for sales and marketing professionals looking for a way to share their content publicly. Because it already has a built-in audience, you can easily distribute your presentation out to lots of people -- and those people can embed your SlideShares on websites and blogs, or share them on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

15. SlideDog

best presentation software: slidedog

Sometimes, sales and marketing professionals need to be able to move between presentation tools, but it’s not always possible because of their technical limitations. SlideDog is the solution, as it enables users to switch between PowerPoint, Prezi, PDF, web pages and others.

Pricing : Free; Pro, $99/year; Pro Event, $49 for one-time payment

16. Presentation Assistant

best presentation software: presentation assistant

Presentation Assistant lives up to its name: It assists professionals by enabling them to annotate, zoom, and more during a presentation. Sales and marketing professionals can clarify and emphasize points more clearly to their audience with Presentation Assistant.

Pricing : Presentation Pointer, $29.95; Presentation Screen Master, $29.95

17. authorSTREAM

best presentation software: authorstream

Sales and marketing pros choose authorSTREAM to make their presentations dynamic and engaging. authorSTREAM allows users to share their PowerPoint presentations publicly or privately, broadcast them, convert them to video, communicate and collaborate about them, and more.

Pricing: Free or paid plans start at $4.20/month

18. Zentation

best presentation software: zentation

With Zentation, salespeople and marketers combine video and slides into a simulated live experience. Presentations created with Zentation become webinars, webcasts, and virtual events for prospects and customers -- all great collateral for marketing and sales.

Pricing : Free; Premium, $10 - $45/month; White-Label, contact for pricing

best presentation software: prezi

Sales and marketing professionals love Prezi because it is cloud-based. Prezi makes creating, editing, and presenting from your browser, desktop, iPad, or iPhone possible anywhere, any time.

Pricing : Standard, $5/month; Plus, $15/month; Premium, $59/month

20. Brainshark

best presentation software: brainshark

Sales reps and marketers often choose Brainshark, a cloud-based presentation tool, because it allows them to create and deliver presentations live or on-demand (even using their iPad or iPhone), use on-demand video content, polls, or surveys for increased engagement, and embed presentations in websites and blogs.

Pricing : Contact for pricing

best presentation software: vcasmo

Vcasmo is a unique presentation tool -- it's a multimedia solution that enables users to synchronize a video and slideshow, side by side. Sales and marketing pros love Vcasmo because it supports playback in three forms: browser, mobile, and iPad. 

Pricing : Free; Standard, $10.99/month; Professional, $16.99/month

22. ViewletBuilder

best presentation software: viewlet builder

ViewletBuilder is a different presentation tool; it captures critical screen updates and cursor position changes so sales and marketing pros can create presentations detailing how their product or sites work. With a plethora of features, ViewletBuilder allows for editing and enhancing and includes a variety of publishing and sharing options, too.

Pricing : Pro, $399; Enterprise, $599

23. Zoho Show

best presentation software: Zoho show

Zoho Show is a top pick for sales and marketing pros because it lives online, making it possible to create, access, present, and more from anywhere, any time. The simple, intuitive interface and collaboration features are just two of its beloved benefits.

24. AhaSlides

best presentation software: ahaslides

Pricing : Free; Essential, $4.95/month; Pro, $15.95/month; Annual, Monthly & One-time plans available.

Visme is an all-in-one content creation platform with a vast library of professionally designed presentation templates, each tailored to your industry and specific proposal needs. Its beginner-friendly design platform allows you to drag and drop elements into place, use dynamic fields to update all your content in one place instantaneously and integrate your tools like Hubspot or Salesforce, and more to personalize each presentation.

Pricing: Free, Starter: $12.25/month, billed yearly, Pro: $30/month, billed yearly, Visme for Teams & Enterprises.

What are you waiting for? Pick a tool and start creating. Your prospects are waiting.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2014 and has been updated for freshness and comprehensiveness.

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The best presentation software

These powerpoint alternatives go beyond the basics..

Hero image with logos of the best presentation software

The latest presentation apps have made it easier than ever to format slides and create professional-looking slideshows without giving off a "this is a template" vibe. Even standard PowerPoint alternatives have updated key features to make it easier than ever to collaborate and create presentations quickly, so you can spend more time prepping for your actual presentation.

If, like me, you've been using Google Slides unquestioningly for years, it's a whole new world out there. The newest crop of online presentation tools go way beyond the classic slideshow experience, with new features to keep your audience's attention, streamline the creation process with AI, and turn slide decks into videos and interactive conversations.

I've been testing these apps for the past few years, and this time, I spent several days tinkering with the top presentation software solutions out there to bring you the best of the best.

Beautiful.ai for AI-powered design

Prezi for non-linear, conversational presentations

Powtoon for video presentations

Genially for interactive, presenter-less presentations

Pitch for collaborating with your team on presentations

Zoho Show for a simple presentation app

Gamma for generative AI features

What makes the best presentation app?

How we evaluate and test apps.

Our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. Unless explicitly stated, we spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it's intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. We're never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog .

When looking for the best presentation apps, I wanted utility players. After all, slideshows are used for just about everything, from pitch decks and product launches to class lectures and church sermons. With that in mind, here's what I was looking for:

Pre-built templates. The best presentation tools should have attractive, professional-looking templates to build presentations in a hurry.

Sharing and collaboration options. Whether you plan to share your webinar slides later, or you just want to collaborate with a coworker on a presentation, it should be easy to share files and collaborate in real-time.

Flexibility and customization options. Templates are great, but top presentation apps should enable you to customize just about everything—giving you the flexibility to build exactly what you need.

Affordability. Creating compelling presentations is important, but you shouldn't have to bust your budget to make it happen. With capable free tools on the market, affordability is a top consideration.

Standalone functionality. There's no reason to use multiple tools when one can do it all, so I didn't test any apps that require and work on top of another presentation app like PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Familiar, deck-based UI. For our purposes here, I only tested software that uses slides, with the familiar deck-based editor you expect from a "presentation" tool (versus, for example, a video creation app).

While many apps now offer AI features in one way or another, I found many of these features to be lacking still—they're often slow, struggle to pull in relevant imagery, and yield wildly inconsistent designs. For that reason, I opted not to make AI features a strict requirement (for now!), and I've still included apps that don't offer AI. (Of course, if you opt for one of those, you can still easily get AI-generated images from a separate tool and copy them into your presentation app of choice.)

Beyond that, I also looked for presentation apps that brought something unique to the table—features above and beyond what you can get for free from a legacy solution like PowerPoint or Google Slides. (And I opted not to test any brand new apps that are still in beta, since there are so many established options out there.)

Here's what my testing workflow looked like:

I went through any onboarding or guided tutorials.

I created a new deck, scanning through all available templates, noting how well-designed they were (and which were free versus paid).

I added new slides, deleted slides, edited text and images, and played around with other content types.

I changed presentation design settings, like color schemes and background images.

I reviewed and tested the sharing and collaboration options.

I tested out presenter view (when available).

After my first round of testing, I went back into the top performers to test any unique or niche features like AI, brand settings, interactive content, and more. With that, these are the best presentation apps I found—each one really brings something different or radically easy to the table.

The best presentation software: at a glance

The best free presentation software, canva (web, windows, mac, android, ios).

Canva, our pick for the best free presentation app

Canva pros:

Excellent free plan

Tons of amazing templates for all use cases

Feature-rich

Canva cons:

The Magic Design AI tool is still inconsistent and not super impressive

Canva offers one of the most robust free plans of all the presentation apps I tested. The app delays account creation until after you've created your first design, so you can get started building your presentation in seconds. Choose from an almost overwhelming number of beautiful templates (nearly all available for free), including those designed specifically for education or business use cases.

Anyone who's accidentally scrolled too far and been bumped to the next slide will appreciate Canva's editor interface, which eliminates that problem altogether with a smooth scroll that doesn't jump around. Choose from a handful of preset animations to add life to your presentations, or browse the library of audio and video files available to add. And Canva also has a number of options for sharing your presentation, including adding collaborators to your team, sharing directly to social media, and even via QR code.

Present directly from Canva, and let audience members submit their questions via Canva Live. Once you share a link to invite audience members to your presentation, they can send questions for you to answer. As the presenter, you'll see them pop up in your presenter view window, so you can keep the audience engaged and your presentation clear. Alternatively, record a presentation with a talking head bubble—you can even use an AI presenter here—to share remotely.

Canvas has added a number of AI-powered tools , but I wasn't super impressed by them yet. When I asked the Magic Design tool to generate a presentation from scratch, for example, the result was a bunch of unrelated images, inconsistent design, and surface-level copy. These features will likely improve in time, but for now, you're better off starting from one of Canva's many great templates.

Canva pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $119.99/year for 1 user and include additional features like Brand Kit, premium templates and stock assets, and additional AI-powered design tools.

The best presentation app for AI-powered design

Beautiful.ai (web, mac, windows).

Beautiful.ai pros:

True AI design

No fussing around with alignment

Still allows for customization

Beautiful.ai cons:

No free plan

Generative AI features aren't great yet

If you're like me, editing granular spacing issues is the absolute worst part of building a presentation. Beautiful.ai uses artificial intelligence to take a lot of the hassle and granular design requirements out of the presentation process, so you can focus on the content of a presentation without sacrificing professional design. If I needed to make presentations on a regular basis, this is the app I'd use.

Many apps have recently added AI design features, but Beautiful.ai has been doing it for years—and they've perfected the UX of AI design, ensuring the tool's reign as the most streamlined and user-friendly option for AI design.

The editor is a little different from most presentation apps, but it's still intuitive—and you'll start off with a quick two-minute tutorial. When creating a new slide, scroll through "inspiration slides" to find a layout you like; once you choose, the app will pull the layout and automatically adapt it to match the design of the rest of your presentation.

With 10 themes, several templated slides, over 40 fully-designed templates, and 23 different color palettes to choose from, Beautiful.ai strikes a perfect balance between automation and customization.

While Beautiful.ai doesn't offer a free plan, paid plans are reasonably priced and offer sharing and collaboration options that rival collab-focused apps like Google Slides. And speaking of Google, you can connect Beautiful.ai with Google Drive to save all your presentations there.

Note: I did test the newly released generative AI feature (called DesignerBot) and felt it wasn't much to write home about. It's great for adding individual slides to an existing presentation—automatically choosing the best layout and matching the design to the rest of the deck—but as with most other apps, it struggled to generate a quality presentation from scratch.

Beautiful.ai pricing: Plans start at $12/month for unlimited slides, AI content generation, viewer analytics, and more. Upgrade to a Team plan for $40/user/month to get extra collaboration and workspace features and custom brand controls.

If you're a founder looking for an AI presentation tool for your pitch deck, Slidebean is a great Beautiful.ai alternative for startups. The app offers a number of templates; a unique, content-first outline editor; and AI design help that you can toggle on or off for each slide. I didn't include it on the list mainly because of the price: the free plan is quite limited, and the paid all-access plan starts at $228/year.

The best presentation app for conversational presentations

Prezi (web, mac, windows, ios, android).

Prezi interface

Prezi pros:

Doesn't restrict you to standard presentation structure

Lots of customization options

Prezi Video lets you display a presentation right over your webcam video

Prezi cons:

Steep learning curve

Struggling to squeeze information into a basic, linear presentation? Give Prezi a try. Unlike nearly all other presentation apps on the market, Prezi Present doesn't restrict the structure of your presentation to a straight line. The editor focuses on topics and subtopics and allows you to arrange them any way you want, so you can create a more conversational flow of information.

With the structural flexibility, you still get all the same customization features you expect from top presentation software, including fully-editable templates. There's a learning curve if you're unfamiliar with non-linear presentations, but templates offer a great jumping-off point, and Prezi's editor does a good job of making the process more approachable.

Plus, Prezi comes with two other apps: Prezi Design and Prezi Video. Prezi Video helps you take remote presentations to a new level. You can record a video where the presentation elements are displayed right over your webcam feed. Record and save the video to share later, or connect with your video conferencing tool of choice (including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet) to present live.

Prezi pricing: Free 14-day trial and a free plan that includes up to 5 visual projects; paid plans start at $5/month and include additional features like private presentations and Prezi Present.

The best presentation app for video presentations

Powtoon (web, ios, android).

Powtoon pros:

Timing automatically changes based on the content on the slide

Can toggle between slideshow and video

Can orient presentation as horizontal, vertical, or square

Powtoon cons:

Limited free plan

Powtoon makes it easy to create engaging videos by orienting the editor around a slide deck. Editing a Powtoon feels just like editing a presentation, but by the time you finish, you have a professional video. 

You can edit your slides at any time, and when you hit play, a video plays through your deck—the feel is almost like an animated explainer video. Each slide includes the animations you choose and takes up as much time as is needed based on the content on the slide. Powtoon figures the timing automatically, and you can see in the bottom-right of the editor how much time is used on your current slide versus the total presentation. If you ever want to present as a slide deck, just toggle between Slideshow and Movie.

