In college, I’ve often heard people use the short form “PPT” to refer to presentations. You might’ve heard or even used it yourself. But did you know that “PPT” (more precisely, .ppt or .pptx) is actually the file name extension for Microsoft PowerPoint?

What does this mean for us? It means that PowerPoint is such a popular presentation tool that people use its name interchangeably with the word “presentation” (I don’t suggest you do that though)!

In this article, I’ve selected the 10 best free and paid Microsoft PowerPoint online courses for you from the 180+ Microsoft PowerPoint courses on our catalog by following a well-defined methodology that you can find below.

But if you want to jump straight to the results, here are my top 10 picks. You can click on a course to jump to the corresponding section:

Course	Workload	In Brief
1. Diseña presentaciones eficaces con Powerpoint (València)	12-30 hours	Best university course on PowerPoint with an emphasis on ethical use of internet resources
2. Work Smarter with Microsoft PowerPoint (Microsoft)	19 hours	Clean and concise PowerPoint course directly from the creators – Microsoft
3. Microsoft PowerPoint From Beginner to Advanced (Udemy)	7 hours	Detailed and well-structured PowerPoint course with an excellent instructor
4. Improve Your PowerPoint & Design skills! Get Amazing Presentations Done. Fast & Efficient (Skillshare)	8 hours	Great project-based beginner-level course on PowerPoint with an interactive instructor
5. Competencias digitales de ofimática: Microsoft PowerPoint (Barcelona)	8-10 hours	Short university course on PowerPoint, good for learning the concepts quickly
6. One-Stop Microsoft PowerPoint Tutorial: Creating Outstanding Slides (Skillshare)	1-2 hours	Very aesthetic, excellent use of visuals throughout this PowerPoint course
7. PowerPoint: Silicon Valley Presentation Secrets (LinkedIn Learning)	1-2 hours	Great for those who want serious professional touch on their PowerPoint presentation
8. 【初心者から上級者まで】１日で学べるパワーポイントの教科書マスターコース (Udemy)	10 hours	Good PowerPoint course in Japanese with all the basics to learn the useful concepts quickly
9. Learning PowerPoint for the web (Office 365/Microsoft 365) (LinkedIn Learning)	1-2 hours	Useful for those who want to create PowerPoint presentations on the web using PowerPoint Online
10. Effective Business Presentations with Powerpoint (PwC)	11 hours	Great for those who want to learn effective presentation design and delivery in general

What is Microsoft PowerPoint?

Microsoft PowerPoint is a popular presentation application developed by Microsoft. PowerPoint is part of the Microsoft Office suite containing other software like Excel, Word, and Access among others. Not only Windows, PowerPoint can also be run on Android, MacOS, iOS, and even on the web.

Today, PowerPoint is used anywhere from educational institutions to offices to convey messages and share ideas. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers started teaching through PowerPoint since traditional blackboard teaching was not an option anymore.

Why are PowerPoint skills important?

Since PowerPoint has such a wide variety of uses, it’s only natural that it’s a much sought-after skill. According to a research by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) of the Government of UK, Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the most common productivity software skills requested by UK employers. It has 185,619 job adverts, a high advertised salary of £34,300 and a versatility of 0.98 (very high).

What is my experience with PowerPoint?

I’ve been using Microsoft PowerPoint since my school days, not just for work but for fun as well! I’ve always seen my father make presentations to teach his class. Back then, it was way ahead of time, and a much more interactive method of teaching.

I am a Guided Project Instructor at Coursera. I am also a Beta Tester at Coursera, having tested many courses before they’re officially launched. I have taken over 50 online courses in various subjects.

My experience as an online learner and teacher has given me some perspective on what to look for in an online course. I used my experience to evaluate each course in this list.

Best Courses Guides Methodology

I built this ranking following the now tried-and-tested methodology I used in previous rankings (you can find them all here). It involves a three-step process:

1. Research: I started by leveraging Class Central’s database with over 80K+ online courses and 170K reviews. Then, I made a preliminary selection of 180+ Microsoft PowerPoint courses by rating, reviews, and bookmarks.
2. Evaluate: I read through reviews on Class Central, Reddit, and course providers to understand what other learners thought about each course and combined it with my own experience as a learner.
3. Select: Well-made courses were picked if they presented valuable and engaging content and they have to fit in a set of criteria and be ranked accordingly: comprehensive curriculum, release date, affordability, ratings and enrollments.

