powerpoint presentation on latex

A Free LaTeX Add-In for PowerPoint on Windows and Mac

IguanaTex is a PowerPoint add-in which allows you to insert LaTeX equations into your PowerPoint presentation. It is distributed completely for free, along with its source code.

If you know how to use LaTeX, it is very easy to use IguanaTex. Select New LaTeX display from the IguanaTex tab of the ribbon, and you will get a dialog box where you can type your equation:

Type any valid LaTeX code, and click on Generate. IguanaTex will compile your code into LaTeX, generate an image from it and insert it into PowerPoint.

Need to change something in the equation? Just select the image, then click on Edit LaTeX display in the IguanaTex tab of the ribbon, and the IguanaTex dialog will re-appear so you can edit the LaTeX code.

Generated bitmap displays are ordinary PowerPoint images, and vector displays are PowerPoint shapes. They can be grouped, animated, rotated, moved, resized, etc. Further editing of the equation will preserve all these changes.

To make similar changes to multiple displays (e.g., changing LaTeX engine, size, DPI, vector/bitmap, transparency, and simple text search & replace), select multiple displays or even multiple slides, and use "Regenerate selection" to apply all changes at once.

Both the image and LaTeX code are saved with the presentation: you can display your presentation on any computer, even those without IguanaTex. Of course, equations can only be edited if you install IguanaTex.

Former TexPoint users, rejoice: you can now edit with IguanaTex (v1.40+) your TexPoint displays, which will be automatically converted to IguanaTex format. You can either edit a TexPoint display as a normal IguanaTex one as described above, or just select one or more TexPoint displays (or the slides that contain them) and click on "Regenerate selection" to convert them to IguanaTex format.

System Requirements

• OS: Windows 2000 or later (32- or 64-bit).
• PowerPoint: IguanaTex has been tested with PowerPoint 2003, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 (both 32 and 64 bit), Office 365. It is likely to also work in PowerPoint 2000 and 2007.
• LaTeX (can be downloaded from MiKTeX or TeX Live )
• (Optional but highly recommended for anything but most basic usage): GhostScript and ImageMagick , required to use pdflatex/xelatex/lualatex.
• (Optional): TeX2img , used for vector graphics output via EMF ( Download ). Note that vector graphics output via SVG is now recommended if you have Office 2019 or 365.
• OS / PowerPoint: Any Mac OS with Powerpoint 2019 or Office 365, Silicon or Intel.
• LaTeX: I highly recommend using MacTeX , as it comes with several other tools that IguanaTex uses (ghostscript, dvisvgm, dvipdfmx, ...)

Download & Installation

The current version, for Windows and Mac, is 1.60.3 (October 13, 2023) and can be downloaded from Github . Here is the changelog . Please follow the installation instructions .

Older, Windows-only versions can be downloaded from this website . After downloading, follow the instructions on the download page to load the add-in in PowerPoint.

Stay up to date: IguanaTex Google Group

To be informed of the release of new versions, you can subscribe to the IguanaTex Google Group .

Tips, Bugs, and Known Issues

If you are having trouble installing or using IguanaTex, please see the frequently asked questions .

Source code on Github

The source code for all versions of IguanaTex is available on Github .

Show your appreciation by giving to the Union of Concerned Scientists

IguanaTex is free, but if you like it and would like to show your appreciation, I encourage you to donate to the non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists through my IguanaTex Fundraising Page . $816 raised on my previous fund should be added to the amount displayed here. (Note: absolutely nothing goes to me)

The Union of Concerned Scientists "puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems", first and foremost global warming.

Let's all be concerned scientists!

Info and Credits

The current version of IguanaTex is maintained by Jonathan Le Roux , in collaboration with Tsung-Ju Chiang for the Mac version. It was expanded from the original version, written by Zvika Ben-Haim , originally to add support for groups and formatting, then later many more features. See the changelog for details.

Special thanks to Hammad M, Greg Anderson, Amir Bin Sulaiman, Michael Bußler, Evan Cooch, Eran Hof, Ahiteme Nicodeme Houndonougbo, Moshe Mishali, Thomas Stehle, Wei Sun, Henrik Zimmer, Malte von Scheven, Peter Ploß, Lasse Tidemann, Soren Wrang, Peter Koch, Mitchell Wand, Moshe Idan, Stephan Schedler, Mike West, Tag, Martin Bruehl, Evan Cooch, Robert Sattler, Bill White, Riccardo spica, Utophii Logos, Ivor Bowden, Chuan Li, Arnaud Woiselle, Christoph Naumann, Jinyu Lee, Ralf Tautenhahn, Andreas Herkle, archerc, Monroe Weber-Shirk, Arrigo Benedetti, and Ruichen Jiang for help with programming, debugging, and suggestions.