You'll likely need to subscribe to a paid plan to get the most out of Powtoon—like creating videos longer than three minutes, downloading them as MP4 files, and white-labeling your presentations—but doing so won't break the bank. Plus, you'll unlock tons of templates complete with animations and soundtracks.

One of my favorite Powtoon features is the ability to orient your video: you can choose horizontal orientation (like a normal presentation) or opt for vertical (for mobile) or square (for social media). When your presentation is ready, you can publish straight to YouTube, Wistia, Facebook Ads, and any number of other locations.

Powtoon pricing: Limited free plan available; paid plans start at $20/month and include white-labeling, priority support, additional storage, and more.

The best presentation app for interactive presentations

Genially (web).

Genially, our pick for the best presentation app for interactive presentations

Genially pros:

Don't need a presenter (it's interactive)

You can set universal branding guidelines

Unlimited creations on the free plan

Genially cons:

Free plan has some limitations worth looking into (e.g., can only make public presentations)

While many presentation apps are built for presenter-led decks, Genially 's interactive features and animated templates make it easy to build a self-led presentation. A variety of interactive buttons allow you to show viewers additional context on hover, have them skip to any page of your deck, and let them navigate to external links.

This presentation program offers a bunch of searchable templates, including some for business proposals, reports, social media presentations, and more (though most of those are available on premium plans only). Genially also includes Smart blocks —templated blocks of content for elements like data visualizations and image galleries.

My favorite feature is the brand settings. Premium users can set universal branding guidelines that include your logo, color scheme, fonts, images, and backgrounds, among other options. Think of them like a custom template, created and customized by you, that the whole team can use. Once set, your team can easily create on-brand presentations that automatically apply your brand settings, without even thinking about it.

Plus, Genially supports additional content like training materials, infographics, and interactive images—all subject to your brand presets.

Genially pricing: Free plan available with unlimited creations and views and access to templates; paid plans start at $7.49/month and include additional download options, privacy controls, offline viewing, premium templates, and more.

The best presentation app for collaborating with your team

Pitch (web, mac, windows, ios, android).

Pitch, our pick for the best presentation software for collaborating with your team

Pitch pros:

Google levels of collaboration

Assign slides to specific team members

Start live video calls straight from decks

Pitch cons:

User interface is a little different than you're used to

Need to collaborate on presentations with your team? Pitch is a Google Slides alternative that gets the job done. As far as decks go, Pitch includes all the beautifully-designed templates, customizability, and ease of use you expect from a top-notch presentation tool. But the app really shines when you add your team.

The right-hand sidebar is all about project management and collaboration: you can set and update the status of your deck, assign entire presentations or individual slides to team members, plus comment, react, or add notes. Save custom templates to make future presentations even easier and faster.

You can also invite collaborators from outside your company to work with you on individual decks. And if you opt for a paid plan, Pitch introduces workspace roles, shared private folders, and version history.

The "Go live" feature is a personal favorite—with just a click on the camera icon in the top-right, you can start a live video call. Any team members who open the presentation can hop in and collaborate in real-time. 

Pitch pricing: Free plan offers unlimited presentations, custom templates, and live video collaboration; paid plans start at $8/user/month for additional workspace features, presentation analytics, and more.

The best simple presentation app

Zoho show (web, ios, android, chrome).

Zoho Show, our pick for the best simple presentation app

Zoho Show pros:

Simple and easy to use

Version history and ability to lock slides

Completely free

Zoho Show cons:

Templates are pretty basic

If you're looking for a simple, yet capable presentation app that's a step up from Google Slides, Zoho Show is a great option. It's completely free to use, offers a clean, intuitive editor, and includes a number of great templates.

While the handful of "Themes" offered are on the basic side, Zoho templates boast a more modern and professional design than much of what Google Slides or PowerPoint offer. And I love that you can set the font and color scheme for the whole template, right from the start.

The app doesn't skimp on collaboration or shareability either. You can invite collaborators via email or shareable link, and comments and version history make it easy to work together on presentations. Once you're ready to share, you can even broadcast your presentation to a remote audience right from within Zoho. Plus, you can one-click lock slides to prevent any more editing or hide individual slides to customize your presentation for different audiences.

You can even connect Zoho Show to Zapier , so you can do things like automatically create a presentation when something happens in one of the other apps you use most.

Zapier is the leader in workflow automation—integrating with 6,000+ apps from partners like Google, Salesforce, and Microsoft. Use interfaces, data tables, and logic to build secure, automated systems for your business-critical workflows across your organization's technology stack. Learn more .

Zoho Show pricing: Free

The best presentation app for generative AI

Gamma (web).

Gamma, our pick for the best presentation app for generative AI

Gamma pros:

Creates fully fleshed-out presentations from a prompt

Chatbot-like experience

Can still manually edit the presentation

Gamma cons:

Not as much granular customization

I tested a lot of apps claiming to use AI to up your presentation game, and Gamma 's generative features were head and shoulders above the crowd.

Simply give the app a topic—or upload an outline, notes, or any other document or article—approve the outline, and pick a theme. The app will take it from there and create a fully fleshed-out presentation. It's far from perfect, but Gamma produced the most useful jumping-off point of all the AI presentation apps I tested. 

Here's the key: Gamma is much more geared toward the iterative, chatbot experience familiar to ChatGPT users. Click on the Edit with AI button at the top of the right-hand menu to open the chat, and you'll see suggested prompts—or you can type in your own requests for how Gamma should alter the presentation.

Once you've done all you can with prompts, simply close the chat box to manually add the finishing touches. While you do sacrifice some granular customizability in exchange for the AI features, you can still choose your visual theme, change slide layouts, format text, and add any images, videos, or even app and web content.

Gamma pricing: Free plan includes unlimited users, 1 custom theme, 400 AI deck credits, and basic view analytics; upgrade to the Pro plan ("coming soon," as of this writing) for $10/user/month to get additional AI credits, advanced view analytics, custom fonts, and more.

What about the old standbys?

You might notice a few major presentation players aren't on this list, including OGs Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides. These apps are perfectly adequate for creating basic presentations, and they're free if you have a Windows or Mac device or a Google account.

I didn't include them on the list because the presentation space has really developed in the last several years, and after testing them out, I found these behemoths haven't kept pace. If they weren't made by Microsoft/Apple/Google, I might not even be mentioning them. They're pretty basic tools, they're behind the curve when it comes to templates (both quantity and design), and they don't offer any uniquely valuable features like robust team collaboration, branding controls, video, and so on.

Some of these companies (think: Microsoft and Google) are openly working on some pretty impressive-sounding AI features, but they haven't been widely released to the public yet. Rest assured, I'm watching this space, and the next time we update this article, I'll retest tools like PowerPoint and Google Slides to see what new features are available.

In any case, if you're reading this, you're probably looking for an alternative that allows you to move away from one of the big 3, and as the presentation platforms featured above show, there's a ton to gain—in terms of features, usability, and more—when you do.

Related reading:

8 Canva AI tools to improve your design workflow

The best online whiteboards for collaboration

How to share a presentation on Zoom without sharing your browser tabs and address bar

This post was originally published in October 2014 and has since been updated with contributions from Danny Schreiber, Matthew Guay, Andrew Kunesh, and Krystina Martinez. The most recent update was in May 2023.

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Kiera Abbamonte

Kiera’s a content writer who helps SaaS and eCommerce companies connect with customers and reach new audiences. Located in Boston, MA, she loves cinnamon coffee and a good baseball game. Catch up with her on Twitter @Kieraabbamonte.

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6 online presentation tools that’ll engage your audience

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Meghan Ryan April 09, 2021

Online presentations are more common in the workplace than ever before. Maybe you just launched a new product and you need to create a product demo for a remote client. Or maybe you want to do online sales training for your employees. Presentations like these are really different online than they are in person, and many things that helped you stand out and engage your audiences in the office won’t help you when you present online. It helps to have all the virtual presentation tools at your disposal to make your presentations stand out and get people’s attention online . 

a girl making online presentation

What we look for in online presentation tools  

A free version to try.

Free trials and free basic plans allow you to try out the platform and decide whether you like it before you make a purchase. You don’t want to spend a lot of money buying the product and then realize you’re not going to use it. 

Ease of use

Good online presentation tools should be easy to learn and easy to use. Learning how to use a new tool takes a little time and effort, so you should choose a virtual presentation tool that has clear instructions, intuitive design, and starting blocks like templates and color schemes to help make designing presentations easier. 

Audience engagement

It’s tempting for online audiences to multitask or tune-out during a presentation, so your online presentation tools should help you grab their attention and keep them engaged. . Use virtual presentation tools that allow you to add interactive multimedia elements, such as moving text, audio, images, GIFs, and videos to your presentations. Something as simple as a unique slide animation can help your presentation stand out. 

Cloud storage and access

With cloud storage and access, you don’t need to carry your computer around to edit or use your presentations in different places. Your online presentation tools should have online access, so you can work on your presentation anywhere, anytime as long as there is an internet connection.

Team collaboration features

Got a project you need to work on with your teammates? It’s very inefficient if only one person can work on a project at a time, especially in a remote work environment. Find a web presentation tool that allows multiple people to edit at the same time. Real-time teamwork and collaboration leads to better productivity and communication. 

Prezi's team collaboration feature

What online presentation tool could possibly cover all of those requirements? Keep reading to discover our top online presentation tools for 2022:

1. Prezi Video

Prezi Video is a video presentation tool that lets you bring text, video, images, and GIFs onto the screen with you, resulting in a professional-looking presentation that’s more engaging for your audience. At the same time, your audience can react with unlimited on-screen responses using Prezi Video. Creating a presentation is easy with Prezi’s free video templates or by reusing slides from a past presentation. You can sign up for a free trial or get your whole team using Prezi with our business solutions . Reach out for more details.

Presenters love the ability to make unique presentations that help them stay connected to their virtual audiences. Try out Prezi Video for your next training, sales pitch, webinar, online class, team update, and more.

Otter is a note-taking tool that can transcribe audio to text. Run Otter in an online meeting to record the conversation and create a written record of what was said. Afterward, Otter will provide an automatic summary of the most commonly said phrases and generate a nifty word cloud.

Virtual audiences can use it to capture information without breaking focus during a presentation or an event, and presenters can rely on it to connect with more audiences. Check out Otter to learn more about using it for your virtual events .

note-taking

3. Creatopy

Creatopy lets you create animated GIFs for slideshows, emails, banners, and presentations. You can use one of their pre-designed templates and customize it with your own text, or start from scratch and make a GIF with your own imagery and content. Either way, you’ll create animations that’ll pop on screen.

Creating a GIF is easy with Creatopy’s drag-and-drop editor, so you can create professional designs in minutes. Get started and learn more at Creatopy.

Grain is a tool for recording and sharing highlights from virtual meetings. It’s great for record-keeping and recapping for your teams. Instead of reading or listening to the summary of a presentation, your team can just watch the best moments themselves.

Grain is a useful addition to the virtual presentation toolbox, especially in the post-event phase of a presentation. Send attendees highlights of the most important parts and avoid diluting your message through different media. Check out Grain to learn more.  

Docket is a workspace for collaboratively building meeting agendas and creating reminders so no items go undiscussed. Since it’s a shared workspace, it helps keep your team aligned and up to date on learnings. Use it to organize a virtual presentation with a client or stakeholder and to store notes on the presentation post-facto. 

Integration is currently available on several platforms , including Google and Zoom. Check out Docket to learn how it can help your team.

meeting agenda

Krisp is a noise cancelling tool that can be used to improve audio quality on any conferencing, voice messaging, and communication app. Turn it on and remove background noise from yourself and other people on the call. It’s quick to set up and works with a wide range of headsets and microphones. 

Krisp is a crucial online presentation tool whenever you’re presenting from a shared space. Try it during your next call or presentation.

See these tools in action and explore the best virtual presentations on Prezi when you visit the Video Gallery . Or get started today and make your own virtual presentation on Prezi Video.

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15 Online Presentation Tools to Win Over Your Audience

Discover the best presentation tools to make your next presentation stand out. From design to delivery, these tools will take your presentations to the next level.

If you’re tired of PowerPoint presentations that lack engagement, you’re not alone. The tool is great, but it often falls short when it comes to interactivity. So, how do you keep your audience captivated during an online presentation?

No worries! We’ve compiled a list of impressive web-based tools to help you design dynamic and eye-catching presentations. Let’s dive in.

1. Zoho Show

Zoho Show is an excellent choice for creating dynamic slides and working together on them. It allows you to import a range of presentation formats for editing. The platform offers various features such as adding animations, transitions, and even embedding videos and social media posts.

Once you’re done, you can broadcast your presentation from anywhere, or even embed it on your website.

Cost of Zoho Show

Zoho Show offers a free basic plan, with paid plans starting at $4.

Visit Zoho Show

2. Google Slides

Google Slides is another versatile tool that enables you to create, modify, and share presentations. It offers a variety of templates, font options, and multimedia embedding capabilities. However, when it comes to creating interactive presentations, it’s not as feature-rich as some other options like Prezi and Visme.