The end result is a unique selection of courses that combines a decade of Class Central data and my own experience as an online learner to try to get the best of both worlds. So far, I’ve spent more than 10 hours building this list, and I’ll continue to update it.

Course Ranking Statistics

Here are some statistics regarding this course ranking:

• Combined, these courses have accrued over 142K enrollments.
• Four courses are free or free-to-audit and six courses are paid.
• The most-represented course provider in the ranking is Coursera, with three courses.
• Seven courses are in English, two courses are in Spanish, and one course is in Japanese.
• The Microsoft PowerPoint subject has been bookmarked over 1.1K times on Class Central, and accounts for over 180 courses on Class Central catalog.

So without further ado, let’s get to my picks for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online courses.

1. Diseña presentaciones eficaces con Powerpoint (València)

My first pick for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online course is the free-to-audit Diseña presentaciones eficaces con Powerpoint, offered by Universitat Politècnica de València on edX.

All you have to do is understand Spanish to be able to take this course. Packed with ample practice opportunities, this course covers the major topics that you need to know to create effective PowerPoint presentations that reach your audience.

This course lays special emphasis on ethical use of internet resources so that intellectual property rights are not infringed. Since a large portion of presentations is audio-visual media, this is an extremely important thing to keep in mind.

So if you’re a beginner and looking for a one-stop course to learn PowerPoint, then think no more!

What You’ll Learn

In the first module, you’ll learn how to design effective presentations. You’ll learn about oral and visual presentation, reusing internet content, permitted use of copyrighted material, Creative Commons licenses, and GNU Licenses.

You’ll take a look at how to cite Creative Commons content, search for free images on flickr and other sites, add icons, collect image repositories, and use Getty Images. You’ll also look for free sound, video and documents, and use screenshots and other images.

In the next module, you’ll be introduced to Powerpoint. You’ll learn about presentations in teaching, create your first presentation, improve your existing presentations, add elements such as SmartArt and tables, and work with files in PowerPoint.

Finally, in the last module, you learn to add content to your presentation. You’ll work on  PowerPoint design and PowerPoint views, add transitions and animations in PowerPoint, insert hyperlinks, apply slide show, and share presentations with others.

How You’ll Learn

The course is broken down into 3 modules. Each module involves about 4 to 10 hours of work. Concepts are taught through a combination of videos and practice quizzes.

After each video, there is a very short ungraded practice quiz, and at the end of each module, there is a longer ungraded practice quiz. Finally, each module ends with a graded assignment for paying learners which adds to your final score.

Institution	Universitat Politècnica de València
Provider	edX
Instructor	Miguel Ferrando Bataller, Ignacio Despujol, Linda Castañeda Quintero
Level	Beginner
Workload	12-30 hours
Enrollments	50K
Rating	4.2/5.0
Certificate	Paid

Fun Facts

• This course is charted at #2 in Subjects / Microsoft Office 365 / Microsoft Powerpoint.
• It is part of multiple Professional Certificates such as Fundamentos de Microsoft Office para la empresa, Herramientas TIC para la educación, and Herramientas de presentación: Power Point, Photoshop e Illustrator.
• Ignacio Despujol is the MOOCs coordinator of Universitat Politècnica de València.

If you’re interested in this course, you can find more information about the course and how to enroll here.

2. Work Smarter with Microsoft PowerPoint (Microsoft)

My second pick for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online course is the free-to-audit Work Smarter with Microsoft PowerPoint, offered by Microsoft on Coursera.

Exclusively from Microsoft, this course is intended for learners who are seeking to build presentation skills with Microsoft PowerPoint. If you are familiar with PowerPoint’s basic features you can take your skills to the next level using this course.

This course will help you prepare for Exam MO-300: Microsoft PowerPoint (PowerPoint and PowerPoint 2019). This is Microsoft’s very own certification exam that tests your ability to create and manage presentations, insert and format shapes and slides, create slide content, apply transitions and animations, and manage multiple presentations.

What You’ll Learn

In the first module, you’ll get started with Microsoft PowerPoint by learning how to navigate the PowerPoint environment, creating and saving a PowerPoint presentation, using help, and selecting a presentation type.