How to Make a Presentation in LaTeX

Trudy Firestone

Reading time: about 13 min

What? LaTeX for Presentations?

Building Your Own Beamer Theme

• beamerinnerthemelucid.sty
• beamerouterthemelucid.sty
• beamercolorthemelucid.sty
• beamerthemelucid.sty

• Inner: Defines the appearance of any items that make up the slides central content, e.g., lists or the title on the title page
• Outer: Defines the appearance of the chrome of the slide, e.g., the title and footer of each slide
• Color: Defines the colors used in various parts of the theme, e.g.,the color for frame titles or the background color

Additional References:

About lucid.

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10 min read

Share this post, published september 6, 2023 in general, how to use latex for presentations: a comprehensive guide, by scholarly, introduction.

In today's digital age, presentations have become an integral part of communication and knowledge sharing. While there are several tools available for creating presentations, LaTeX stands out as a powerful typesetting system that offers unmatched customization and professional-looking output. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore how to use LaTeX for presentations, covering everything from installation to advanced techniques.

LaTeX, created by Leslie Lamport in the 1980s, is a typesetting system widely used in academia and the scientific community. It was initially developed to simplify the process of creating complex documents, such as research papers and mathematical equations. Over the years, LaTeX has evolved to support presentations, offering a unique combination of elegance and flexibility.

In the past, creating presentations required using tools like Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote. While these tools offer user-friendly interfaces, they often lack the fine-grained control and typographical precision that LaTeX provides.

Current State

Today, LaTeX has gained popularity among academics, researchers, and professionals who value the ability to create visually appealing and consistent presentations. With the availability of modern LaTeX packages like Beamer, creating stunning slideshows has become easier than ever.

Future State

As technology continues to advance, we can expect LaTeX to further enhance its capabilities for presentations. With the integration of AI and machine learning, LaTeX may offer intelligent features like automatic slide layout suggestions, content generation, and real-time collaboration.

Professional Appearance : LaTeX presentations have a distinct and polished look, making them suitable for academic conferences, research seminars, and business meetings.

Customization : LaTeX allows users to customize every aspect of their presentations, from fonts and colors to layout and animations.

Mathematical Typesetting : LaTeX excels at typesetting mathematical equations, making it an ideal choice for scientific and technical presentations.

Version Control : LaTeX presentations can be easily managed using version control systems like Git, enabling collaborative work and easy tracking of changes.

Cross-Platform Compatibility : LaTeX presentations can be compiled into various formats, including PDF, making them accessible on different devices and operating systems.

Significance

The significance of using LaTeX for presentations lies in its ability to produce high-quality output and maintain consistency across different slides. Unlike traditional presentation tools, LaTeX ensures that the design elements, such as fonts, colors, and layout, remain consistent throughout the entire presentation.

Moreover, LaTeX's focus on typesetting mathematical equations makes it indispensable for fields like mathematics, physics, computer science, and engineering, where precise representation of formulas and symbols is crucial.

Best Practices

To make the most out of LaTeX for presentations, consider the following best practices:

Plan and Structure : Outline your presentation and organize your content into logical sections. This will help you maintain a clear flow of information.

Choose a Suitable Theme : Select a Beamer theme that aligns with the tone and purpose of your presentation. Beamer offers a wide range of pre-defined themes to choose from.

Use Consistent Fonts and Colors : Stick to a consistent set of fonts and colors throughout your presentation to maintain a professional and cohesive look.

Leverage LaTeX Packages : Explore various LaTeX packages that extend the functionality of Beamer, such as TikZ for creating diagrams and animations.

Practice and Rehearse : Familiarize yourself with the LaTeX commands and practice compiling your presentation. Rehearse your presentation to ensure a smooth delivery.

Pros and Cons

Professional and Polished Look : LaTeX presentations have a sophisticated appearance that sets them apart from other tools.

Mathematical Typesetting : LaTeX excels at typesetting mathematical equations, making it a preferred choice for technical presentations.

