How to Write Slide Text People Can Read in PowerPoint

The fastest way to improve a beginner deck is not new colors or pictures. It is the words. Vague titles, long bullets, and small gray text make people squint, read ahead, and stop listening.

In this tutorial you will fix the text in the Video Calls Made Easy workshop deck: first what the words say, then how they look. Every technique here works in any theme.

Write slide titles as takeaways

Most people use the title as a label: "Overview", "Step 2", "Results". A label tells the audience the topic. A takeaway title tells them the point, in a short sentence.

A good takeaway title:

• Is a full idea, usually a short sentence (under about 12 words)
• Answers "so what?" for that slide
• Could stand alone: if someone reads only the titles, they get the story

Takeaway titles also make you a better planner. If you cannot write the title as a sentence, you may not know yet what the slide is for. That is useful to find out before you present.

Placeholders vs. text boxes

There are two ways text gets onto a slide, and they behave differently.

Placeholders are the dotted boxes that come with a layout ("Click to add title", "Click to add text"). Their position, font, size, and bullet style come from the layout and theme.

Text boxes are boxes you draw yourself with Insert› then Text› then Text Box. They start with default formatting and sit wherever you put them.

Rule of thumb: type into placeholders whenever you can. Use a text box for small extras that do not belong in the layout, such as a label on a picture or a source line.

Try it: on slide 3, type a bullet into the content placeholder. Then draw a text box beside it and type the same bullet. Change the layout with Home› then Slides› then Layout and watch what moves. The placeholder text moves into the new layout; the text box stays where you drew it.

Font size, weight, and contrast

Readable text comes down to three things: size, weight, and contrast. Use the Font group on the Home tab.

Size. The default Office theme sets titles at 44 pt and first-level body text at 28 pt. That is a sensible starting point. A common rule of thumb for slides shown in a room is to keep body text at 18 pt or larger. If text only fits at 14 pt, the problem is too many words, not too large a font.

Weight. Bold works because it is rare. Bold one key phrase per slide at most. If everything is bold, nothing stands out.

Contrast. Text must stand out clearly from its background. Dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background works. Gray on gray, yellow on white, and text over a busy photo do not. Projectors and bright rooms wash colors out, so pick stronger contrast than looks necessary on your laptop. The accessibility guideline used on the web (WCAG) asks for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal-size text.

Also avoid tiny footnotes. If a source or note matters, put it at a readable size or in the speaker notes.

Bullets, lists, and line spacing

Bullets are fine. Long bullets and long lists are the problem. Use the Paragraph group on the Home tab to control them.

Keep bullets short. Aim for one line each. Start with a verb when the slide is about doing something ("Tap the link", "Check the microphone").

Avoid nested bullets. Sub-bullets (Tab to indent, Shift+Tab to go back) make a slide look like a document outline. If you need sub-points, the slide probably holds two ideas.

Use numbers for steps. If order matters, click Numbering instead of Bullets.

Add space between ideas. Select the list, then Home› then Paragraph› then Line Spacing› then Line Spacing Options. Setting Spacing After to around 12 pt separates items without making lines look stretched.

Split long lists. If a slide has more than about five or six bullets, split it. A nine-bullet slide usually contains three ideas.

When text overflows a placeholder, PowerPoint shrinks it automatically and shows an AutoFit Options button beside the box. Treat that as a warning, not a solution: shrinking means the slide has too many words.

Alignment and text discipline

Text that sits in random positions makes a slide look careless, even when the words are good.

Left align body text. Left-aligned text is easiest to read, because every line starts in the same place. Center alignment is fine for a title slide or a single short line, but not for lists. Use Home› then Paragraph› then Align Left or Ctrl+L.

Line things up. Titles and body text should share the same left edge. When you add extra text boxes, align them with each other and with the placeholders.

To align several text boxes:

1. Click the first box's border, then hold Shift and click the others.
2. Go to Home› then Drawing› then Arrange› then Align (or Shape Format› then Arrange› then Align).
3. Choose Align Left to line up their left edges, then Distribute Vertically to space them evenly.

As you drag a box, PowerPoint also shows red dashed Smart Guides when it lines up with something else on the slide. Let go when you see one.

Keep consistent margins. Do not push text right to the slide edge. Leave a clear border of empty space on every side, and keep it the same on every slide. Placeholders do this for you, which is another reason to use them.

Move extra words into the speaker notes

Cutting words from a slide does not mean losing them. Move the detail you want to say into the Notes pane under the slide. If the Notes pane is hidden, click Notes on the status bar or View› then Show› then Notes.

A good test: the slide holds what the audience must see; the notes hold what you will say. When you present with Presenter View (covered in Present and export), only you see the notes.

Common text mistakes

Practice