Also check out our posts on:

  • Websites to download free Google Slides Themes
  • 15 Google Slides tips

Cost of Google Slides

Google Slides is available for free.

Visit Google Slides

3. Flipsnack

Flipsnack adds a touch of interactivity to your presentations by offering a 3D page-flip effect. Whether you want to design your presentation from scratch or upload an existing PDF, Flipsnack has you covered.

Among its interactive features are photo slideshows, GIFs, audio and video elements, as well as social media buttons and map embedding. If design isn’t your forte, you can utilize one of the numerous templates in Flipsnack’s built-in library.

You can download your presentation in various formats, such as HTML5, web PDF, print-ready PDF, and several image and video formats. Share your final product online to captivate your audience.

Cost of Flipsnack

  • Starter : $14/month for 10 catalogs, with 100 pages per catalog
  • Professional : $35/month for 50 catalogs, with 200 pages per catalog
  • Business : $79/month for 500 catalogs, with 500 pages per catalog
  • Enterprise : $210/month for 1000 catalogs, with 1000 pages per catalog

Visit Flipsnack

Prezi takes customization to the next level with its extensive template library. The platform allows you to track viewer engagement through analytics and even control the presentation remotely via your mobile device.

With Prezi, you can create unlimited presentations and maintain full privacy control. The platform supports video uploads, presenter notes, and even offers specialized online training.

Read our tips and tricks to become a Prezi pro.

Cost of Prezi

Prezi offers a 14-day free trial, with paid plans starting at $9 per month.

Visit Prezi

Visme empowers you to create compelling visual stories using gorgeous presentations and infographics. It transforms plain data into engaging narratives that capture attention.

With access to over 100 fonts and millions of free images, Visme enables you to enrich your presentations. You can also upload audio and video files, providing even more ways to captivate your audience.

Visme grants complete control over privacy settings and offers unlimited storage. View the presentation in your browser or download it for offline use.

Cost of Visme

Visme offers a free plan, and its Starter package begins at $12.25 per month.

Visit Visme

Emaze is a user-friendly software that allows you to turn traditional PowerPoint presentations into interactive, storytelling projects. The platform offers a multitude of presentation templates and video backgrounds.

In addition to templates, Emaze allows you to add various forms of media content, including GIFs and live social feeds. Special effects like pan, zoom, and transitions can be applied to make your content more interactive and engaging.

As a cloud-based presentation tool, Emaze enables you to access your projects from any location. You have the flexibility to work with 2D and 3D slides, and can view or edit your presentations on any device. What’s more, you can share them in multiple languages using the automated translation feature. You also have the option to download your presentation as a PDF for offline viewing.

Cost of Emaze

Emaze offers a basic plan for free. For more features, the Pro Plan starts at $9 per month.

Visit Emaze

7. Piktochart

Piktochart enables you to design infographics that can be displayed as slideshows. The platform provides more than 600 professionally designed templates, along with a variety of fonts and color styles to make your projects unique.

With Piktochart, you can include charts and maps to enhance your presentation. Additionally, the tool allows you to use industry-specific icons as needed. You can either use stock photos from Piktochart’s library or upload your own images and videos for a more personalized touch.

Data can be imported from Google Sheets and SurveyMonkey forms, and your final project can be shared online or downloaded and printed in multiple formats such as PDF, JPG, and PNG.

Cost of Piktochart

The basic plan is free, while other plans range from $24.17 to $82.50 per month.

Visit Piktochart

8. Genial.ly

Genial.ly is a unique platform that lets you add interactive effects and animations to your presentations. The tool also integrates content from external services like Spotify, YouTube, Google Maps, and Amazon to make your slides more engaging.

Genial.ly offers various premium templates, allowing you to create an unlimited number of presentations. Like the other platforms, you can upload your own media files or use the in-built resources to enhance your content.

All your projects can be shared via email or social media platforms, including WhatsApp. Moreover, they can be embedded directly onto your website. For those interested in tracking performance, analytics can be enabled for each presentation.

Cost of Genial.ly

Genial.ly provides a basic plan for free, while other plans range from $7.49 to $79.15 per month.

Visit Genial.ly

9. Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck is a straightforward tool for creating presentations, although its user interface may seem a bit dated. It offers a variety of fonts, sleek layouts, and image filters for a professional look. Additionally, the tool provides access to over 40 million stock images on various subjects, making it suitable for almost any project.

Your slides are stored online , allowing you to access them from any device. Haiku Deck comes with numerous other features such as PDF downloads and PPTX exports.

For educational settings, Haiku Deck offers a ‘Haiku Deck Classroom’ subscription. This plan provides all the features of the standard Haiku Deck, and additionally allows a teacher and multiple students to access the tool in a bundled package .

Cost of Haiku Deck

The basic version of Haiku Deck is free, while premium plans range from $9.99 to $29.99 per month.

Visit Haiku Deck

10. PowerPoint Online

PowerPoint Online provides all the essential features like image handling, transitions, animations, and a variety of templates. You can download your presentations as PDFs for offline access , or share them online. Although user-friendly and familiar, PowerPoint Online doesn’t quite match up to other tools like Prezi or Emaze.

Cost of PowerPoint Online

PowerPoint Online is available for free.

Visit PowerPoint Online

Canva offers a drag-and-drop interface where you’ll find numerous impressive layouts for various subjects. It allows you to select images, fonts, and colors that align with your brand. Moreover, it provides access to more than a million high-quality stock photos and also lets you upload custom images .

With Canva, you can also choose from over 120 different fonts to give your presentation a unique style. You can easily edit and update your slides, apply striking filters and text options , and even share them on social media. Canva also features a ‘Presentation Mode’ to present directly from your account.

Cost of Canva

Canva offers a free plan. For more advanced features, Canva Pro costs $199 per year per user, and Canva for Teams is priced at $149.90 for five users.

Visit Canva

12. Flowvella

Flowvella is an adaptable tool designed to make your presentations more interactive and engaging. You can seamlessly integrate various types of media such as images, videos, text, hyperlinks, galleries, and even PDFs.

What distinguishes Flowvella is its unique Kiosk Mode . This feature enables you to securely display your presentation on a digital screen, protected by a PIN code. Moreover, you can share your content through a personalized URL , making it available both online and offline.

Cost of Flowvella

Flowvella provides a free basic plan. Additionally, premium plans are available for $10 to $20 per month.

Visit Flowvella

Slides is an all-in-one platform that guarantees compatibility with any device. The tool offers various features such as adding multimedia elements from platforms like YouTube, Google Maps, and Vimeo. It also supports SVG images.

Choose from a wide range of layouts and templates, utilize Google fonts, and easily embed or share your presentations on blogs or websites.

Cost of Slides

Slides offers a free basic plan as well as premium options, ranging from $5 to $20 per month.

Visit Slides

14. Slidebean

Slidebean is a powerful tool that allows you to create eye-catching presentations in just minutes. The platform features a wide variety of professional templates, images, and even GIFs that you can customize to align with your brand.

Once your presentation is ready, you have the option to present it remotely . You can also monitor viewer engagement through its activity metrics .

Cost of Slidebean

Slidebean offers an all-access plan, priced at $228 per year.

Visit Slidebean

15. Pitch Deck

Pitch Deck simplifies the presentation design process with its easy-to-use, drag-and-drop templates . You can include a variety of elements like graphs, images, videos, and even interactive polls.

After completing your presentation, you can effortlessly share it and view it on any device. You’ll also have access to real-time analytics to assess the impact of your presentation.

Cost of Pitch Deck

Pitch Deck provides two pricing options: the Single Desk plan for $99 per year and the Premium plan for $199 per year. Both options come with a 14-day trial.

Visit Pitch Deck

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The 10 Best Presentation Software for 2023: Complete Guide

There are literally hundreds of presentation software tools in the market today and keeping track is getting increasingly hard. Most of them have been optimized for a specific purpose or type of user from a wide range of possibilities, and it's very likely that THE ideal tool for you is actually one that you've never heard of.

We've created this best presentation software list to shed some light and to give you a comprehensive presentation software list to ensure you make the right call in the platform you select. This article is the result of several weeks of research and review of 50+ presentation tools currently available on the web.

What is a presentation software?

A presentation software is defined as an application built to display information in the form of a slide show. Any presentation tool must have three fundamental functions:

  • ‍ A text editor: to input the contents of the presentation.
  • ‍ An import function: to insert and manipulate images and other content.
  • ‍A slide-show or presenter mode: that displays the content in a nice, formatted way, sometimes synced in real time with the presenter across devices.

Slide shows often consist of a combination of text, video, images and charts. Their primary function is displaying clear, readable and summarized data to an audience.

Most presentations are shared and presented on a larger screen or through a digital projector. In rare occasions, slide presentations are printed out as a replacement for text documents, but this is a really inefficient way to review data, that Garr Reynolds calls ‘ PresDocs ’ (Garr Reynolds is the author of Presentation Zen, one of the most important go-to reference for successful presentations).

Related Read: What Makes Up the Best Presentation Templates?

What makes a good presentation tool?

The functions and results of presentation programs have evolved significantly in the past decades, since the original launch of ‘Presenter’ (the PowerPoint predecessor) in 1984. In 1987 PowerPoint 1.0 was released for the Macintosh and it started a revolution in the way we prepare and consume content in meetings.

For the purposes of this article we are going to classify all presentation tools using 3 variables that we consider extremely important:

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This rating looks at the learning curve, or time required to learn to use the platform. An easy to use interface is fundamentally important to ensure that users feel confortable working with the platform and doesn’t require complex training to take advantage of its features. This also accounts for the average time it takes to build a presentation.

Customization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The ability to customize a presentation to the smallest details. This varies depending on the number of advanced features in the platform, like the ability to set different transitions to each slide, the ability to add customized elements or to design/code the final outcome of the slides to the last font size and color code.

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This indicator looks at the outcome of a finished presentation, assuming the user is an average person with basic design skills and intermediate knowledge on the tool itself.

Best PowerPoint Alternatives (Death by Power Point)

As we mentioned before, PowerPoint is the most used presentation builder in the market today. It is distributed by Microsoft as part of their Office Suite, which is estimated to have over 500 million users worldwide. Microsoft has also revealed that approximately 35 Million presentations are delivered every single day, that’s a staggering 400 presentations per second.

what is online presentation tools

But still, PowerPoint’s popularity has decreased significantly in the past few years. Their boring presentation templates, the large learning curve and complexity as well as the terrible slides many users end up making have started the Death to PowerPoint movement.

What presentation software is better than PowerPoint?

For this section, we summarize the top PowerPoint alternatives and examples, that is, presentation tools that work in a fairly similar manner and that provide similar (but significantly better) results. If you are an avid PowerPoint user, then migrating to these platforms should be rather easy for you.

Best 10 presentation software alternative list for 2023

(Updated December 2022)

  • Keynote presentation
  • Google Slides

1- SLIDEBEAN PRESENTATION SOFTWARE

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - Fantastic!

Customization: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - Fantastic!

what is online presentation tools

Slidebean is an online presentation tool that uses artificial intelligence to design beautiful slides. Simply add content blocks to your presentation without worrying about formatting. Slidebean’s AI finds the best possible design for every element on your slide. This level of automation allows you to create a professional looking presentation in a fraction of the time it normally takes on PowerPoint.

When comparing it to PowerPoint, Slidebean’s interface is much easier to learn and work with, and it lets you create fantastic looking presentations really fast. The platform is web based and allows you to export to both PowerPoint and PDF format. It also lets you track viewer interactions and activity from people you share your slides with!

Slidebean also has a unique advantage which is a rich gallery of presentation outline templates. These are pre-filled decks that work for numerous purposes, like business proposals, classroom decks, thesis presentations and even startup pitch decks : all you need to do is import them and fill in your content.

You can sign up free for Slidebean here

SIGN UP FREE

2- apple keynote.

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ - OK

Customization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - Fantastic!

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good

what is online presentation tools

Keynote is what PowerPoint should have been all along. Apple's version of the popular presentation tool has improved significantly in the last few years, and has recently included a cloud version that works on any browser on any computer (as long as you have at least one Apple device).

Keynote is basically an improved PowerPoint, it offers the same approach to creating slides, but offers nice and clean customizable templates, a simple interface and great details like smart guides.

The biggest issue with Keynote is the long learning process that it requires. Similar to Microsoft's tool, you'll need to sit down for a few hours to learn to use the platform, and another larger set of hours to make a professional presentation.

More info about Apple Keynote is available here

Final result: ★ ★ ★ - OK

Visme is a web based platform for building presentations. Their familiar interface is similar to PowerPoint, but they have successfully simplified a complex UI to a nicer and more understandable navigation. Still, you'll need to spend a few hours to get a good grasp of where all the customization options can be found.

what is online presentation tools

The platform offers an interesting (but certainly limited) gallery of images, but they succeed at delivering beautiful infographic elements (which they call ‘Charts and Graphs’) that you can use to add some color and make your slides much more dynamic.