Customization and Flexibility : LaTeX offers extensive customization options, allowing users to create unique and visually appealing presentations.

Version Control and Collaboration : LaTeX presentations can be easily managed using version control systems, facilitating collaboration and version tracking.

Cross-Platform Compatibility : LaTeX presentations can be compiled into various formats, ensuring compatibility across different devices and operating systems.

Learning Curve : LaTeX has a steeper learning curve compared to traditional presentation tools. It requires familiarity with LaTeX syntax and commands.

Limited WYSIWYG Editing : Unlike WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, LaTeX requires compiling the code to see the final output.

Time-Consuming : Creating complex presentations in LaTeX can be time-consuming, especially when dealing with intricate layouts and animations.

Less Interactive Features : LaTeX presentations lack some of the interactive features available in other tools, such as embedded videos or live web content.

Dependency on LaTeX Distribution : Using LaTeX for presentations requires installing a LaTeX distribution, which may require additional setup and maintenance.

When considering LaTeX for presentations, it's essential to compare it with other popular tools like Microsoft PowerPoint and Apple Keynote. While LaTeX offers unparalleled customization and typographical control, PowerPoint and Keynote excel in terms of user-friendliness and interactive features.

Method 1: Installation and Setup

• Install a LaTeX distribution like TeX Live or MiKTeX on your computer.
• Choose a LaTeX editor, such as TeXstudio or Overleaf, to write your presentation code.
• Start a new LaTeX document and include the necessary packages for creating presentations.
• Write your presentation content using LaTeX commands and syntax.
• Compile the LaTeX code to generate the presentation output in PDF format.

Method 2: Using Beamer

• Start a new LaTeX document and load the Beamer class.
• Define the document structure, including the title, author, and date.
• Create slides using the frame environment and add content using LaTeX commands.
• Customize the appearance of your slides using Beamer themes, colors, and fonts.
• Compile the LaTeX code to generate the Beamer presentation.

Method 3: Templates

• Explore the wide range of Beamer templates available online.
• Choose a template that suits your presentation style and content.
• Download the template and customize it with your own content.
• Compile the LaTeX code to generate the presentation output.

Method 4: LaTeX Presentation Editors

• Use online LaTeX editors like Overleaf or ShareLaTeX that provide a user-friendly interface for creating presentations.
• Start a new project and select the presentation template.
• Write your presentation content using the built-in LaTeX editor.
• Customize the appearance of your slides using the provided options.

AI Applications

AI can enhance the presentation creation process by providing intelligent suggestions for slide layouts, content organization, and visual design. It can analyze the presenter's speech patterns and provide real-time feedback for improvement.

AI Techniques

AI techniques like natural language processing (NLP) can be used to automatically generate slide content based on the presenter's input. Image recognition algorithms can assist in selecting relevant images and graphics for the presentation.

AI Benefits

• Time-Saving : AI-powered tools can automate repetitive tasks, such as slide layout design and content generation, saving valuable time for presenters.
• Enhanced Creativity : AI can suggest creative ideas for slide design and content arrangement, helping presenters think outside the box.
• Improved Engagement : AI can analyze audience feedback and adapt the presentation in real-time to maximize engagement and impact.

AI Challenges

• Data Privacy : AI tools may require access to personal or sensitive information, raising concerns about data privacy and security.
• Algorithm Bias : AI algorithms may exhibit bias in their suggestions or recommendations, potentially affecting the objectivity and fairness of the presentation.
• Complexity and Reliability : AI systems can be complex and may require continuous updates and maintenance to ensure reliable performance.

Potential Online Apps

• Overleaf : An online LaTeX editor with collaborative features, perfect for creating presentations.
• ShareLaTeX : Another online LaTeX editor that offers real-time collaboration and a user-friendly interface.
• Beamer Theme Gallery : A collection of Beamer themes that can be used to customize the appearance of your LaTeX presentations.
• LaTeX Beamer Templates : A repository of free LaTeX Beamer templates for various presentation styles.
• Slidebean : An AI-powered presentation tool that offers pre-designed templates and content suggestions.

Using LaTeX for presentations offers numerous advantages in terms of customization, professionalism, and typesetting capabilities. While it may have a steeper learning curve compared to traditional presentation tools, the benefits outweigh the challenges. By following best practices and exploring the vast resources available, you can create visually stunning and impactful presentations using LaTeX. Embrace the power of LaTeX and elevate your presentation game to new heights.

