Designer improves slides for Microsoft 365 subscribers by automatically generating design ideas to choose from.
While you're putting content on a slide, Designer works in the background to match that content to professionally designed layouts.
Get design suggestions
In PowerPoint, you can get design ideas any time. On the Design tab, select
Design Suggestions.Design Suggestions is turned on by default, but the first time you try Designer, a prompt might appear requesting your permission to provide design ideas for you.
If you're not sure it's turned on, go to the File tab, select Account, and under Account Privacy select Manage Settings. Check the box to Turn on optional connected experiences.
Note
Microsoft is committed to helping protect your security and privacy while using Designer. To learn more, see the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
If it's still not on, from the File tab, choose Options. On the General tab, select Automatically show me suggestions and Automatically show me suggests when I create a new presentation.
Go to the Design Suggestions pane right side of the window and look through the design ideas
Select the design you want and your slide is changed accordingly. To exit the Design Suggestions pane without making any changes, select the X at the top-left corner of the pane.
You can also select another idea from the pane or go back to your original slide design. Press Ctrl+Z to undo a design change you've just selected.
Explore Designer
Learn more about the different features in Designer to elevate your presentations. Easily add a photo to your title slide and get a cohesive design across your slides. You can use SmartArt graphics to turn text into engaging visuals. Designer, looks for key terms that is has illustrations for and displays relevant visuals in various layouts. Find out what other features Designer has to offer.
A title-slide photo and a design scheme
When you start a blank presentation and add text to the slide, Designer suggests high-quality photos that align with the slide's content. It also recommends a color scheme that goes well with the photo you choose. All the slides in the presentation fit together visually.
Professional layouts
Designer detects pictures, charts, or tables on a slide and gives you several suggestions for arranging them in a cohesive, attractive layout.
More visuals, less text
Too much text on your slide? Designer can turn text such as lists, processes, or timelines into an easily readable graphic. Learn more about SmartArt graphic.
Illustrations
Designer looks for key terms and concepts that it has illustrations for and shows them in different layouts. The illustrations are from the Microsoft 365 icons library.
Manage Designer
If you don't want Designer to automatically offer suggestions:
- On the File tab, select Options at the bottom of the pane.
- On the General tab, scroll to Design Suggestions and clear the Automatically show me suggestions checkbox.
Requirements for Design Suggestions for Windows
|
This is a subscriber-only, Microsoft 365 feature. Find your version |
|---|---|
| Design ideas for one photo Applies to: |
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 Current Channel: Version 1511 or later Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel: Version 1602 or later |
| Multiple photos, color extraction, and facial recognition Applies to: |
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 Current Channel: Version 1603 or later Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel: Version 1605 or later |
| Convert lists to SmartArt graphics Applies to: |
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 Current Channel: Version 1609 or later Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel: Version 1701 or later |
| Design ideas for action-oriented lists Applies to: |
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 Current Channel: Version 1702 or later Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel: Version 1708 or later |
| Design ideas where icons substitute for text Applies to: |
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 Current Channel: Version 1612 or later Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel: Not available yet |
| Design ideas for charts Applies to: |
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 Current Channel: Version 1705 or later Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel: Version 1803 or later |
| Design ideas for time lines Applies to: |
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 Current Channel: Version 1707 or later Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel: Version 1803 or later |
| Design ideas for converting text to Icons + SmartArt graphics Applies to: |
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 |
| Design ideas for content drawn in ink Applies to: |
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 Current Channel: Version 1812 or later Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel: Not available yet |
Troubleshooting for Microsoft 365
If you're having trouble with Designer with PowerPoint in Microsoft 365, there some things you can try.
What if I don't see the Design Suggestions button?
If you don't see the Design Suggestion button, here are some things to review.
Design Suggestions are only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers
On desktop versions of PowerPoint, only subscribers get design suggestions. To try or buy Microsoft 365 subscription, see Microsoft 365.
On PowerPoint for the web, design suggestions are available to everyone.
One Microsoft 365 subscription package doesn't include design ideas: Office 365 Germany.
Turn on Office connected experiences
To use Designer, make sure that Office "connected experiences" are turned on. On the File tab, select Account, and under Account Privacy choose Manage Settings. Under Optional connected experiences, select the check box on Turn on optional connected experiences. For more info, see Enabling and disabling intelligent services.
Administrator might have turned off Designer
Designer is a feature for Microsoft 365 subscribers, but some organizations turn off the feature. If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription but don't see the
Design Suggestions button, ask your IT department.
Reinstall Office to get subscriber features
If you've upgraded from Microsoft 365 to a Microsoft 365 subscription, you need to uninstall Microsoft 365 and then reinstall to get the subscriber features. See the instructions in these articles:
Restart the app to get Designer
Sometimes users find that the first time they start PowerPoint after installing Microsoft 365, the
Design Suggestions button isn't available. Restarting the app fixes this problem.
What if I select the Design Suggestions button and there are no suggestions?
If you don't see any suggestions when you select the Design Suggestions button, here are some things to check.
- You might not be connected to the internet. Make sure you have an active internet connection and try again. Designer goes online to get design ideas.
- Use a theme that comes with PowerPoint (not a custom theme or one that you've downloaded from elsewhere).
No Design Suggestions for slide with pictures
- Make sure your slide has either the Title or Title + Content slide layout applied.
- Don't use any additional objects or shapes on the same slide as your photo.
- Use a maximum of four photos (.jpg, .png, .gif, or .bmp) per slide, and make sure they're larger than 200 x 200 pixels in size.
No Design Suggestions for process-based slides
Make sure your slide has the Title + Content slide layout applied.
Don't use any additional photos, objects, or shapes on the same slide as your process text.
Because Designer is a relatively new service, it's still learning new tricks. If Designer can't generate high-quality options for you, it won't show any options at all. We're working hard to be able to generate great design ideas for more varieties of your content.
And of course, if you don't find Design Suggestions useful, you can turn it off by going to the File tab, selecting Options and on the General tab, clearing the Automatically show me design ideas checkbox.
Someone else is editing
If you're co-authoring a presentation with someone else and more than one person is actively editing a single slide at one time, Designer won't give design suggestions on that slide.
When a single user is editing a slide, Designer resumes suggesting designs in response to specific actions the user takes, like inserting a photo.
No design ideas for slides that have shape or text boxes
Designer isn't able to suggest design suggestions when a slide has a shape or text box drawn on it. You can have photos and text in a placeholder.
What if the Design Suggestions button is grayed out?
If you can see the Design Suggestions button on the ribbon but it's grayed out, here are some things to check:
- You might not be connected to the internet. Make sure you have an active internet connection and try again.
- A single slide isn't selected. This can be the case when multiple slides are selected in the slide thumbnail pane in Normal view, or when the focus in the thumbnail pane is between two slides. It also is the case when the Notes pane is selected or you're in Slide Show view rather than Normal view.