You can read more about them here . ‍

4- GOOGLE SLIDES

Customization: ★ ★ - Passable

what is online presentation tools

Google's version of PowerPoint is hosted as part of the Google Apps suite, that you can access from Google Drive or from Google Apps for Work. Sadly, their presentation builder feels like a limited version of PowerPoint, with less features, limited fonts and very little customization options.

Still, Google's platform is available for free, has a lot of integrations and probably one of the best online collaboration systems out there. Checking it out is easy, just visit your Google Drive.

You can find a more detailed review here .

5- FLOWVELLA

Ease of use: ★ ★ - Passable

Customization: ★ ★ ★ - OK

what is online presentation tools

Flowvella is available on the Mac App Store as a desktop application. It provides a simple interface (certainly cleaner than Microsoft PowerPoint and somewhat similar to Apple Keynote) and some very nice design templates, which set good grounds so you can start building a nice looking set of slides on top of them. This is by far their biggest strength! If you want to start from scratch, however, you might feel a little lost creating something that looks good.

We found, however, that the oversimplified interface makes some basic options hard to find, like changing the color of a shape. Also, while running as a desktop app it still requires an Internet connection to download some elements, which can lead to a slower performance than a 100% desktop tool.

Update: We also read recently that they launched a tvOS app for the new AppleTV, making them, as far as we know, the first presentation tool to leverage the new platform.

You can find more details here .

Customization: ★ ★ ★ -

what is online presentation tools

Pitch offers an innovative solution for fast-paced teams looking to quickly create effective, stylish presentations. With a combination of productivity features and design elements, Pitch makes it easy to get professional results—quickly

You can find more information about them here .

Final result: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good!

what is online presentation tools

The premise of Canva is an ‘amazingly easy graphic design software'. It lets you create anything from print design to banners and presentations. They provide an easy to use interface with a huge selection of pre-built designs that you can modify to your liking.

These pre-built elements let you quickly draft a nice presentation even if you have no design skills, but it does require you to drag and drop and arrange the content of your slide, which can become time consuming.

Canva has been gaining significant popularity in the last few years, especially after they hired Guy Kawasaki as a Chief Evangelist. Their platform is beautiful, you can find more about them here .

8- HAIKU DECK

Ease of use: ★ ★ ★ ★ - Very Good

what is online presentation tools

Haiku Deck launched as an iPad app in 2011. They made a big bet towards mobile productivity and came up with a solid iPad application that allowed you to create slides in less time than the then-only alternative of Keynote for iOS.

Haiku Deck has a nice set of custom templates that you can use as a guideline for your slides, and their content input system is clear and easy to learn.

Still, we believe their approach that focused on mobile devices could only take them so far and they've since been working on a web version of their platform that works for any computer. As we mentioned, the personal computer continues to be a much more efficient productivity platform.

what is online presentation tools

'Slides' is a nice website that lets you create and share presentations online. Formerly slides(dot)io and slid(dot)es, they finally settled for slides(dot)com. This startup was founded by Hakim El Hattab and Owen Bossola in Stockholm, Sweden, and it makes use of the reveal.js framework that we mentioned above.

Slides has a nice web interface that encourages you to create a nice and clean presentations, however, it still depends on the user’s ability to manipulate the elements and arrange them in a nice style. Still, their pre-defined formats and their grid system help guide you to a better result.

The platform also allows for custom HTML and CSS coding, which lets experienced users with coding skills, customize their templates even further.

Some more info about them here .

Ease of use: ★ - Bad

what is online presentation tools

Prezi has been around for years and they have had a huge head start compared to any other online presentation tool out there. Their unique zoom styling makes it immediately obvious to the audience that they are looking at a Prezi deck.

Prezi has the advantage of allowing you to create really stunning interactive presentations if you know how to leverage their zoomable, infinite canvas. However, this can become a double edge sword if users overuse the feature and come up with a presentation that is literally capable of making people dizzy.

Still, Prezi's biggest weakness is on its ease of use. There's a long learning curve towards dominating their interface and even if you do, you need to be a designer to make a great presentation on the platform.

This is a huge company that is not going away anytime soon. With 50+ million users, they have proven the world wants and needs a PowerPoint alternative, and we have huge respect for them for doing so.

More information about them here .

‍Which one to pick?

In the world of presentation software, there's a big bunch to pick from. It's kind of like a crowded market with lots of options. And guess what? The best one for you might not even be on your radar.

Our list is here to help you out. We've put together this bunch of presentation software choices after digging into over 50 of them on the internet. We're here to give you the scoop on what's out there, so you can pick the one that suits you best.

Now, remember, presentation software is like your helper to make cool slideshows. These slideshows could be for showing stuff to people, like at school or work. These helpers, or software, should be good at a few things: putting words and pictures on slides, making things look nice, and showing your stuff in a cool way on a screen.

The options we've found have different things they're good at. Some use fancy computer thinking (AI) to make your slides look great without you doing much. Others let you customize your slides a lot, which is nice if you want them to look exactly like you want. And finally, how your slides look when you're done is super important too.

Picking the right presentation tool is a bit like picking the best tool for a job. You wouldn't use a hammer to write a story, right? So, whether you want something easy, something that lets you be creative, or something that gives you good results, our list has got you covered. Your choice will help you make cool presentations that people will remember. Our recommendation is to give Slidebean a try, but is up to you to consider the options. So, pick smart and happy presenting.

Try Slidebean

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Check out our list of the top free presentation websites that offer unique features and design options. Discover the best platform for your next presentation now.

what is online presentation tools

This presentation software list is the result of weeks of research of 50+ presentation tools currently available online. It'll help you compare and decide.

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This is a functional model you can use to create your own formulas and project your potential business growth. Instructions on how to use it are on the front page.

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Best presentation software of 2024

Make perfect slides for speeches and talks

Best overall

Best for branding, best for marketing, best for themes, best for media, best unique.

  • How we test

The best presentation software makes it simple and easy to create, manage, and share slideshow presentations.

1. Best overall 2. Best for branding 3. Best for marketing 4. Best for themes 5. Best for media 6. Best unique 7. FAQs 8. How we test

Presentation software runs at the heart of business sales, management, and development, so it's important to ensure you have the best presentation software for your needs. This is especially when looking to share ideas, concepts, and workflows, and the ability to present these in a simple and understandable way is essential.

However, while presentation software has been traditionally limited to text and images, it has widened its ability to work with different media such as video and audio . 

Therefore it's important for the best presentation software to not simply be easy and simple to use, but also be able to support additional media so that presentations can be more engaging, lively, and ultimately serve their purpose in educating and updating their intended audience.

Below we've listed the best presentation software currently on the market.

We've also listed the best free presentation software .

The best office software in the world is: Microsoft 365

The best office software in the world is: Microsoft 365 There are many different office software suites out there, but Microsoft Office remains the original and best, offering an unsurpassed range of features and functionality that rivals just can't match.

Even better, Microsoft 365 - previously branded as Office 365 - is a cloud-based solution which means you can use it on any computer, mobile device, or smartphone, without having to worry about compatibility. All your files are saved in the cloud and synced between devices, so you can begin work on a document at home or in the office, then continue working on it on the go.

You can sign up to Microsoft 365 here .

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The best presentation software of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

1. PowerPoint

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

For most people, Microsoft 's PowerPoint remains the original and best of all the presentation software platforms out there. While other companies have managed to catch up and offer rival products worthy of consideration, the fact is that PowerPoint's familiar interface and ubiquitous availability means it remains a favorite for the majority of people.

On the one hand, it's long been a staple of the hugely popular Microsoft Office suite, meaning that for most users this is going to be the first - and last - presentation software they are going to need to use.

Additionally, Microsoft has made PowerPoint, along with their other office products, available as free apps (with limited functionality) on both iOS and Android for mobile use, meaning it's even harder to avoid them. And this is before we even consider the inclusion of PowerPoint in Microsoft's cloud-based Microsoft 365.

It does everything necessary that you'd expect of presentation software, allowing you to add text and media to a series of slides, to accompany a talk and other presentations. There are easy-to-use templates included to help spice things up a little, but even a general user with little experience of it is likely to find themselves able to use PowerPoint without much trouble at all.

Overall, it's hard to go wrong with PowerPoint, and although Microsoft 365 has a nominal cost, the apps are free to use even if they do have more limited functionality.

Read our full Microsoft PowerPoint review .

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2. CustomShow

Reasons to avoid.

Branding says a lot about a business, and it’s something firms need to get right from day one – from a good logo to a suitable font. CustomShow is business presentation software that puts all these elements of branding first.

Using the system, you can design and present customized, branded presentations that reflect your company and the products you offer, featuring the aforementioned logo and custom fonts. As well as this, you get a slide library and analytics to ensure your presentations are a success.

What’s more, you can import presentations into the software, and use it to tweak them further. There’s also integration with SalesForce , and because the platform is cloud-based, you can access your presentations on computers, tablets, and smartphones. 

Considering the focus on branding, this offering could be good for marketing and sales teams, and it's used by major companies such as HBO and CBS Interactive.

3. ClearSlide

Just like CustomShow, ClearSlide has a niche focus for companies. The platform is targeted at firms looking to generate successful marketing campaigns, pushing sales via presentations (and more), not least through a range of analytics and metrics to work for sales and marketing.

With the product, you can upload a range of files, including PowerPoint, Keynote, PDF, and Excel. ClearSlide is integrated with other platforms, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Salesforce.

This system is pretty complex and may offer too many irrelevant features for some businesses, but you can create customized content that reflects your company and the message you’re trying to get out to customers. There are also some good metrics and analysis features, and you can sign up for a free trial before making any decisions.

The real strength of ClearSlide comes from its focus on sales and marketing data, not least being able to track user engagement alongside other metrics.

4. Haiku Deck

Any presentation app will allow you to personalize your slides to at least some extent, but Haiku Deck goes one step further than the competition. It comes with a wide range of themes suited to different needs, and you also get access to 40 million free images from the Creative Commons collection.

When it comes to creating a presentation, you have the option to do so on the web, which means your presentation is accessible across a range of mobile devices as well as desktops. Regardless of the device used, you’re able to select from a variety of different fonts, layouts, and filters to make the perfect presentation.

The great thing about these various customization options is that they’re categorized into different industries and use cases. For instance, you’ll find themes for teaching, cooking, real estate, and startups. Most of the features require you to be online, but hopefully, you’ll have a sturdy net connection wherever you go.

5. SlideDog

It’s all too easy to end up creating a presentation that’s unappealing, and the last thing you want to do is make the audience fall asleep. SlideDog lets you combine almost any type of media to create a rich presentation that’s sure to keep the viewers’ peepers open, avoiding the ‘cookie cutter’ look that makes presentations seem dull.

Marketed as a web-based multimedia presentation tool, it gives you the ability to combine PowerPoint presentations, graphics, PDF files, Prezi presentations, web pages, pictures, videos, and movie clips. You can drag these into custom playlists and display them to your audience with ease.

You’re able to remotely control your presentations and playlists from your smartphone, the web, or a secondary computer, and there’s also the option to share slides in real-time. Audience members can even view your slide from their own devices by clicking a link. That’s a handy feature if you’re looking to create an immersive presentation experience.

SlideDog is probably the cheapest of the presentation software featured, with a free account that will cover the essential features. However, for live sharing and premium support, you need to upgrade.

Read our full SlideDog review .

Prezi is one of the more unique presentation tools. Instead of presenting your graphics and text in a slide-to-slide format, you can create highly visual and interactive presentation canvases with the goal of “emphasizing the relationship between the ideas”.

Presentations can also be tailored to the specific audience, as this is a flexible platform that’s capable of skipping ahead, or veering off into a side topic, without having to flip through all the slides to get to a particular bit.

For business users, there are a variety of handy tools available. By downloading Prezi , you can build and edit presentations with your colleagues in real-time, which is perfect for companies with teams based around the globe.

When you have created a presentation you’re happy with, you can present it live (in HD) and send a direct link to viewers. There are some analysis tools here, too – you can see who’s accessed your presentation, which parts of it, and for how long. The app is available for Mac and Windows devices.

Read our full Prezi review .

Other presentation software to consider

Google Slides  is part of the Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) office platform intended as an online alternative to Microsoft Office. It may seem a little limited by comparison to PowerPoint, but as it's browser-based that means cross-platform compatibility. Additionally, it allows for collaborative work, and Google Slides really works well here. On top of the fact that it integrates with the rest of the Google Workspace apps, not least Google Drive, and you have a contender. 

Zoho Show  is another of the many, many tools and apps that Zoho has made available for business use. It also operates in the cloud so it's accessible to any device with a browser, and it also allows for collaborative work. You can also easily share the link for users to download, or provide a live presentation online. The updated version has a simpler and easier to use interface and comes with a free version and a paid-for one with expanded features.

