Presentation authoring

Create a deck

1. Choose New, then select New presentation.
2. Choose 16:9, 4:3, vertical, or a custom pixel size. New decks default to 16:9.
3. Create the first editable frame, then use the Slides tab beside Layers to manage the deck.

To assemble an existing canvas, select frames and choose Create presentation from selected frames. Review the proposed order and titles before creating the deck. This adds references; it does not duplicate or reposition those frames.

Organize and edit slides

• Activate a slide from its row, then choose Edit slide to focus its frame on the existing canvas.
• Use Earlier, Later, or Move to position to change sequence without dragging.
• Rename slides, assign sections, skip drafts, write speaker notes, or select several slides for grouped actions.
• Remove removes only the deck reference. The frame and its artwork remain editable on the canvas.

Speaker notes are private document metadata and are not rendered into slide artwork.

Presenting

One Present command decides by document: a document with a deck plays the deck, and a document without one still plays the prototype. The menubar item, theCtrl/Cmd+Shift+P shortcut, and the command palette all go through that decision, so they cannot disagree. The palette also listsPresent Deck from Current Slide, Export Presentation Deck…, andAdd Selected Frames to Presentation Deck. A deck whose slides are all skipped or unresolvable explains that instead of presenting nothing.

While playback is open the stage keeps focus, so the keyboard belongs to the presentation: Space or Enter advances, the arrow keys and PageUp/PageDown move, Home and End jump, and Escape exits. Reaching the first or last slide stops and announces the boundary rather than wrapping around, and the Previous/Next buttons disable at the ends. Focus returns to the control that opened playback when it closes. Speaker notes are never shown during playback.

Playback is a modal surface, so app-wide shortcuts are deliberately suspended while it is open — use Escape or the visible Exit control to leave.

Save, reopen, and repair

Deck metadata is saved with the document. Slides reference normal frame nodes, so reopening the document retains the editable artwork. A removed or invalid frame reference stays in the deck as a repairable entry; its title and notes remain available. One frame can be referenced by multiple decks, and the resolver reports that shared use.

Duplicate slide references within a deck are rejected. A slide cannot be delivered while its referenced frame is missing or invalid.

Reusable geometry layouts

In Design, open Reusable layouts in the Slides panel. Register a non-slide frame as a source, give its direct child objects stable role names, and map those roles to compatible slide objects. Preview reflow, uniform fit, or uniform crop before applying. Apply is a single undoable geometry operation; slide text and rich runs, fills, effects, image-fill crop intent, notes, identities, local geometry overrides, and unmatched objects remain intact. A changed source must be refreshed before dependent slides can be reapplied. Removing a source preserves artwork already materialized on slides.

Seven original sources cover title/section, body, image/text, comparison, evidence, process, and conclusion. They are native editable frames on the Presentation Layouts Design Canvas, use the bundled artwork font, and include no external stock media. Authors can revise a source in Design and explicitly refresh it before previewing dependent slides. Layout application does not create new content.

Each slide that has a layout shows its own state: which objects still match the layout (Inherited), which were moved or resized locally (Locally changed), and which mapped object was deleted (Object removed). A changed object offers a reset for the specific property that drifted, plus Reset all to layoutfor the whole slide. Reset writes only the values the layout manages, so corner radii, gradients, fills, effects, text, and object identity are preserved, and it is one undo step.Detach layout (keep appearance) stops tracking the layout without moving anything on screen. Resetting a property the layout never managed is refused with an explanation rather than silently ignored.

Formatting inheritance, linked themes, and automatic role selection remain in development.

Slide size

Open Slide size in the Slides panel, choose a preset or a custom width and height, choose how to fill it, then Review slide size change. The review shows the old and new sizes, the number of slides affected, and any warning — including the mixed-size policy (every slide lands on the new size) and the distortion warning for Stretch. Confirming applies the whole conversion as one undo step. Frames do not move on the canvas, and artwork outside the deck is left alone.

Themes

Open Theme in the Slides panel. Map theme roles to objects on the current slide (the slide's layout roles are used when it has one), thenCreate theme from this slide. Each role becomes an ordinary document colour variable in the Variables panel, so editing the colour there recolours every slide that follows it. The panel reports each role as Linked to theme, Local colour,Object removed, or Not used.

Applying a second theme keeps colours you deliberately changed: once a slide is themed, an object that no longer follows a theme variable is treated as intentional. Detach theme bakes the current colour and removes the link, so the appearance does not change and later edits to the brand no longer move that object. Detaching keeps your role mapping, so applying again resumes where you left off.

Current status and delivery limits

The current source-build preview includes new-deck creation, rendered slide thumbnails, ordered slide references, selected-frame order review, notes, sections, skip state, keyboard-accessible ordering controls, audience preview, multipage PDF, PNG-sequence export, and whole-deck or selected-slide delivery. An initial advisory preflight flags missing artwork, placeholder text, small type, transformed off-slide content, unavailable fonts and image assets, low contrast when both solid colors are known, and missing slide descriptions. Only missing included artwork blocks delivery. Contrast checks skip image, gradient, transparent, and otherwise ambiguous backgrounds. Geometry-only reusable layout sources, seven built-in layouts, and previewed reapplication are also present in this source build. Detailed readability analysis and formatting inheritance remain in development. Typography theming (a shared text style per role) is schema-ready but not applied yet.

The PDF is a compressed raster screen PDF that preserves slide appearance, not editable vector content, searchable text, notes, or tagged accessibility structure. The PNG sequence is an ordered archive with numbered filenames. Skipped slides and scene-hidden frames are excluded; missing included frame references block delivery with a repair route. For general document exports, seeExport & Code Generation.

Known regression scenarios

• Revising an existing layout must preview the change and require reapplication; it must not rebuild slide content silently.
• Mask and effect output must be checked against the editor, not assumed correct from an export dialog preview.
• Unavailable export capability must be reported clearly and offer a recovery route.

See the presentation feature status andworkspace guide for related Design-mode details.