If you create presentation slides or even manage presentations for your company, you’ve likely wanted to find a slide in an old presentation. However, scanning through dozens of files in a variety of locations (e.g Box, email attachments, SharePoint) to finally find the slide you want to use is extremely frustrating.
Thankfully, it’s no longer necessary to copy-and-paste slides from a previous presentation into the new one you’re working on. PowerPoint offers a “Reuse Slides” feature to appease this issue. In this article, we’ll evaluate just how effective it is and evaluate the latest PowerPoint add-in, Slide Finder.
This article will cover:
- What is PowerPoint Reuse Slides?
- The pros of Reuse Slides
- The cons of Reuse Slides
- What is Slide Finder?
- How to get started using Slide Finder for free
What is PowerPoint Reuse Slides?
PowerPoint Reuse Slides is a tool, included in Microsoft PowerPoint, that allows users to add slides to your presentation from another presentation.
Depending on what version of Microsoft Office you have, there are some differences in the Reuse Slides tool. You can view these differences for the 2016, 2019, Microsoft 365 Family version and Microsoft 365 for enterprises version here.
The Pros of Reuse Slides
Operates in PowerPoint
The Reuse Slides tool is available directly in PowerPoint. Accessible in the “Insert” ribbon, it’s very easy to find.
Search SharePoint & OneDrive
Reuse Slides can connect to SharePoint & OneDrive so you don’t necessarily have to have the file you’re looking for on your computer.
The Cons of Reuse Slides
Not a true Slide-level Search Tool
The enterprise version of Reuse Slides allows you to search for slides and presentations, which is much more helpful than the basic version where you have to manually browse (no search option) and open a presentation. However, even in the enterprise version, the results only show the title slides from the presentations that match the search. Users have to click on the title slide to see all the slides in presentation. They then manually comb through the slides in each presentation to find the ones that are relevant. A better experience would involve immediately showing the user the thumbnails of the specific slides that match their search.
No Filters
You are very limited in your search by only being able to search for a term (if you have the enterprise version). There are no filters for date, folders, SharePoint columns, or other metadata (e.g. author).
Doesn’t save much time
The Reuse Slides tool leaves us feeling unimpressed. You might as well search for PowerPoint files to find what you’re looking for instead of using this tool as it doesn’t save you much time. Even with the Enterprise version (where you have a search function), you still are presented with title slides first. Quite a bit of time digging to find that slide you need.
Not available consistently
Sometimes the “Browse” option on Reuse Slides will completely go away, most commonly after updates. A common search on Google is “PowerPoint reuse slides not working” – red flag alert! Microsoft moderators state that the reason people can’t select files or browse files is that you have to have Office 365 for the enterprise version of Office. A workaround “solution” is to run PowerPoint in Safe Mode.
What is Slide Finder?
Slide Finder is a PowerPoint add-in that allows users to search for PowerPoint content on a slide-level, enabling users to reuse old slides stored in SharePoint and OneDrive.
Where PowerPoint Reuse Slides falls short, Slide Finder exceeds expectations. Instead of rummaging through presentations, Slide Finder surfaces the specific slides you need. You can search, preview slides, and click to insert – without leaving PowerPoint!
Slide Finder seamlessly integrates with SharePoint and OneDrive so users can easily find old slides buried in their cloud drives.
Reuse slides done right!
Try our FREE Slide Finder tool
How to Get Started Using Slide Finder for Free
Slide Finder is open to new users for free for a limited amount of time, giving us time to understand to build a community across different segments. While we’ll continue to serve users who sign up now for free, we do plan on monetizing Slide Finder for users who miss this initial window.
How to get Slide Finder:
1. In Microsoft AppSource, click Get add-in.
2. When prompted, login to your Microsoft account. After logging in, you’ll be automatically redirected to the download page.
3. Click Open in PowerPoint.
4. Follow the instructions to open Slide Finder in PowerPoint. Happy searching!
Reuse slides done right!
Try our FREE Slide Finder tool