Evernote  is normally thought of as just note-taking software, but it does provide the option to create a presentation you can share online or with an audience. In that regard, it's a little more limited than the other options in not being dedicated presentation software. However, as an easy and handy way to pull together a presentation quickly, it could serve as a backup or last-minute option, especially if Evernote is already being commonly used by you.

LibreOffice Impress  is part of the open-source suite offered as a free alternative to Microsoft Office, and comes with a powerful array of tools and editing options for your presentation, not least working with 3D images. It's supported by a large community, so it's easy to find an array of additional templates. If there is a limitation it's that it's software you download and install rather than web-based, but any presentations created should be easily portable to the web if needed.

Adobe Spark  does things a bit differently, as rather than just use images it's geared toward video as well. This makes for potentially more powerful multimedia presentations, especially as Adobe also has a big selection of photos and images available for its users. There is a free tier for core features but requires a subscription for custom branding, personalized themes, and support.

Slides  comes with a lot of features in an easy-to-use interface, and involves setting up presentations using drag and drop into an existing grid. It's also internet-based so there's no software to download, and it only requires a browser to use and access. 

Presentation software FAQs

Which presentation software is best for you.

When deciding which presentation software to download and use, first consider what your actual needs are, as sometimes free platforms may only provide basic options, so if you need to use advanced tools you may find a paid platform is much more worthwhile. Additionally, free and budget software options can sometimes prove limited when it comes to the variety of tools available, while higher-end software can really cater for every need, so do ensure you have a good idea of which features you think you may require for your presentation needs.

How we tested the best presentation software

To test for the best presentation software we first set up an account with the relevant software platform, whether as a download or as an online service. We then tested the service to see how the software could be used for different purposes and in different situations. The aim was to push each software platform to see how useful its basic tools were and also how easy it was to get to grips with any more advanced tools.

Read how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar .

We've also featured the best alternatives to Microsoft Office .

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Nicholas Fearn is a freelance technology journalist and copywriter from the Welsh valleys. His work has appeared in publications such as the FT, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph, The Next Web, T3, Android Central, Computer Weekly, and many others. He also happens to be a diehard Mariah Carey fan!

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14 Must-Have Online Presentation Tools So You Can Own The Stage

  • August 16, 2018

14 Must-Have Online Presentation Tools So You Can Own The Stage

The secret to winning your presentation is to own it, and using online presentation tools is one of the best ways to do it. Here are 14 creation tools on the web that boost your engagement with your audience.

Innovative Online Presentation Tools That Are Engaging

How to pick online presentation tools.

I can never count the number of online presentation tools out there, and most of them are amazing. Using a lot of them can be time-wasting, though. What I then do is to set up my list of criteria and then match the tool’s features and benefits with it.

Some of my main preferences are the following:

  • Allows collaboration
  • Allows online and offline editing and sharing
  • Can be accessed across multiple device platforms
  • Has compelling and engaging visual and audio features
  • Has good technical support (for troubleshooting)

With these in mind, here are my top 14 recommended online presentation tools:

A post shared by Canva (@canva) on Mar 28, 2017 at 12:39pm PDT

One of my favorite online presentation tools is Canva. This one has both a free and a premium version. Either of the two is great.

Canva is a free presentation maker where you can create different kinds of visuals. You can use the images in their library, which comes with a fee or upload your own. This way, you can further personalize the look. This application makes it easy to build an original design. You can also alter the ready-made templates.

With Canva, you can edit online and download your saved work to your PC. This is a useful tool even for presenters who don’t have the skills in designing.

Access it here.

2. CustomShow

CustomShow | 14 Must-Have Online Presentation Tools So You Can Own The Stage

CustomShow is for marketing presentations . It works like cloud-based presentation software. You can use its cloud storage to collaborate and share files online. Here, you can customize your presentations based on your brand preference. You can also stream your presentations through its web meetings feature.

CustomShow works across multiple devices such as iPad whether online or offline. It also has its analytics platform, although there’s still room for improvement in its data intelligence.

Try it here.

Read Also: How To Create A Webinar Presentation That Sells

3. Genially

Work on your genially with your best friend. Learn how to make it collaborative! 👭👬🤝👍 #Innovation https://t.co/gERvBJydTa — Genially (@genially_en) September 4, 2017

One of the most interactive online presentation tools is Genially. You can make stunning and impactful visual media. These include infographics and mind maps. It also allows real-time collaboration among users. You can even embed some animation into your presentations. Plus, it can gather its own statistics. It then helps measure the effectiveness of your presentations.

Don’t forget to try it here.

4. Google Slides

A post shared by Google Slides (@custom.gs) on Jun 13, 2017 at 9:14pm PDT

This application is somewhat easy to use. One of its downsides is the limited design it offers. It doesn’t promote customization. Its history and accountability features aren’t always reliable.

Go try it out now.

Keynote | 14 Must-Have Online Presentation Tools So You Can Own The Stage

Keynote has neat templates and its own transition features. You can apply them to improve your visuals. Plus, it integrates animations. To maximize this presentation tool, though, you need to take the time to learn it.

You can get it here.

A post shared by Powtoon (@powtoon) on Mar 22, 2018 at 1:35am PDT

See for yourself.

7. Preseria

Preseria | 14 Must-Have Online Presentation Tools So You Can Own The Stage

Preseria is one of the must-have online presentation tools if you’re planning a conference . It allows you to manage and organize different presentations on one platform. Aside from that, Preseria can project these presentations. The only downside is you cannot change your content with it.

Use it today.

8. Prezi (Personal)

A post shared by أصدقاء النجاح 🕊🌱.. (@friend_of_success) on Mar 16, 2018 at 11:57pm PDT

A Prezi presentation breaks away from conventions. With this free presentation maker, you can zoom in on the important points of your discussion. A presentation in Prezi uses Pathway Points. This way, you can maneuver the different parts without jumping from one slide to another.

Note, though, the presentations made using its free edition are set to public view by default. It also takes some time to learn how to operate Prezi.

Make a Prezi presentation with this.

9. Slidebean

A post shared by Slidebean (@slidebean) on Feb 14, 2016 at 7:19am PST

Make a Slidebean presentation now.

Read Also: Online Presentation Tips To Get More Clients | Must-Know Trade Secrets

10. SlideDog

SlideDog | 14 Must-Have Online Presentation Tools So You Can Own The Stage

I love smart online presentation tools such as SlideDog. Its beauty lies in the fact you can combine different file types. It can be a PDF, PowerPoint, Prezi, web pages, images, and videos. The app organizes these files and creates a playlist out of them. It also features a live and interactive audience poll. You cannot use it to create presentations.

Experience how it works.

A post shared by Haiku Deck (@haikudeck) on Feb 19, 2015 at 5:03pm PST

The Haiku deck is well-known for its being gorgeous. You can select from a wide variety of amazing and appealing images. It clears away the clutter as well, so the focus goes straight to your message.

Explore it here.

11. PowerPoint Online

PowerPoint Online | 14 Must-Have Online Presentation Tools So You Can Own The Stage

Our list of online presentation tools is not complete without PowerPoint Online. As its name suggests, it is the web-based version of MS PowerPoint. It is handy if, for some reason, you don’t use the Windows operating system. The features are almost the same. Moreover, you can now add social media posts including live tweets.zoho

Here’s a link so you can try it.

A post shared by Social Media 💻 Web Design (@socialtect) on Aug 10, 2015 at 9:35am PDT

Have fun with Zoho.

13. LibreOffice Impress

A post shared by AlloPC24 (@allopc24) on Jan 31, 2018 at 5:55pm PST

Learn more about it here.

Bonus: Slideshare

As a hosting service, you cannot build presentations with Slideshare. Instead, it lets you share your work from other online presentations tools to the public. It is already under LinkedIn, which means it’s a reliable business-oriented application.

Online presentation tools can make life easier for a public speaker or salesperson. I know they’ve made mine. They make presentations less nerve-racking and more engaging.

Try out these online presentation tools for your next speaking engagement. Don’t forget to let me know how it works for you.

Up Next: An Online Presentation That Sells | Tips On How to Create One

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in March 2018 and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Custom Crafted By Quantum

What’s it for?

Make interactive presentations

Create show-stopping presentations and clickable slide decks with Genially’s free online presentation builder. Leave boring behind and tell a story that’s interactive, animated, and beautifully engaging.

Logo of the company Aon, client of Genially

INTERACTIVE CONTENT

A presentation that works like a website

Engage your audience with interactive slides that they can click on and explore. Add music, video, hotspots, popup windows, quiz games and interactive data visualizations in a couple of clicks. No coding required!

NO-CODE ANIMATION

Make your slides pop with animation

Bring a touch of movie magic to the screen with incredible visual effects and animated page transitions. Add click-trigger and timed animations to make any topic easy to understand and captivating to watch.

Image of the Genially tool showing the insertion of multimedia elements from Spotify, Google Maps and Youtube

INTEGRATIONS

Live from the world wide web

Embed online content directly in your slides for a media-rich interactive experience. From YouTube and Spotify to Google Maps and Sheets, Genially works seamlessly with over 100 popular apps and websites.

Image of the Genially tool showing free libraries of backgrounds, color palettes, vector graphics, images, charts, graphs, maps and smartblocks.

TEMPLATES & TOOLKIT

Genius design tools

With Genially, anyone can create a polished and professional presentation. Choose from over 2000 pre-built templates, or create your own design using the drag-and-drop resources, color palettes, icons, maps and vector graphics.

Image of a Genially interactive presentation

ONLINE PLATFORM

Safe and sound in the cloud

Because Genially is online, you can relax knowing that your slides are always up-to-date. There’s no risk of forgetting to save changes or accessing the wrong file. Log in from anywhere, collaborate with your team, and make edits in real time.

All-in-one interactive presentation maker

Real-time collaboration.

Co-edit slide decks with others in real time and organize all of your team projects in shared spaces.

Multi format

Present live, share the link, or download as an interactive PDF, MP4 video, JPG, HTML, or SCORM package.

Engagement Analytics

See how many people have viewed and clicked on your slides and keep tabs on learner progress with User Tracking.

Import from PPTX

Give your old decks a new lease of life by importing PowerPoint slides and transforming them with a little Genially magic.

Keep content on-brand with your logo, fonts, colors, brand assets, and team templates at your fingertips.

Quiz & Survey Builder

Use the Interactive Questions feature to add a fun quiz to your slides or gather feedback from your audience.

Beautiful templates

Make your next deck in a flash with Genially’s ready-to-use slides.

Interactive OKR Presentation template

OKR Presentation

Interactive School Notebook Presentation template

School Notebook Presentation

Interactive Animated Sketch Presentation template

Animated Sketch Presentation

Interactive Minimal presentation template

Minimal presentation

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Animated chalkboard presentation

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THEMES FOR EVERYONE

Interactive presentation ideas

From classroom materials to business pitches, make an impact every day with Genially.

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Education presentations

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Pitch decks

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Business presentations

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Thesis defense

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Share anywhere

Present live

From the front of the room or behind a screen, you’ll wow your audience with Genially. Heading off grid? Download in HTML to present dynamic slides without WiFi.

Share the link

Every Genially slide deck has its own unique url, just like a website! Share the link so that others can explore at their own pace, or download an MP4 video slideshow or PDF.

Post online

Embed the slides on your website or post them on social media. Upload to Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Moodle or any other platform.

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The benefits of interactive slides

🗣️ Active participation An interactive slide deck gives your audience cool things to click on and discover, boosting learning and engagement.

👂 Multi-sensory experience Audio, video, animations, and mouse interactions make your content immersive, entertaining and accessible.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 People-friendly format Pop-ups and embeds condense more material into fewer slides so you can break information down into digestible chunks.


🎮 Gamification Games, quizzes and puzzles make information more memorable and enable you to gather feedback and check understanding.

How to make an interactive presentation

With Genially’s easy-to-use presentation platform, anyone can make incredible visual content in moments.

Choose a template or a blank canvas

Create content starting from a Genially template

Get stunning results in less time with a ready-made template. Feeling creative? Design your own slides from scratch.

Customize the design

Add animations and interactions

Resources to become a pro presentation creator

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How to create an interactive presentation: Get started in Genially.

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How to present data without sending your audience to sleep.

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No-code animation: Bring your slides to life with cinematic visual effects.

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The art of digital storytelling: Engage and thrill on screen.

Genially in a nutshell

How do I make a presentation interactive and how does Genially work? Find the answers to all of your slide-related questions here!

What’s an interactive presentation?

Interactive slides contain clickable hotspots, links, buttons, and animations that are activated at the touch of a button. Instead of reading or watching passively, your audience can actively interact with the content.  

Genially’s interaction presentation software allows you to combine text, photos, video clips, audio and other content in one deck. It’s a great way to condense more information into fewer slides. 

If you’re a teacher, you can share multiple materials in one single learning resource. Students can create their own projects using digital media and online maps. For business or training, try embedding spreadsheet data, PDFs, and online content directly in your slides. 