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Tex Point - Write La Tex , Experience Power Point

Latest Version: 3.3.1 (June 15, 2010)

Customer feedback:

I've found TexPoint invaluable. It makes it a breeze to rapidly write and revise technical presentations. A+ for usability and attractive results.

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For Beautiful Presentations

— use powerpoint beamer —.

LEARN BEAMER

What is Beamer?

Beamer is a LaTeX document class that is used for creating presentations. This class offers several pre-designed templates and a set of interesting features for making customized ones.

American pronunciation

British pronunciation, origin of beamer.

This class is a great contribution of Till Tantau  where the first version of the Beamer presentation was published in public on the Ph.D. defense of Till. As per the request of some of his colleagues, he included the package in CTAN . in March 2003. It was considered as the first official release of “Initial Version”.

Since 2007, this package was not maintained and in April 2010, Till handed the maintenance responsibility to   Joseph Wright and Vedran Miletic .

At the present, it’s mainly samcarter doing the work and keep maintaining it by refining codes, fixing bugs, including new features, and providing supports to users, but Joseph Wright has the lead formally, e.g. does the releases to CTAN.

If you are interested in the Beamer package and contribute through feedback please visit  https://github.com/josephwright/Beamer . The User Guide of 247 pages (version no 3.6.3) of this class provides enormous examples and descriptions of different commands.

Beamer Output

The ultimate output of any Latex Beamer presentation is naturally a PDF (Portable Document Format) file .

PDF is independent of:

• hardware (i.e. any type of printer, iPad, E-reader, smartphones, projector, etc.) and
• software (Windows & Apple operating systems).

which makes this format good for both printouts and presentations.

Features of Beamer class

• Beamer is compatible with pdflatex , dvips , lualatex , and xelatex .
• You can use most of the standard commands of LaTeX for Beamer presentation as well.
• A user can create overlays easily and add dynamic effects.
• Have features for creating both slides and handouts.
• Easy customization of Beamer Themes, which allow you to change the appearance of your presentation to accomplish your purposes. For example, users can change layouts, colors, fonts, bullet styles in any presentation globally .
• Beamer handles theorems , proofs , definitions , and itemization in a structured approach, along with flexible customization.
• The Beamer class separates the style as well as content and ensures the portability in source code , implementation, and output.
• Like LaTeX, Beamer has excellent mathematical and scientific typesetting capabilities without exporting any external tools.
• It also supports hypertext features and cross-referencing capabilities.

Drawbacks of Beamer class

• Some users may feel the learning curve is steeper, especially while experimenting with macros and exploit customization.
• Some command syntax is tough to remember and type.
• Sometimes, positioning floating objects like images, long tables seem complex to a group of users.
• Sharing with WYSIWYG content is difficult, as the mainstream in a commercial environment is using MS PowerPoint.

How To Insert a LaTeX Equation in PowerPoint? [Full Guide!]

By: Author Shrot Katewa

To create an academic presentation, you can quickly write equations using symbol options but inserting a LaTeX equation is still a challenge as there are no direct options provided by PowerPoint. However, we have some quick tricks you can use for this purpose.

To insert a LaTeX equation in PowerPoint, select the equation in the LaTeX compilation and click “copy” from the “Right-Click” menu. Open the slide, “Right-click” on the text box you want to insert the equation and choose “Keep Source Formatting” from the “Paste” options to insert the equation as it is.

You can also insert the LaTeX equation as an image while taking a screenshot of the PDF version of the LaTeX file. Besides, the LaTeX equation can be generated in MS Word from where you can copy and then paste it into Powerpoint keeping the source formatting.

If you’re also among those who struggle to insert a LaTeX equation in PowerPoint, we’ve got you covered. Let’s get started with the complete guide below:

1. How to Insert an Equation in PowerPoint?

In Microsoft PowerPoint, you can insert an equation using the “Insert” menu. There are numerous features available to write an equation on a slide. To insert an equation in PowerPoint, follow the 4 easy steps.

Step-1: Click on the “Insert” tab

The first step is to open the “Insert” menu. To do so, click on the “Insert” tab in the menu ribbon located at the top of the screen.

Step-2: Click on the “Equation” icon

In the “Insert” menu, click on the down arrow under the “Symbols” option. Then click on the “Equation” icon in the dropdown list under the “Symbols” option. Do not click on the down arrow under the “Equation” icon.