In the next module, you’ll begin formatting your PowerPoint presentation. You’ll edit and format characters, paragraphs, objects and text boxes, add graphics and SmartArt, and apply animation and grouping to objects.

The third module is about enhancing the appearance of your presentation. You’ll do so using tables, charts, audio, and video. You’ll also use animations and transitions.

Next, you’ll learn how to deliver a presentation. You’ll apply slide transitions and print a presentation. You’ll also add comments, manage sections, and set up a slide show. Finally, you’ll use hyperlinks and action buttons and record a presentation.

Paying learners can end the course with an optional Honors Week consisting of two assignments. It is not compulsory to finish the course, but if you complete it, you’ll get a special Honors recognition on your certificate.

How You’ll Learn

The course is broken down into 5 weeks. Each week involves about 2 to 4 hours of work. Concepts are taught through videos, readings and practice exercises.

There are ample practice opportunities throughout the course in the form of readings and quizzes. At the end of each module, there is a graded quiz for paying learners which adds to your final score in the course.

Institution	Microsoft
Provider	Coursera
Level	Beginner
Workload	19 hours
Enrollments	6.22K
Rating	4.7/5.0
Certificate	Paid

Fun Facts

• This course is part of the Microsoft 365 Fundamentals Specialization.

If you’re interested in this course, you can find more information about the course and how to enroll here.

3. Microsoft PowerPoint From Beginner to Advanced (Udemy)

My third pick for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online course is Microsoft PowerPoint From Beginner to Advanced on Udemy.

Instructor of many best-selling Microsoft application courses on Udemy, Kyle Pew has received much praise for his expertise and teaching style. His course, Master Microsoft Word Beginner to Advanced, has already made it to our 10 Best Microsoft Word Courses for Beginners to Take in 2022 list!

This course is a great refresher and learning new things. I have a much better understanding of how to use PowerPoint to its fullest. Kyle Pew is an excellent Instructor, after taking the Excel and Word course. I made sure to catch his course on PowerPoint. – Patrick M., Udemy learner

What You’ll Learn

You’ll begin the course by learning how to navigate the PowerPoint ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar. You’ll explore the PowerPoint interface, view and navigate a PowerPoint presentation, save a PowerPoint Presentation, and use PowerPoint Help.

Next, you’ll add text to the PowerPoint slides. You’ll learn how to work with slide layouts and bullet lists, and modify a bullet list.

You’ll also add color to a slide background, work with PowerPoint gradients, add an Image to a slide background, and apply background to all slides.

You’ll move on to formatting text within PowerPoint. You’ll format bullet icons, format paragraphs within PowerPoint, add columns to text, and apply paragraph first line indent.

Next is adding images with PowerPoint Content Slide layout and formatting Images within PowerPoint. You then add images to a slide without placeholder, work with text boxes, and add shapes to a slide.

You’ll also format shapes within PowerPoint, arrange and group shapes within a PowerPoint slide, and use Windows Snipping Tool to capture screenshots.

Moving on, you’ll learn to organize PowerPoint data with a table, create a table with Content Slide, insert PowerPoint table without Content Slide, and modify table size. You’ll also merge table cells, modify table formatting, and use Excel to create a PowerPoint table.

Then, you’ll create a PowerPoint chart. You’ll add data to a chart, filter chart data, format a chart within PowerPoint, change a chart title, and add labels to a PowerPoint chart. You’ll also insert a chart from Microsoft Excel and update an Excel chart in PowerPoint.

You’ll learn to spell check the PowerPoint presentation, apply transitions to PowerPoint slides, apply slide durations/timing, add sound to slide transitions, print a PowerPoint presentation, and deliver a presentation with Presenter View.

You’ll also learn how to customize the PowerPoint Quick Access Toolbar and set up PowerPoint Options.

Next, you’ll be introduced to PowerPoint Slide Master. You’ll learn to create presentation consistency with PowerPoint Slide Masters, and modify bullet lists with PowerPoint Slide Master.

You’ll also see how manual formatting overrides PowerPoints Slide Master, work with PowerPoint Slide Layout Slide Masters, add images to PowerPoints Slide Master, and add headers and footers to PowerPoint slides.