An interactive slide deck is more user-friendly than a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or Google Slides document. That’s because you can break information down into chunks with pop-ups, labels, voiceovers and annotated infographics.  

The other benefit of interactive content is increased engagement. It’s easier to keep your audience’s attention when they’re actively participating. Try Genially’s presentation software and free slideshow maker to see how it’s better than other presentation websites. You won’t go back to standard presentation apps!

How do you make a clickable slide?

The best way to make slides clickable is to use Genially’s free interactive presentation program. Design your slide then apply an interaction. In a couple of clicks, you can add popup windows, hyperlinks, close-up images, games, animations, multimedia and other content. 

Choose from the library of hotspot buttons and icons to show people what to click on. Go to Presenter View to get a preview and see how your content will appear to your audience.

How do I create presentations that look professional?

You’ve got a deadline looming and you’re staring at the screen with a blank presentation. We’ve all been there! Starting a presentation design from scratch is tricky, especially if you’re short on time. 

Genially’s free online presentation maker has over 2000 ready-to-use templates for professional slide presentations, photos slideshows, and more. Each slide design has been created by our team of top graphic designers. No need to worry about fonts, centering images, or designing a matching color scheme. It’s all done for you. 

Start by browsing our layouts and themes for education, business and then customize with your own text and images.

How do I share or download my slides?

Because Genially is a cloud based presentation software, you can simply share the link to your slides. Like other online presentation tools, there are no files to download or store on your computer. Everything is saved online.  

When you publish your slide deck, it gets its own unique url, just like a website. Share the link with others to let them explore the content in their own time. If you’re presenting live, just click the Present button. 

You can also embed your presentation on your website, company wiki, or social media. Genially is compatible with WordPress, Moodle, Google Classroom, and other platforms. If you use an LMS, you can also download your interactive design slides in SCORM format.

For slideshow videos and slideshows with music, share online or download as an MP4 video. Check out our free slideshow templates for ideas.

Can I make a free presentation in Genially?

You bet! Genially is an easy-to-use slide maker, with a free version and paid plans. The free plan allows you to create unlimited slides with interactions and animations. Subscribe to one of our paid plans for more advanced features.

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Discover a world of interactive content

Join the 25 million people designing incredible interactive experiences with Genially.

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AI Presentation Maker

When lack of inspiration or time constraints are something you’re worried about, it’s a good idea to seek help. Slidesgo comes to the rescue with its latest functionality—the AI Presentation Maker! With a few clicks, you’ll have wonderful slideshows that suit your own needs . And it’s totally free!

what is online presentation tools

Generate presentations in minutes

We humans make the world move, but we need to sleep, rest and so on. What if there were someone available 24/7 for you? It’s time to get out of your comfort zone and ask the AI Presentation Maker to give you a hand. The possibilities are endless : you choose the topic, the tone and the style, and the AI will do the rest. Now we’re talking!

Customize your AI-generated presentation online

Alright, your robotic pal has generated a presentation for you. But, for the time being, AIs can’t read minds, so it’s likely that you’ll want to modify the slides. Please do! We didn’t forget about those time constraints you’re facing, so thanks to the editing tools provided by one of our sister projects —shoutouts to Wepik — you can make changes on the fly without resorting to other programs or software. Add text, choose your own colors, rearrange elements, it’s up to you! Oh, and since we are a big family, you’ll be able to access many resources from big names, that is, Freepik and Flaticon . That means having a lot of images and icons at your disposal!

what is online presentation tools

How does it work?

Think of your topic.

First things first, you’ll be talking about something in particular, right? A business meeting, a new medical breakthrough, the weather, your favorite songs, a basketball game, a pink elephant you saw last Sunday—you name it. Just type it out and let the AI know what the topic is.

Choose your preferred style and tone

They say that variety is the spice of life. That’s why we let you choose between different design styles, including doodle, simple, abstract, geometric, and elegant . What about the tone? Several of them: fun, creative, casual, professional, and formal. Each one will give you something unique, so which way of impressing your audience will it be this time? Mix and match!

Make any desired changes

You’ve got freshly generated slides. Oh, you wish they were in a different color? That text box would look better if it were placed on the right side? Run the online editor and use the tools to have the slides exactly your way.

Download the final result for free

Yes, just as envisioned those slides deserve to be on your storage device at once! You can export the presentation in .pdf format and download it for free . Can’t wait to show it to your best friend because you think they will love it? Generate a shareable link!

What is an AI-generated presentation?

It’s exactly “what it says on the cover”. AIs, or artificial intelligences, are in constant evolution, and they are now able to generate presentations in a short time, based on inputs from the user. This technology allows you to get a satisfactory presentation much faster by doing a big chunk of the work.

Can I customize the presentation generated by the AI?

Of course! That’s the point! Slidesgo is all for customization since day one, so you’ll be able to make any changes to presentations generated by the AI. We humans are irreplaceable, after all! Thanks to the online editor, you can do whatever modifications you may need, without having to install any software. Colors, text, images, icons, placement, the final decision concerning all of the elements is up to you.

Can I add my own images?

Absolutely. That’s a basic function, and we made sure to have it available. Would it make sense to have a portfolio template generated by an AI without a single picture of your own work? In any case, we also offer the possibility of asking the AI to generate images for you via prompts. Additionally, you can also check out the integrated gallery of images from Freepik and use them. If making an impression is your goal, you’ll have an easy time!

Is this new functionality free? As in “free of charge”? Do you mean it?

Yes, it is, and we mean it. We even asked our buddies at Wepik, who are the ones hosting this AI Presentation Maker, and they told us “yup, it’s on the house”.

Are there more presentation designs available?

From time to time, we’ll be adding more designs. The cool thing is that you’ll have at your disposal a lot of content from Freepik and Flaticon when using the AI Presentation Maker. Oh, and just as a reminder, if you feel like you want to do things yourself and don’t want to rely on an AI, you’re on Slidesgo, the leading website when it comes to presentation templates. We have thousands of them, and counting!.

How can I download my presentation?

The easiest way is to click on “Download” to get your presentation in .pdf format. But there are other options! You can click on “Present” to enter the presenter view and start presenting right away! There’s also the “Share” option, which gives you a shareable link. This way, any friend, relative, colleague—anyone, really—will be able to access your presentation in a moment.

Discover more content

This is just the beginning! Slidesgo has thousands of customizable templates for Google Slides and PowerPoint. Our designers have created them with much care and love, and the variety of topics, themes and styles is, how to put it, immense! We also have a blog, in which we post articles for those who want to find inspiration or need to learn a bit more about Google Slides or PowerPoint. Do you have kids? We’ve got a section dedicated to printable coloring pages! Have a look around and make the most of our site!

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Workshop: Presentation Skills for a Virtual Audience

How information is presented can determine the effectiveness of the message and its outcome.

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By HR NewsWire

Presentation skills are vital for serious business professionals—and have been ramped up in today's increased remote working environment.

How information is presented to groups and individuals can determine the effectiveness of the message and its outcome. Virtual presentation skills can affect the speaker's influence and credibility and make a remarkable difference when getting the message across to listeners.

A program titled Presentation Skills for a Virtual Audience gives learners the techniques and skills necessary for an effective virtual presentation and helps them engage their remote audience with confidence.

Register here for the two-part workshop, which will be offered virtually by Learning Solutions from 9 a.m. to noon on Monday, March 25, and Tuesday, March 26.

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Tagged hr newswire

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Completing an Unprecedented 10 Million Immigration Cases in Fiscal Year 2023, USCIS Reduced Its Backlog for the First Time in Over a Decade

New USCIS data show progress on customer experience, employment-based immigration, naturalization, and humanitarian work

WASHINGTON — Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is releasing end of fiscal year (FY) 2023 data that illustrate the agency’s progress in meeting its strategic priorities. The USCIS workforce has worked tirelessly over the past year to uphold America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility by reducing backlogs, improving customer experience, addressing humanitarian needs, and strengthening employment-based immigration. “I’m so proud of the USCIS workforce and our dedication to fairness, integrity, and respect for all we serve,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou. “We’ve completed a record number of cases, responded to emerging crises around the globe with essential humanitarian relief, and applied innovative solutions to improve customer experience and reduce backlogs.”

Reducing Backlogs

In FY 2023, USCIS received 10.9 million filings and completed more than 10 million pending cases– both record-breaking numbers in the agency’s history. In doing so, USCIS reduced overall backlogs by 15% . Among USCIS’ record number of case completions in FY 2023, the agency administered the Oath of Allegiance to more than 878,500 new U.S. citizens, including 12,000 members of the military, effectively eliminating the backlog of naturalization applications  . The median processing time for naturalization applicants decreased from 10.5 months to 6.1 months by the end of the fiscal year, achieving the agency’s longstanding goal and significantly reducing waiting times for most individuals seeking U.S. citizenship.

Improving Customer Experience

USCIS implemented several new technology solutions that meaningfully advance the customer experience  for those navigating our immigration system. Our new self-service tool for online rescheduling of biometrics appointments was used to reschedule over 33,000 such appointments in FY 2023. Our new enterprise change of address capabilities enabled over 430,000 address changes to be submitted online through Dec. 2023. This tool is expected to reduce USCIS Contact Center phone inquiries by up to 31%, or approximately 1.5 million inquiries annually. From August to September 2023, USCIS received more than 16,000 field office appointment requests using our online request form, while a new text-ahead capability for callers to our 1-800 number gives them a more predictable call-back window and reduces missed calls.

Strengthening Immigration for Workers and Employers

In FY 2023, USCIS and the Department of State helped meet the needs of U.S. employers by issuing more than 192,000 employment-based immigrant visas – far above the pre-pandemic number – and, for the second year running ensured that no available visas   went unused. The agency further supported U.S. employers and noncitizen workers  in FY 2023 by increasing the maximum validity period of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to five years for adjustment of status applicants. We clarified eligibility for a range of immigration services, including the International Entrepreneur Rule, the EB-1 immigrant visa for individuals of extraordinary ability and outstanding professors and researchers, and the waiver of the two-year foreign residence requirement for J-1 cultural and educational exchange visitors (including foreign medical graduates). We proposed a new rule to strengthen worker protections and the integrity of the H-2 temporary worker program.

USCIS also removed the biometrics fee and appointment requirement for applicants for a change or extension of nonimmigrant status and updated the agency’s interpretation of the Child Status Protection Act to prevent many child beneficiaries of noncitizen workers from “aging out” of child status, allowing them to seek permanent residence along with their parents.

Fulfilling Our Humanitarian Mission

USCIS continues to address growing humanitarian needs around the globe, as individuals seek protection in the United States from oppression, violence, and other urgent circumstances. At a time when the world is experiencing the greatest displacement of people since World War II, our agency’s dedicated employees continue to advance our humanitarian mission and provide protection to vulnerable populations.

USCIS interviewed over 100,000 refugee applicants – more than double the amount completed in the previous fiscal year – resulting in the admission and resettlement of over 60,000 refugees. As of the end of FY 2023, USCIS completed more than 52,000 asylum cases; this included prioritizing process of asylum cases for Afghan alliance and their families. USCIS also completed a record-breaking 146,000 credible fear and reasonable fear screenings of individuals expressing a fear of return after being encountered at the border.

In FY 2023, USCIS continued to support Biden-Harris Administration efforts to establish lawful pathways that allow for the safe and orderly processing of individuals into the United States through the implementation of new processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV); the creation of new family reunification processes for individuals from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and the modernization of existing processes for Cuba and Haiti; and by maintaining support for the Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) process. As of the end of FY 2023, more than 150,000 Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members had entered the United States under the U4U process and nearly 238,000 individuals through the CHNV process. USCIS is also a key partner in the Safe Mobility Office initiative, one of the many ways the United States is facilitating access to safe and lawful pathways in partner countries in Central and South America to prevent refugees and vulnerable migrants from undertaking dangerous journeys and discourage criminal smugglers who endanger the lives of vulnerable noncitizens. USCIS also announced enhancements to the Central American Minors Program, including expanding eligibility criteria for such children to qualify for access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.  

USCIS announced the creation of its sixth service center, the Humanitarian, Adjustment, Removing Conditions, and Travel Documents (HART) Service Center, which focuses on adjudicating benefits requests filed by vulnerable populations. USCIS made significant strides in recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training new hires, growing the HART Service Center by almost 90% in FY23, and enhancing agency capabilities to adjudicate humanitarian and related cases.

Looking Ahead

In FY 2024, the agency is continuing to build on this progress while monitoring and addressing remaining processing delays. USCIS will work to maintain the median processing times of 30 days for certain EAD applications filed by individuals who entered the United States after scheduling an appointment through the CBP One mobile application or through the CHNV processes. The agency also proposed new rules to modernize and improve the efficiency and integrity of the H-1B program for specialty occupation workers. USCIS will work to maintain naturalization processing times and utilize all available employment-based visas.