Step-3: Click on the “Equation” tab

Now you have to click on the equation box in the slide to select it. Then click on the “Equation” tab in the menu ribbon located at the top of the screen. This will expand the “Equation” toolbar.

Step-4: Write the Equation

Finally, you can write the equation in the equation box inserted into the slide. You can use the features available in the “Equation” toolbar to write the equation.

2. How to Insert a LaTex Equation in PowerPoint?

Microsoft PowerPoint does not support LaTex codes, unlike Microsoft Word. So you cannot insert a LaTex equation directly into a PowerPoint presentation. However, you can use some workarounds to insert the LaTex equation into a slide.

2.1 Method 1: Using Copy and Paste

The simplest way to insert a LaTex equation in a PowerPoint presentation slide is to paste it into the slide.

However, this only works for linear equations. Any equation with exponents cannot be pasted using this method. For such equations, you can either rewrite them following the steps detailed in section 1 or insert them using other methods described in the article.

To insert an equation using the copy and paste method, follow the 2 easy steps.

Step-1: Click on the “Copy” option

In the LaTex compilation, select the linear equation that you want to insert into the PowerPoint presentation. Then “Right Click” on the equation and click on the “Copy” option from the right-click menu.

You can alternatively press the “Ctrl+C” keys on your keyboard to copy the equation.

Step-2: Click on the “Keep Source Formatting” option

Now you can open the PowerPoint presentation. “Right Click” on a text box in the slide where you want to insert the LaTex equation. Then click on the “Keep Source Formatting” option in the “Paste Options” section of the right-click menu.

Alternatively, you can press the “Ctrl+V” keys on your keyboard to paste the equation into the text box.

2.2 Method 2: Inserting as Image

To insert a LaTex equation in Microsoft PowerPoint, you can simply add it as an image. All you have to do is follow the 4 quick steps.

Step-1: Click on the “Download PDF” option

The first step is to download the LaTex output as a PDF file. To do so, click on the “Download PDF” option in your LaTex file.

Step-2: Press the “Win+Shift+S” keys on your keyboard

The next step is to open the PDF file. Then press the “Win+Shift+S” keys on your keyboard to take a screenshot of the LaTex equation.

Step-3: Open the PowerPoint slide

Now you have to open the PowerPoint presentation. In the presentation, click on the slide where you want to insert the LaTex equation as an image.

Step-4: Click on the “Paste” option

Finally, all you have to do is “Right Click” on the slide. In the “Paste Options” section of the right-click menu, click on either the “Paste” option or the “Picture” option.

You can alternatively press the “Ctrl+V” keys on your keyboard to paste the LaTex equation as an image.

2.3 Method 3: Using Microsoft Word

The equation toolbar in Microsoft Word supports LaTex equations. You can insert a LaTex equation in Word and paste it into a text box in Microsoft PowerPoint. All you have to do is follow the 9 simple steps.

The first step is to open a Microsoft Word document. In the menu ribbon located at the top of the screen, click on the “Insert” tab to open the “Insert” menu.

Step-2: Click on the “Equation” button

In the “Symbols” group of the “Insert” menu, click on the “Equation” button. It will open an equation box in the document.

The next step is to click on the equation box in the document to select it. Then click on the “Equation” tab in the menu ribbon to open the “Equation” toolbar.

Step-4: Click on the “LaTex” option

In the “Conversions” group of the “Equation” toolbar, click on the “LaTex” option. Now you can enter LaTex codes in the equation box.

Step-5: Type in the LaTex equation

In the equation box, you can now type in the LaTex equation. Then all you have to do is press the “Enter” key on your keyboard to convert the LaTex code to the equation.

Step-6: Click on the “Copy” option

The next step is to “Double Click” on the equation box to select the LaTex equation. Then “Right Click” on the equation and select the “Copy” option from the right-click menu.

Alternatively, you can press the “Ctrl+C” keys on your keyboard to copy the equation.

Step-7: Click on the “Insert” menu

Now you can insert the LaTex equation into a PowerPoint slide. In the PowerPoint presentation, click on the “Insert” menu from the menu ribbon located at the top of the screen.

Step-8: Click on the “Text Box” option

In the “Text” group of the “Insert” menu, click on the “Text Box” option. Now you can draw the text box in the presentation slide where you want to add the equation.

Step-9: Click on the “Keep Source Formatting” option

Finally, you can paste the LaTex equation into the PowerPoint slide. To do so, “Right Click” on the text box. Then click on the “Keep Source Formatting” option under the “Paste Options” section in the right-click menu.