Moving on, you’ll create PowerPoint SmartArt, format PowerPoint SmartArt, promote and demote PowerPoint SmartArt, and modify PowerPoint SmartArt layout.

You’ll also add audio to a PowerPoint presentation, change audio settings, add videos to a PowerPoint presentation, change video settings, and add online videos to PowerPoint presentations.

Next is animating text within a PowerPoint slide. You’ll get creative with animating bullet lists in PowerPoint, apply animation timing and order to PowerPoint text, and animate PowerPoint shapes and PowerPoint Charts.

Then, you’ll learn about PowerPoint slide show settings. You’ll learn to annotate a PowerPoint presentation, create a custom show for various audiences, add hyperlinks to PowerPoint, add custom buttons to PowerPoint, and record a PowerPoint presentation.

You’ll also learn about securing a PowerPoint presentation. You’ll broadcast a PowerPoint presentation online, store and share a PowerPoint presentation, and create a PowerPoint presentation video.

Finally, you’ll end the course by working with PowerPoint Format Painter, copying animation using PowerPoint Animation Painter, converting bullet list to PowerPoint SmartArt, and import Microsoft Word content as PowerPoint slides.

How You’ll Learn

The course is broken down into 17 sections. Most sections involve about 30 minutes of work. Concepts are taught through videos.

This course consists of 3 sections:

• Microsoft PowerPoint 101 – Introductory Level
• Microsoft PowerPoint 102 – Intermediate/Advanced Level
• Microsoft PowerPoint 103 – Tips and Tricks

Provider	Udemy
Instructor	Kyle Pew
Level	Beginner
Workload	7 hours
Enrollments	46.7K
Rating	4.7/5.0 (7.7K)
Certificate	Paid

Fun Facts

• This course is trusted by renowned businesses worldwide such as Nasdaq, Volkswagen, Box, NetApp, and Eventbrite.
• Pew is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) and a certified Microsoft Office Master Instructor.
• He has provided training for top companies such as Brocade, Chevron, Genentech, Facebook, Levi Strauss, PMI Mortgage Insurance, State Fund, Bank of the West, VISA, Walmart, and many more!
• He also has a 4.7 instructor rating on Udemy with over 1 million students.

If you’re interested in this course, you can find more information about the course and how to enroll here.

4. Improve Your PowerPoint & Design skills! Get Amazing Presentations Done. Fast & Efficient (Skillshare)

My fourth pick for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online course is Improve Your PowerPoint & Design skills! Get Amazing Presentations Done. Fast & Efficient on Skillshare.

This course is divided into two sections in such a way that you not only learn the basics of Microsoft PowerPoint but actually put it into practice. By working side-by-side with the instructor and completing projects, you’ll be able to produce a presentation just like him.

What You’ll Learn

This is a project-based course. Through various PowerPoint projects, you’ll learn to format shapes, use the Format Painter and Animation Painter, learn about the different PowerPoint versions, and use the Quick Access Toolbar.

You’ll learn about selecting a scheme (color), selecting fonts (typography), using the Presenter View, adding a vector file, and know about the designing trends and accessibility.

Next, you’ll start creating a PowerPoint presentation. You’ll add different elements to it such as a title slide, alignment, an about us slide, shape connectors, animations, timeline, transitions and timeline animations.

You’ll add a world map, a country map, and work on chart design, chart animation, and chart filter. Then, you add a contact us slide, a resources slide, a thank-you slide and sections. You’ll also add background music, embed fonts, reduce presentation size, and export a presentation to PDF.

Next, you’ll learn about the different ways of creating templates, add master slides, and change layouts. You’ll understand XML files and THMX files, how color schemes influence shapes, and create layouts.

You’ll then design templates, create custom bullet point lists, work with picture layout, design an infographic, modify chart designs, and learn about grouping. You’ll take a look at the animation pane, use the morph feature, and learn about print-out vs live presenting.

Then, you’ll learn about adding relevant elements, sharing via OneDrive, features like zoom and morph, and some 3D basics such as rotation, format, light and material. You’ll also learn about charts with icons, types of tables, native table design, and table layout.

You’ll also learn how to use the Pen and Eraser, import and live link Excel data, design a table, switch attention, organize layout, make data cohesive and understandable, express large data on tables, and work with inserted picture data.

