How to annotate a PowerPoint
To annotate a PowerPoint during a presentation, press Ctrl+P for the pen or right-click → Pointer Options → Pen and draw directly on the slide. To add notes before sharing, go to Review → New Comment. To let someone else mark up slides without editing or downloading the file, share a link they can annotate in their browser — no PowerPoint account required.
During a live presentation (built-in pen)
Start your slide show (F5 or Slide Show → From Beginning), then press Ctrl+P to switch to the pen tool. Draw or write directly on the current slide. Ctrl+L gives you a laser pointer; Ctrl+E erases. When you exit the presentation, PowerPoint asks whether to keep the ink — click Keep to save the annotations as shapes on the slide. The pen colour defaults to red; right-click → Pointer Options → Ink Color to change it. This is the native path and works offline with no add-ins.
Before sharing — adding slide comments
Open the presentation in PowerPoint (desktop or web), go to the Review tab, and click New Comment. A comment panel opens on the right; click the spot on the slide you're referring to and type your note. Comments stay hidden during the presentation and appear as small icons the recipient can open in the panel. In PowerPoint for the web (office.com), collaborators can add comments without installing the desktop app. One gap to know: PowerPoint has no 'view + comment only' permission level — anyone you share a file with can also edit it, unlike Word's 'Can review' mode.
On iPhone or iPad
Open the .pptx file in the PowerPoint app (free on iOS) or in Files if it was shared via iCloud. In the PowerPoint app, tap a slide in the thumbnail bar, then tap the speech bubble icon to add a comment. For freehand drawing, tap the pencil icon to enter Draw mode — you get a pen, highlighter, and eraser. Alternatively, export the slide as an image (Share → Save as Image), then open it in Markup (tap the share icon → Markup) to annotate with Apple's built-in tools and send back the marked-up image.
When a client needs to mark it up without editing
Emailing a .pptx file means the client opens it, annotates in whatever version of PowerPoint they have, re-saves, and emails it back — and now you have two diverging files. PowerPoint's share link fixes the version problem but can't restrict editing: any link you send them also lets them change the slides. The cleaner approach for client sign-off is rendering the slides as a reviewable document — each slide becomes something they can click and pin a note to, without touching the source file. Their feedback lands in one place, threaded, anchored to the slide they meant.
Sending slides to a client for approval? Drop the export into Drafty and share the link. They click the exact slide and pin a note — no PowerPoint account, no way to overwrite your work. Every comment lands in one threaded place, anchored to the spot they meant.
Open a live demoQuestions
- How do I annotate a PowerPoint during a presentation?
- Press Ctrl+P to activate the pen while in slide show mode, or right-click and choose Pointer Options → Pen. Draw on the slide in real time. When you exit, PowerPoint will ask if you want to keep the ink as permanent annotations on the slide.
- Can I annotate a PowerPoint without editing the slides?
- Using the Review → Comment feature lets you add notes without changing the slide content. However, PowerPoint has no 'comment-only' sharing permission — anyone with edit access to your file can still modify the slides. If you need a client to annotate without touching the source, export the presentation first and share a link to the exported version.
- How do I annotate a PowerPoint on a Mac?
- Open it in PowerPoint for Mac and use Review → New Comment to add notes before sharing. For live drawing during a presentation, enter slide show mode and press Ctrl+P for the pen. If you exported the slides as a PDF, you can also annotate in Preview using its Markup Toolbar (Shift+⌘+A).
- How do I let someone mark up PowerPoint slides without sending the file?
- The simplest approach is to export the presentation as a PDF (File → Export → PDF), then share that rather than the .pptx. A link-based review tool lets the recipient click and annotate specific slides without downloading or editing the source.
- How do I save PowerPoint annotations after a presentation?
- When you end the slide show, a dialog appears asking 'Do you want to keep your ink annotations?' Click Keep. The drawn annotations are saved as ink shapes on the slides and are visible to anyone who opens the file.
- Can I annotate a PowerPoint in Google Slides?
- Yes. Upload the .pptx to Google Drive and open it in Google Slides. Select Insert → Comment (or press Ctrl+Alt+M) to add a comment anchored to a slide. Collaborators with the link can also add comments without needing a PowerPoint licence. Some formatting may shift on complex layouts.
Keep exploring
Stop emailing files back and forth.
Share one link. They comment on the exact spot — no account, always the current version.