You can alternatively press the “Ctrl+V” keys on your keyboard to paste the LaTex equation.

A LaTeX add-in for PowerPoint - my father’s day project

Jeremy Howard

June 17, 2019

For creating presentations there’s a lot of features in PowerPoint that are hard to beat. So it’s not surprising that it’s a very popular tool—I see a lot of folks presenting PowerPoint presentations at machine learning talks that I attend. However, for equation-heavy academic publishing, many scientists prefer LaTeX. There are many reasons for this, but one key one is that LaTeX provides great support for creating equations. Whilst PowerPoint has an equation editor of its own, it is not a great match for LaTeX-using scientists, because:

• It’s a pain to have to re-enter all your equations again into a new tool
• The GUI approach takes a lot longer to enter equations compared to LaTeX (once you’ve learned LaTeX’s syntax). Although Microsoft Office equations have great keyboard support too, if you know where to look.

To avoid this problem, most scientists I’ve seen tend to copy screenshots from the LaTeX output of their papers, and paste them into PowerPoint. However this has it’s own problems, for instance:

• The fonts are unlikely to match up correctly
• It’s hard to resize the text to match the equation picture, and visa versa
• The bitmap screenshot is low resolution, so doesn’t print well
• The equations don’t reflow with the text, so have to be manually placed
• Alignment commands don’t work, so alignment has to be done manually
• …and so forth

If you’re one of those people looking to include LaTeX equations in PowerPoint, I’ve got some good news for you—have a look at this:

That’s right, this picture shows a real, editable, resizable, full-resolution equation in PowerPoint, created using LaTeX syntax! What’s the secret? Well… the secret is that Microsoft has actually included this functionality in PowerPoint for us, but they just totally butchered the front-end implementation, and failed to document it properly! So for my father’s day 2019 project, I created a little add-in to try to address that. Here’s how to use it.

How to use LaTeX in PowerPoint

To use LaTeX in PowerPoint you have to complete a few setup steps first. ( I’ve only tested this on the latest Office 365 on Windows 10 .)

• Download the latex PowerPoint add-in from here
• Put the add-in file somewhere convenient, and then add it to PowerPoint by clicking File then Options , clicking Add-ins in the options list on the left, then choose PowerPoint Add-ins from the Manage drop-down, and click Go . Choose Add New in the dialog box that pops up, and select the latex.ppam file you downloaded
• Click Enable Macros in the security notice that pops up.

You’ll now find that there’s a new LaTeX tab in your ribbon. Each time you open a new PowerPoint session you’ll need to switch it to “LaTeX mode”. To do so, click inside a text box (so the cursor is flashing) and choose Enable LaTeX in the LaTeX tab. This file will now be in LaTeX mode until you close and reopen PowerPoint. This is necessary to use the Input LaTeX button (see next paragraph), which is the only way I suggest to try to enter or edit LaTeX in PowerPoint.

Now you are ready to insert your equation. Click inside a text box, and ensure the cursor is at the end of the text box (currently the macro only works if you’re at the end of the selected text box). Now click Input LaTeX in the LaTeX tab, and paste your equation into the input box that pops up (you can also type into it, of course, although I’d suggest you type your LaTeX into a regular text editor and paste it to PowerPoint from there, so you have a convenient source for all your equations’ LaTeX source). That’s it! The equation is now a regular PowerPoint equation, so when you click inside it, everything is editable, and you can also select the equation and change its font size, color, etc.

You can even select the equation and add Wordart effects to it, if you want to really ham things up!…

Additional customization and tips

You can edit the equation using the normal Microsoft Office equation ribbon commands. If you want to see and edit the LaTeX source again, click Linear on the Equation ribbon. However, don’t edit this LaTeX directly in PowerPoint—it will mangle it as you type! Instead, copy it into an external editor and change it there, then create a new equation with the Input LaTeX command as above. (This is why it’s easier to simply keep all your original LaTeX source in a plain text file, if you’re not editing the equations using the equation ribbon.)