Moving on, you learn to utilize the Office 365 zoom feature, understand vector vs bitmap, use vector files in PowerPoint, convert with Illustrator, InkScape and Cloudconvert, and copy elements between multiple PowerPoint presentations.

You’ll learn how to insert a screenshot, even out pictures, add a video to the background, and use advanced shadow options. You’ll also learn how to design PowerPoint templates, work on sliced image composition, four steps color change, custom colorful icons and borders, and proper bullet point usage.

How You’ll Learn

The course is broken down into 129 videos or “lessons”. Most lessons involve about 5 minutes of work. Concepts are taught through lots of short videos.

The course is divided in 2 comprehensive chapters:

• Teaching best presentation practices and useful PowerPoint tricks – Basic presentation knowledge which you might not be aware of.
• Slide-by-slide process of designing your own presentation – Each subsequent lesson will be devoted to tackling a slide one at a time. Follow along and create your own masterpiece just like the one in the preview.

Provider	Skillshare
Instructor	Andrew Pach
Level	Beginner
Workload	8 hours
Certificate	Not available

Fun Facts

• Pach is an after effects/PowerPoint/video/graphic design expert!
• He runs a YouTube channel called andrew pach • PowerPoint and video!

If you’re interested in this course, you can find more information about the course and how to enroll here.

5. Competencias digitales de ofimática: Microsoft PowerPoint (Barcelona)

My fifth pick for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online course is the free-to-audit Competencias digitales de ofimática: Microsoft PowerPoint, offered in Spanish by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona on Coursera.

This is the shortest university course on this list. In only two weeks, you’ll be comfortable with the basic features of Microsoft PowerPoint as well as some of its more advanced tools and techniques. This course was based on previous experiences and the syllabus of ECDL (European Computer Driving License).

What You’ll Learn

In the first week, you’ll take a look at the most basic concepts of the Microsoft PowerPoint and how to create slides and insert text and images.

In the second week, you’ll learn about slightly more advanced functions: inserting other objects, applying effects and printing and distributing.

How You’ll Learn

The course is broken down into 2 weeks. Each week takes less than 2 hours to complete. Concepts are taught through a combination of videos and readings.

Readings contain practice activities which are great to test your understanding. At the end of the course, there is a graded quiz for paying learners which will add to your final score in the course.

Institution	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Provider	Coursera
Instructor	Miquel Mazuque Periz
Level	Beginner
Workload	8-10 hours
Certificate	Paid

Fun Facts

• Periz is a Top Instructor at Coursera.
• He is also the MOOCs coordinator at the Graduate School of the UAB.

If you’re interested in this course, you can find more information about the course and how to enroll here.

6. One-Stop Microsoft PowerPoint Tutorial: Creating Outstanding Slides (Skillshare)

My sixth pick for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online course is One-Stop Microsoft PowerPoint Tutorial: Creating Outstanding Slides on Skillshare.

I personally like this course because in a matter of 1 to 2 hours, you’ll not only learn PowerPoint but will actually be able to create aesthetic presentations. What really stands out to me is the amount of care taken to choose the images and videos so that the presentations look professional.

What You’ll Learn

First, you’ll learn about the different PowerPoint versions, the PowerPoint user interface, and customize Quick Access Toolbar. You’ll learn some PowerPoint setting tips, save a PowerPoint presentation, understand recommended fonts to use, install custom fonts, and embed fonts in PowerPoint.

You’ll also find fonts, customize theme font, theme element and theme color, insert and format text, and use shapes to build impressive slides. You’ll change PowerPoint slide size, using guides to align content, use shapes to build a cover slide, merge shapes, and edit shape points.

Next, you’ll work with PowerPoint layers, use gradients to format shapes, enhance slides with icons, find high-quality images, crop images, merge images and shapes, layer images and shapes, and format images.

After that, you’ll learn to insert and format videos, insert and format audio, apply PowerPoint animations, modify animation types, and understand the Animation Pane. You’ll also learn to use multi-animation effects, 3D animation effects and PowerPoint transitions.

Finally, you’ll understand the four basic design principles, and top-bottom/left-right and center/full screen layout design.

How You’ll Learn

The course is broken down into 41 videos or “lessons”. Most lessons involve about 3 minutes of work. Concepts are taught through lots of short videos.