As a fee-funded agency, USCIS achieved all these accomplishments within the constraints of a fee schedule that was last updated in 2016.  We  announced a new fee schedule that allows USCIS to more fully recover our operating costs, reestablish and maintain timely case processing, support the development and implementation of tools that further increase our efficiency and improve the customer experience, and help prevent the accumulation of future case backlogs. We continue to call on Congress to pass the Administration’s supplemental funding request, including additional resources for USCIS to cover projected shortfalls and hire additional personnel.

USCIS will continue to build capacity for processing historically high referrals for protection screenings at the southern border, while focusing remaining resources on the unprecedented number of pending affirmative asylum applications. USCIS will continue to increase refugee adjudications to support the target of admitting 125,000 refugees this fiscal year. USCIS also plans to increase refugee processing in the Western Hemisphere through the Safe Mobility Office initiative and is on track to admit between 35,000 and 50,000 refugees from the Western Hemisphere this fiscal year, the largest number from this region in history.

To enhance accessibility for those we serve, USCIS will also continue efforts to expand our international footprint outside the United States and remains committed to Operation Enduring Welcome for Afghan allies. USCIS will also invest additional resources to stand up the HART Service Center.

Finally, USCIS will implement new online filing tools to enhance the customer experience, including adding organizational accounts, launching online filing of H-1B petitions on Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and adding an additional electronic intake channel for submission of forms and evidence in PDF format.

For more information on USCIS and our programs, please visit  uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter ( @uscis ), Instagram ( /uscis ), YouTube ( /uscis ), and Facebook (/ uscis ).

As the federal agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States, USCIS adjudicates a variety of immigration benefits and requests including naturalization, lawful permanent residency, employment visas, asylum, credible fear and foreign adoptions. By the end of FY 2023, the USCIS net backlog (cases pending outside of target processing times) was 4.3 million cases, down over 760,000 (15%) from more than 5 million cases at the end of FY 2022.

This progress occurred even as the agency experienced a record year in filings received – 10.9 million during FY 2023, compared with a more typical level of 9 million receipts in FY 2022 and FY 2021.

FY 2023 was the first year that USCIS successfully reduced the backlog in over a decade, following a spike that occurred after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The backlog grew by 16% in FY 2022, which was slower growth than the two previous years – 43% in FY 2021 and 26% in FY 2020.

The slower backlog growth rate in FY 2022 and decline in FY 2023 were driven by ongoing efforts to increase hiring and an agency-wide drive to find new efficiencies in case processing. Congress also supported this effort with a crucial $275 million in appropriated funding in FY 2022 which continued to lead to positive impacts on the backlog. Additionally, in FY 2022, Congress also provided $193 million to support OAW, which helped alleviate the cost of unforeseen workloads associated with adjudicating immigration benefits for Afghan allies.

For a more detailed account of how the pandemic and a hiring freeze led to the doubling of the backlog, see our  FY 2022 Progress Report (PDF, 1.08 MB) . The  chart below shows how the dedicated workforce at USCIS has begun turning the tide on our backlogs, even as case receipts rose significantly in FY 2023. 

USCIS Pending Caseload and Receipts, FY 2018–FY 2023

Backlog graphic

Above: USCIS’ total pending caseload by month, consisting of net backlog (pending cases outside of target processing times) and recent pending (cases still within target processing times), along with case receipts by month.

In March 2022, USCIS established new internal  cycle time goals for 25 forms to guide the agency’s backlog reduction efforts. A cycle time measures how many months’ worth of pending cases for a particular form are awaiting a decision and are used to gauge progress on reducing backlogs. As cycle times improve, processing times will follow, and applicants and petitioners will receive decisions on their cases more quickly.

USCIS increased capacity, improved technology, and expanded staffing to achieve these new cycle time goals by the end of FY 2023. The following table shows the goals for each form, alongside actual cycle times. By the end of FY 2023, USCIS achieved the cycle time goal for nine of these forms, including naturalization, and reduced cycle times for all but one of the 25 forms identified in March 2022. We achieved these across-the-board cycle time reductions at the same time we received a record number of new cases and responded to growing humanitarian needs.

In FY 2024, USCIS will continue our work to achieve these cycle time goals.

Chart of form cycle times

Above: Internally, USCIS monitors the number of pending cases in the agency’s workload through a metric called “cycle times.” A cycle time measures how many months’ worth of pending cases for a particular form are awaiting a decision. As an internal management metric, cycle times are generally comparable to the agency’s publicly posted median  processing times , which in turn show the time it took USCIS to process a particular form – from when the agency received the application until a decision was made on the case. Green cells indicate that the actual cycle time was shorter than the agency’s publicly stated goal.

In  FY 2022 (PDF, 1.08 MB) , USCIS completed over 1 million applications for naturalization, welcoming the highest number of naturalized citizens in almost 15 years and reducing the net backlog by 62%.

Continuing these positive trends in FY 2023, USCIS completed 975,800 naturalization applications, administered the Oath of Allegiance to over 878,500 individuals, including 12,000 U.S. military service members, and nearly eliminated the net backlog. Factoring in individuals who derive citizenship from their parents, USCIS completed 1,045,600 naturalization cases. The median processing time for naturalization applicants decreased from 10.5 months to 6.1 months by the end of the fiscal year, achieving the agency’s longstanding processing time goal for most individuals seeking U.S. citizenship.  

Chart of Naturalization Case Trends

Above: In FY 2023, USCIS completed 975,800 naturalization applications (Form N-400) and administered the Oath of Allegiance for 878,500 new U.S. citizens. Including derivatives (Forms N-400, N-600, N-600K), USCIS completed 1,045,600 naturalization cases and administered the Oath of Allegiance to 883,900 new U.S. citizens.

  • USCIS will publish a new proposed rule to update regulations governing citizenship and naturalization, including updating adoption-related regulatory provisions consistent with the Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act of 2012.
  • USCIS will release an updated and improved application for naturalization (Form N-400).

In FY 2023, USCIS implemented several new customer experience enhancements for those navigating our immigration system, including the following:

  • Online Biometrics Rescheduling:  USCIS  launched a new self-service tool allowing noncitizens, along with their attorneys and accredited representatives, to reschedule most biometric services appointments before the date of the appointment, and without having to call our Contact Center. In FY 2023, we rescheduled over 33,000 biometric services appointments using the tool, with nearly one third of eligible customers choosing to reschedule online.
  • myProgress Expansion:  USCIS expanded myProgress (formerly known as personalized processing times) to  Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization; Form I-131 Application for Travel Document ;  Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status; and Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status . This new tool delivers more accurate, personalized processing time estimates for those who choose to set up a myUSCIS account.
  • Online Appointment Request Form:  USCIS launched  a new online process for individuals, attorneys, and accredited representatives to request an in-person appointment at their local field office without having to call our Contact Center. From the August launch through September, we received more than 16,000 appointment requests through this new online tool.
  • Enterprise Change of Address:  The new  Enterprise Online Change of Address tool allows most customers to provide real-time address updates to USCIS online. This tool is expected to reduce USCIS Contact Center phone inquiries by up to 31%, or approximately 1.5 million inquiries annually. Since publicly releasing this tool in October 2023, over 430,000 address changes have been completed.
  • Text-Ahead Feature:  USCIS launched a text-ahead capability in English and Spanish for callers to our 1-800 number that gives them a more predictable call-back window and reduces the number of missed calls. This also provides an ease of reference for attorneys and accredited representatives with multiple cases.
  • Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal (276,000 online filings, comprising 61% of the total).
  • Form I-134, Declaration of Financial Support (164,000 online filings).
  • Form I-134A, Request to be a Supporter and Declaration of Financial Support (1,960,000 filings, exclusively online).
  • Form I-131, Application for Travel Document with certain exceptions (11,000 online filings).
  • Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, for concurrent filing with certain Forms I-765 and with certain Forms I-539.
  • Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, expanded to asylum applicants (323,000 online filings; 30% of the total) and parolees (258,000 online filings; 62% of the total).
  • Expansion of Premium Processing:  USCIS expanded premium processing to  include all petitions for immigrant workers (Form I-140), most employment authorization applications (Form I-765) for students and exchange visitors , and  most changes of nonimmigrant status (Form I-539) to student categories .
  • Self-Selection of Gender Markers:  USCIS  updated its guidance to clarify that it  will accept the self-identified gender marker for individuals requesting immigration services.

Coming up in FY 2024

USCIS will continue to improve upon the work done in FY 2023 by implementing new tools that enhance the customer experience. In FY 2024, USCIS will deliver:

  • Organizational Accounts and Online Filing of Form I-129 for H-1B:  Ahead of the H-1B cap season, USCIS will release a new organizational myUSCIS account and an enhanced legal representative account. Both account types will have new features that allow petitioners and their representatives to share access to form drafts for collaboration on the H-1B registration and Form I-129 H-1B petition, as well as Form I-907 for premium processing, if applicable. Representatives will also be able to share access to form drafts with their paralegals and legal assistants for these form types.
  • Expanding Electronic Intake Avenues:  USCIS will implement an additional electronic intake channel for submission of certain applications, petitions, and benefit requests and their associated evidence in PDF format.
  • Increasing Consistent and Proactive Communications:  USCIS will employ an initial messaging capability that will allow USCIS to communicate key information, milestones, or updates directly with our customers instead of requiring them to reach out to the agency for updates. This tool will allow customers to set their communication frequency preferences. 

In FY 2023, USCIS and the Department of State issued more than 192,000 employment-based immigrant visas – far above the pre-pandemic number – and ensured that no visas went unused for the second year running. (The FY 2023 employment-based annual limit was 197,091, plus 6,396 EB-5 visas that carried over from FY 2022 to FY 2023, and minus 10,874 EB-5 visas that Congress allowed to carry over from FY 2023 to FY 2024.)

USCIS further supported U.S. employers and noncitizen workers in FY 2023, with major policy and process improvements including:

  • Increasing the maximum validity period of Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) to five years for adjustment of status applicants and bringing back “combo cards” that provide evidence of both employment authorization and advance parole.
  • Proposing  a new rule to strengthen worker protections and the integrity of the H-2 temporary worker programs , provide greater flexibility for H-2A and H-2B workers, and improve program efficiency.
  • Removing the biometrics fee and appointment requirement for  applicants for a change or extension of nonimmigrant status (Form I-539). When legally permitted or when resources and operational efficiency allow, USCIS may “bundle” the adjudication of derivative applications that are filed together with the associated petition. For example, USCIS is currently “bundling” forms I-129 and I-539 for certain classifications, which provides near-contemporaneous adjudication of the derivative form I-539 with the principal Form I-129.
  • Publishing a comprehensive  menu of options for noncitizen entrepreneurs to start and grow companies in the United States.
  • Publishing  resources for nonimmigrant workers following termination of employment to ensure that nonimmigrant workers who are laid off are aware of options that may permit them to remain in the country past the regular 60 day grace period.
  • Updating  the agency’s interpretation of the Child Status Protection Act to provide additional protection for child beneficiaries of noncitizen workers from “aging out” of child status and allowing them to seek permanent residence along status with their parents.
  • Modernizing employment eligibility verification by allowing  E-Verify employers to remotely examine Form I-9 , Employment Eligibility Verification, documents starting Aug. 1, 2023, provided they follow certain steps.
  • Updating policy guidance to clarify eligibility for a range of immigration benefits, including:
  • The  International Entrepreneur Rule , for startup founders demonstrating substantial potential for rapid growth and job creation.
  • The  EB-1 immigrant visa , for individuals of extraordinary ability and outstanding professors and researchers.
  • The waiver of the two-year foreign residence requirement for  J-1 cultural and educational exchange visitors , including foreign medical graduates.
  • The “ compelling circumstances ” Employment Authorization Document, for certain nonimmigrants who are the beneficiaries of approved employment-based immigrant visa petitions, and who are caught in the lengthy immigrant visas backlog.
  • The  National Interest Waiver for physicians (PDF, 317.81 KB) working in an underserved area or at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facility.
  • The  O-1B visa classification , for nonimmigrants of extraordinary ability in the arts and nonimmigrants of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture television industry.

In FY 2024, USCIS is building on this progress by:

  • Updating policy guidance for the EB-5 investor visa program , incorporating statutory reforms to the Regional Center Program as they relate to regional center designation and other requirements for immigrant investors.
  • Updating  policy guidance for student classifications , including eligibility for employment authorization, change of status, extension of stay, and reinstatement of status for F and M students and their dependents in the United States.
  • Proposing a new rule to  modernize and improve the efficiency and integrity of the H-1B program for specialty occupation workers.
  • Proposing a new rule to  modernize the adjustment of status process , including regulations clarifying the age calculation under the Child Status Protection Act, and the authorization of employment authorization for certain derivative beneficiaries awaiting immigrant visa availability when they present compelling circumstances. 

USCIS continues to address the growing humanitarian needs of those seeking protection from oppression, violence, and other urgent circumstances. USCIS has seen significant growth in our humanitarian work (including asylum, Temporary Protected Status, and associated EAD applications. Over the last few years, these cases have gone from representing approximately 15% of all USCIS applications in FY 2015 to more than a quarter of new applications in FY 2023.