Provider	Skillshare
Instructor	Yuan Liu
Level	Beginner
Workload	1-2 hours
Certificate	Not available

If you’re interested in this course, you can find more information about the course and how to enroll here.

7. PowerPoint: Silicon Valley Presentation Secrets (LinkedIn Learning)

My seventh pick for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online course is PowerPoint: Silicon Valley Presentation Secrets on LinkedIn Learning.

Now this course is totally awesome! It’s not just a PowerPoint learning course, but a lot more. As the name suggests, this course will tell you some of the “secrets” Silicon Valley professionals use to make their company presentations look so dazzling and eye-catching. So if you’re someone who isn’t satisfied with run-off-the-mill presentations, this course is for you.

What You’ll Learn

You’ll start the course by learning why presentation design is so popular in Silicon Valley. Presentation designers wear many hats. You’ll get to know the importance of working quickly, the benefits of working directly in PowerPoint, and learn to create custom shapes in PowerPoint.

Next, you’ll take a look at the three-shape challenge, learn to create a fried egg using shapes, and build anything using your imagination. You’ll also learn to make a social media interface and a photorealistic phone feed.

Moving on, you’ll understand what Morph is, and get demos by creating a photo montage and morphing an element across multiple slides. You’ll also learn what showstopper moments are, create a parallax effect, and make some toast.

Finally, you’ll add a little life to still photos, animate a rocket launch, animate a model putting on makeup, and animate a speeding jet.

How You’ll Learn

The course is broken down into 6 modules. Each module involves about 5 minutes of work. Concepts are taught through a combination of short videos and practice exercises. There are also 6 quizzes to test your understanding.

Provider	LinkedIn Learning
Instructor	Jole Simmons
Level	Intermediate
Workload	1-2 hours
Certificate	Paid

Fun Facts

• Simmons is the instructor of the course, PowerPoint: Eight Easy Ways to Make Your Presentation Stand Out.
• He is also a Senior Art Director and a Podcast Host.

If you’re interested in this course, you can find more information about the course and how to enroll here.

8. 【初心者から上級者まで】１日で学べるパワーポイントの教科書マスターコース (Udemy)

My eighth pick for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online course is【初心者から上級者まで】１日で学べるパワーポイントの教科書マスターコース on Udemy.

This course is completely in Japanese. Since all the content is in Japanese, I’ve tried my best to translate the topics into English.

This course is for those who’ll be using PowerPoint for the first time, business people, those who want to increase productivity, as well as those who want to be able to create easy-to-read PowerPoints.

What You’ll Learn

In this course, you’ll learn to work with the following in PowerPoint:

• Text – font, color, paragraph, bullet, Tab, sort, find, replace
• Shapes – shape type, usage, resizing, rotation, copy shape, grid lines
• Shortcuts – key usage, formatting copying, font unification, quick access toolbar, repeat
• Table graphs – borders, uniform height, column charts, line charts, cooperation with Excel files
• Presentations – configuration, layout, Gantt chart, logic tree, pyramid, slide resizing
• Applied techniques – slide master, image cropping, hyperlinks, comments, notes

How You’ll Learn

The course is broken down into 8 sections. Most sections involve about 1 to 2 hours of work. Concepts are taught through a combination of videos and readings.

Provider	Udemy
Instructor	Kumano Hitoshi
Level	Beginner
Workload	10 hours
Enrollments	6.6K
Rating	4.6/5.0 (1.2K)
Certificate	Paid

Fun Facts

• In 2019, Kumano raised 10 billion yen and led a project that became a unicorn company.
• 500,000 copies of his work, 「外資系投資銀行のエクセル仕事術」, were published worldwide!

If you’re interested in this course, you can find more information about the course and how to enroll here.

9. Learning PowerPoint for the web (Office 365/Microsoft 365) (LinkedIn Learning)

My ninth pick for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online course is Learning PowerPoint for the web (Office 365/Microsoft 365) on LinkedIn Learning.

Just like many other Microsoft Office applications, PowerPoint can also be used on the web. With limited features, you can still use it to create impressive presentations while not having to install the desktop version of PowerPoint. This course is for users who know the basics of the PowerPoint desktop app, but are new to the web browser version, PowerPoint Online.

What You’ll Learn

You’ll start from the very basics and learn how to open PowerPoint Online. You’ll create and save a new presentation in OneDrive for Business, upload a file to OneDrive for Business, work with the simplified ribbon, and switch to the desktop app.

Then, you’ll work with slide layouts, add and view slide notes, duplicate, delete, and hide slides, create SmartArt diagrams, insert pictures, apply transitions and animations, and insert a video.

You’ll also apply a theme to slides, work with contextual ribbons, get design ideas in PowerPoint Online, insert and manage comments, dictate slide content, enable subtitles in a slide show, share a presentation, and share a link to a slide.

After that, you’ll learn to coauthor a presentation, manage version history, copy a presentation from OneDrive to Microsoft Teams, check accessibility, print slides, and work with slide views.

Finally, you’ll end the course by learning how to engage your audience with Present Live, get assistance with the Tell me feature, practice your presentation skills with Presenter Coach, and work with the iOS app.

How You’ll Learn

The course is broken down into 8 modules. Most modules involve about 5 minutes of work. Concepts are taught through a combination of videos and practice exercises. There are also 6 quizzes to test your understanding.

Provider	LinkedIn Learning
Instructor	Heather Severino
Level	Beginner
Workload	1-2 hours
Certificate	Paid

Fun Facts

• Severino has been Microsoft Certified since 2006 and became a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) in 2011.
• In 2012, Microsoft appointed her an MCT Regional Lead for the United States, and she is currently one of approximately 75 MCT Regional Leads worldwide mentoring other MCTs.
• In 2017, Microsoft honored her with the distinguished award as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for the OneNote technology.
• She has been re-awarded the past four years as an Office Apps and Services Microsoft MVP.
• She also loves to look for turtles below the surface of the ocean!

If you’re interested in this course, you can find more information about the course and how to enroll here.

10. Effective Business Presentations with Powerpoint (PwC)

My tenth pick for the best Microsoft PowerPoint online course is the free-to-audit Effective Business Presentations with Powerpoint, offered by PwC on Coursera.

Unlike the previous courses on this list, this course is all about presenting the story of the data using PowerPoint. This is not your typical PowerPoint tutorial course, but rather, it’s about delivering your presentation through effective storytelling and communication. Remember, this is not a traditional PowerPoint course, and does not teach the technicalities of PowerPoint.

What You’ll Learn

In the first week, you’ll learn about the eight-step approach to prepare for a presentation. This includes knowing your audience, knowing your purpose, structuring the body of your presentation, planning how you will start your presentation, planning how you will end your presentation, preparing your visual aids, anticipating the questions you may be asked, and practicing your presentation.

In the next week, you’ll learn the different types of communications styles. You’ll start off by understanding your personal professional presence and how to maximize it. You’ll learn about verbal and nonverbal communications and strategies to enhance your questioning and listening skills. You’ll also see how differences in culture can impact how you communicate.

After that, in the third week, you’ll learn how to create effective slides using PowerPoint. You’ll learn about the tools available in PowerPoint, how to structure your storyline, create storyboards, identify primary elements of slide design, display data and finalize your slide presentation.

Finally, in the fourth week, paying learners will build and deliver a presentation to your peers, and receive feedback from them. You’ll create a presentation of about 10 slides, with the help of the guidelines and industry best practices that have been discussed in this course.

How You’ll Learn

The course is broken down into 4 weeks. Each week involves about 1 hour of work. Concepts are taught through a combination of videos and readings.

For paying learners, there are a number of graded quizzes as well as peer-graded assignments throughout the course. All this will add to your final score in the course.

Institution	PwC
Provider	Coursera
Instructor	Alex Mannella
Level	Beginner
Workload	11 hours
Enrollments	84K
Rating	4.6/5.0 (1K)
Certificate	Paid

Fun Facts

• This course is charted at #3 in Subjects / Microsoft Office 365 / Microsoft Powerpoint.
• This course was created by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP with an address at 300 Madison Avenue, New York, New York, 10017.
• Prior to joining PwC, Mannella was head of research at Econometrics, Inc.
• He is also an active member of the American Statistical Association (Chicago Chapter) and the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing.

If you’re interested in this course, you can find more information about the course and how to enroll here.