Chart of the growth of Humanitarian Cases

In FY 2023, USCIS continued to make progress on fulfilling these humanitarian imperatives by:

  • Refugee Resettlement:  Interviewing over 100,000 refugee applicants – more than double the previous fiscal year – contributing to the resettlement of over 60,000 refugees. Deploying officers to 76 countries and significantly reducing the overall processing time for refugee applicants, both by using remote processing and concurrent processing with U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) partners.
  • Safe Mobility Office Initiative:  Working across the U.S. government and with international organization and regional partners to establish and operationalize  Safe Mobility Offices (SMO) in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Guatemala to provide information and referrals to various lawful pathways. The SMO in Ecuador opened in early FY 2024. The Safe Mobility Office initiative established the SMOs and MovilidadSegura.org, which provide certain individuals with information and referrals to different lawful pathways to the United States.
  • Completing more than 146,000 credible fear and reasonable fear screenings for noncitizens arriving at the southwest border who expressed a fear of persecution or torture.
  • Establishing new capabilities to create and share electronic A-files across agencies at the Southwest Border, reducing the administrative burden on government personnel. This cut U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) file creation time in half while saving on administrative and other related costs.
  • Implementing call center capabilities that provide asylum officers a single contact point to connect with agents providing interpreter services in four primary languages: Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, and French.
  • Building on the success of Uniting for Ukraine, DHS developed processes to provide lawful pathways for certain nationals of  Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) , and confirmed the financial suitability of 298,144 CHNV supporters. As of the end of FY 2023, the following CHNV nationals and their immediate family members have entered the United States: 49,629 as part of the process for Cubans; 84,318 as part of the process for Haitians; 37,591 as part of the process for Nicaraguans; 66,401 as part of the process for Venezuelans.
  • Implementing new family reunification parole processes for individuals from  Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala , and modernizing family reunification processes for  Cuba and Haiti .
  • Joining with the U.S. Department of State  to announce enhancements to the CAM parole process and expand eligibility criteria for those who may request USRAP access for qualifying children.
  • Extending fee exemptions and expediting application processing for certain Afghan nationals, as authorized and supported by multi-year Congressional funding.
  • Creating a streamlined process for Afghan nationals who were paroled into the country between July 2021 and September 2023, to request consideration of a new period of parole, commonly referred to as re-parole.
  • Hosting seven Afghan Support Centers in cities with large numbers of resettled Afghan nationals and providing assistance to over 5,000 individuals, an effort made possible through Congressional funding.
  • Prioritizing processing of asylum cases for Afghan allies and their families
  • Uniting for Ukraine:  Providing significant support to the  Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) process, including assessing the financial suitability of supporters for the U4U process. As of the end of FY 2023, more than 150,000 Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members have entered he United States under the U4U process.
  • Temporary Protected Status (TPS):  Accepting TPS initial and re-registration applications under new designations, extensions, or redesignations for Afghanistan, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen, and announcing redesignation for Venezuela. USICS also announced the extension of the re-registration periods from 60 days to 18 months for applicants under six TPS-designated countries: El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan.
  • Hart Service Center:  Opening the  Humanitarian, Adjustment, Removing Conditions, and Travel Documents (HART) Service Center (PDF, 198.84 KB) [PDF], to adjudicate applications affecting some of the most vulnerable noncitizens.
  • Statelessness:  Assisting  vulnerable stateless noncitizens , by announcing centralized USCIS resources to support consideration of noncitizens as stateless for immigration purposes.
  • USCIS will continue to increase refugee interviews and decisions to support the target of admitting 125,000 refugees this fiscal year including staying on track to admit between 35,000 and 50,000 refugees from the Latin American region in FY 2024.
  • USCIS will continue to build capacity for processing credible fear screenings at the southwest border by focusing on hiring, retention, and training initiatives that cultivate an agile, highly qualified, and diverse workforce.
  • USCIS will focus on technological and procedural improvements to streamline the adjudication of asylum applications. USCIS will continue to explore locations where USCIS may open additional international field offices as part of its international expansion efforts.
  • On Oct. 1, 2023, USCIS began accelerating processing of EAD applications filed by individuals who arrived in the U.S. after parolees scheduling an appointment through CBP One and being granted parole. USCIS will continue to dedicate additional personnel and implement improvements to maintain the median processing time for EAD applications filed by those paroled after a CBP One appointment or were paroled through the CHNV parole processes at 30 days.
  • USCIS will build on its nationwide campaign to provide timely information to individuals who are eligible to apply for an EAD. To date, nearly 2 million email and text notifications have been sent in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Ukrainian, and Russian, and USCIS is working extensively with cities to educate recently arrived migrants on the immigration system and how to apply for an EAD.
  • USCIS will continue to implement the new family reunification process for Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala as well as the modernized processes for Cuba and Haiti. In addition, on Nov. 15, 2023, USCIS  announced the establishment of a new family reunification parole processes for certain individuals from Ecuador whose Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, filed on behalf of an Ecuadorian principal beneficiary has been approved.
  • USCIS will continue its commitment to supporting our Afghan allies through Enduring Welcome.
  • In FY 2024, USCIS will continue to build up the infrastructure and onboard and train new staff to adjudicate pending humanitarian and related cases at the HART Service Center.

Taxes 2024: Our Essential Cheat Sheet to Filing Your Tax Return This Year

This guide can help you find all the answers you need for getting your taxes filed this year.

peter-butler-6276-square

Taxes are complicated, but it can help to break down the filing process into simple steps.

an illustration of two people surrounded by tax forms, calculators, money and other financial items

With the 2024  tax season  in full swing -- the IRS has already received over 25 million returns -- getting your tax return submitted is probably on your mind. And if you plan to file soon, make sure to gather all the necessary paperwork to make filing easier.

Completing your taxes isn't always easy, especially when you aren't a tax professional or up to date with the latest tax laws. The rules vary by year and person, depending on your filing status, age, income and other factors. 

As you navigate the 2024 tax season, use our cheat sheet to help you find all the answers you need. The resources below provide expert advice on tricky tax topics and can help you start your return. 

Hopefully, these resources can help you file with confidence, get the biggest tax refund possible and minimize stress.

Read more:   File Early and Get Up to 20% Off Your 2023 Taxes With TurboTax

How to get started with your taxes

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As with most tasks, the hardest part of doing your taxes is starting. You have to gather all your necessary forms (and track down any that are missing), pick a service or software to use and then spend hours completing your return.

No wonder almost a third of Americans wait until the last minute to file, according to a survey from financial services company IPX1031 . Filing as early as possible has its advantages to consider.

Here's some info to help you jumpstart your tax return:

  • What Are the Tax Deadlines for the 2024 Tax Season?
  • How to Create an Online IRS Account and Why You Should
  • 7 Good Reasons to File Your Tax Return Early
  • How to File Your Taxes With a Phone or Tablet
  • All the Ways You Can File Taxes for Free
  • Best Tax Software for 2024
  • Tax Season Filing Statistics Week by Week

What to know about the child tax credit in 2024

With the child tax credit tax break, you could be eligible for up to $2,000 per child. The rules around which kids qualify and how much money you could get refunded can be confusing, however. Here's what to know about this benefit.

  • What Is the Child Tax Credit and Who Qualifies for It?
  • When You Can Expect Your Child Tax Credit Money to Arrive
  • Which States Have Child Tax Credit Tax Breaks?
  • Will the Government Expand the Child Tax Credit in 2024?

Form, forms and more tax forms

There are a lot of tax documents: There's the W-2 your company sends you, assorted 1099 forms for other income, a 1098 form for mortgage interest and many others.

In all, the IRS provides 2,854 different tax forms on its website. Learn about the ones you need in 2024, and what to do if you are missing any.

  • What Is a W-2 Form and What to Do If You Haven't Received Yours
  • All the Different 1099 Tax Forms Explained
  • Venmo and Cash App Income: Will You Get a 1099-K?
  • How to Scan Important Tax Documents With Your Phone

Review your tax credits and tax deductions

Once you've started your return for tax year 2023, make sure you get every penny owed to you. One way to maximize your tax refund is to check all of the potential tax credits and deductions that could lower your tax bill.

Learn the basics of itemizing deductions (or taking the standard deduction), and review all the ways that you can pay less or get a bigger refund.

  • How to Choose Between the Standard Deduction and Itemized Deductions
  • Biggest Tax Credits Boost Your Tax Refund Even if You Don't Itemize
  • All the Possible Tax Credits and Deductions for Homeowners
  • Green Tax Breaks Give Money Back for Energy Efficiency

All about tax refunds

After you've finished your 2023 tax return and sent it to the IRS, the waiting begins. Fortunately, the IRS makes it easy to track your return and refund. 

Learn more about how to track your tax refund, whether it's directly deposited or mailed as a paper check, as well as other tips for getting your money quickly and securely.

  • Where's My Tax Refund? How to Track Your IRS Money
  • How to Track Your Tax Refund Check in the US Mail
  • Get Your Tax Refund Faster With Direct Deposit
  • How to Get Your Tax Refund Two Days Early
  • How to Protect Your Tax Refund From Identity Theft

What about taxes and Social Security or other government benefits

The rules around taxes and benefits can baffling. Here's are a few guides on what to know about taxes and your government benefits. 

  • Do Social Security Recipients Need to File a Tax Return?
  • Do SSI Recipients Need to File Taxes?
  • Do SSDI Beneficiaries Need to File a Tax Return?

Answers to specific tax questions in 2024

Everyone's financial situation is unique, but several common quandaries flummox even the most diligent taxpayers.

Here are a few of the more common tax questions for 2024:

  • Do I Have to Pay Taxes on My State Stimulus Check?
  • Can You Claim a Boyfriend or Girlfriend as a Dependent?
  • Which Divorced Parent Gets to Claim the Child Tax Credit?
  • If Student Debt Relief Goes Through, Will You Owe More in Taxes?

How to get help on your taxes

If you can't find the tax answers you need on your own, don't despair. There are free resources that can help get your tax return finished and filed. 

  • How to Get Free Help on Your Taxes
  • Got Tax Questions? Do This Before Calling the IRS
  • CNET Tax Tips

Good luck with filing your return. Be sure to check back as we update this list often with more tax explainers and tips for 2024.

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  • Europe edition

A screenshot from an AI-generated video of woolly mammoths.

Sora: OpenAI launches tool that instantly creates video from text

Model from ChatGPT maker ‘simulates physical world in motion’ up to a minute long based on users’ subject and style instructions

OpenAI revealed a tool on Thursday that can generate videos from text prompts.

The new model, nicknamed Sora after the Japanese word for “sky”, can produce realistic footage up to a minute long that adheres to a user’s instructions on both subject matter and style. According to a company blogpost, the model is also able to create a video based on a still image or extend existing footage with new material.

“We’re teaching AI to understand and simulate the physical world in motion, with the goal of training models that help people solve problems that require real-world interaction,” the blogpost reads.

One video included among several initial examples from the company was based on the prompt: “A movie trailer featuring the adventures of the 30-year-old space man wearing a red wool knitted motorcycle helmet, blue sky, salt desert, cinematic style, shot on 35mm film, vivid colors.”

The company announced it had opened access to Sora to a few researchers and video creators. The experts would “red team” the product – test it for susceptibility to skirt OpenAI’s terms of service, which prohibit “extreme violence, sexual content, hateful imagery, celebrity likeness, or the IP of others”, per the company’s blogpost. The company is only allowing limited access to researchers, visual artists and film-makers, though CEO Sam Altman responded to users’ prompts on Twitter after the announcement with video clips he said were made by Sora. The videos bear a watermark to show they were made by AI.

Introducing Sora, our text-to-video model. Sora can create videos of up to 60 seconds featuring highly detailed scenes, complex camera motion, and multiple characters with vibrant emotions. https://t.co/7j2JN27M3W Prompt: “Beautiful, snowy… pic.twitter.com/ruTEWn87vf — OpenAI (@OpenAI) February 15, 2024

The company debuted the still image generator Dall-E in 2021 and generative AI chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022, which quickly accrued 100 million users. Other AI companies have debuted video generation tools, though those models have only been able to produce a few seconds of footage that often bears little relation to their prompts. Google and Meta have said they are in the process of developing generative video tools, though they have not released them to the public. On Wednesday, it announced an experiment with adding deeper memory to ChatGPT so that it could remember more of its users’ chats.

https://t.co/uCuhUPv51N pic.twitter.com/nej4TIwgaP — Sam Altman (@sama) February 15, 2024

OpenAI did not disclose how much footage was used to train Sora or where the training videos may have originated, other than telling the New York Times that the corpus contained videos that were both publicly available and licensed from copyright owners. The company has been sued multiple times for alleged copyright infringement in the training of its generative AI tools, which digest gargantuan amounts of material scraped from the internet and imitate the images or text contained in those datasets.

  • Artificial intelligence (AI)

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