Apparently Microsoft hates productivity, or at least that’s the only reason I can think of that they decided to remove one of the most important features for productivity: the ability to customize and add keyboard shortcuts. So if you want to add a keyboard shortcut for Input LaTeX , you instead have to right-click on the Input LaTeX button in the ribbon, and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar . You’ll now see an extra button in the very top left of your window (that’s the Quick Access Toolbar ). Press and release Alt , and you’ll be able to see what numeric shortcut has been assigned to that button. Press and release Alt again to remove the shortcut overlays. Now you’re ready to use the keyboard shortcut. Click inside a textbox as before (at the end of it) and, while holding down Alt , press the number you noted down before. You should see the input box appear.

If you want to contribute improvements to the add-in, or just see how it works, head over to the latex-ppt repo. latex.pptm contains the macro, so you can edit it and try out your changes there. If you just want to see the (tiny amount) of code, I’ve popped it in the macros.bas file. My macros are very basic right now, so PRs with improvements and fixes are most welcome!

How this works

Microsoft have actually added all the necessary stuff to make LaTeX work in PowerPoint already. They’ve just not provided any UI for it, or documentation. And the editor doesn’t work. So I created a little add-in to automate the use of the features described below.

Microsoft Office supports a rather nifty plain text equation format called UnicodeMath , which used to be called Linear format . That’s what the PowerPoint ribbon still calls it, in fact. In the Equation ribbon you can click the Linear format button to type UnicodeMath directly. You can switch the linear format mode to LaTeX by typing Unicode character “Ⓣ” into an equation. Apparently that’s been in Microsoft Office for a while, but it’s only recently that the developer actually got around to writing it down . This post includes some additional useful information:

The LaTeX option supports all TeX control words appearing in Appendix B of the UnicodeMath spec. That includes many math operators, Greek letters, and various other symbols. The verbose LaTeX notations like \begin{equation} and \begin{matrix} aren’t supported, but the more concise TeX notations are supported, such as and . Fractions can be entered in the LaTeX form or in the TeX form {……}. is implied if the math zone fills the hard/soft paragraph and currently it can’t be turned on in inline math zones. Unicode math alphanumerics can be entered using control words like .

I hope you find this add-in and documentation useful! Many thanks to Murray Sargent of Microsoft who built the functionality in Office that this add-in uses.

Making Presentations With LaTeX

Last updated: July 25, 2024

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1. Introduction

Currently, multiple programs enable us to create presentations. However, most of these programs are proprietary. It means that the presentations may depend on resources available only in particular versions of these programs.

To avoid problems with proprietary software versioning, we can employ open-source and holistic programs to create presentations.  This category of programs enables the user to focus on the presentation content instead of its theme.

So, we can choose the presentation theme after defining the presentation content. Furthermore, we can apply the different themes by only modifying a few lines in the presentation document.

An example of such a program is LaTeX/Beamer. Beamer is a LaTeX package that enables users to create presentations through a LaTeX fashioned document.

In this tutorial, we’ll explore the LaTeX/Beamer program. First, we’ll have a brief conceptual review on Latex and a presentation of the Beamer package. So, we’ll investigate several resources provided by Beamer to create presentations. Moreover, we’ll create a sample Beamer presentation to see how Beamer’s resources work in practice.

2. LaTeX and Beamer

LaTeX is a well-known program for typesetting typically employed to write medium-large scientific documents. However, LaTeX also supports importing packages that extend its resources and enables the user to use LaTeX for several purposes.

An example of these packages is TikZ. TikZ is a graphical package that makes it possible to create images with LaTeX. Through TikZ, we can easily, for instance, draw charts , flowcharts , and graphs .

Another relevant LaTeX package is Beamer . Beamer consists of a powerful package to make presentations with LaTeX. With Beamer, we can use straightforward and clean themes or create new themes with particular and exclusive designs for the presentations.

Beamer was developed to be fully compliant with LaTeX. So, the presentations created with Beamer are provided to the user as PDF files.

Employing PDF files for rendering presentations is a great choice since most hardware (computers, printers, smartphones, …) and software (Windows, Linux, macOS, …) support this file format.

2.1. A Little Bit Deeper on Beamer

There are many advantages to using Beamer for creating presentations.  Among them, we can cite, for instance, Beamer compatibility with different LaTeX compilers, such as pdflatex, dvips, and lualatex.

Furthermore, most of the widely known LaTeX commands and packages are available to use with Beamer. In this way, we have excellent resources for, for example, mathematical and source code typesetting.

Finally, Beamer provides a library with different themes. Thus, we can customize the presentation layout by changing just a few lines in the LaTeX code. It is also possible to create and import new themes, making the presentation customization process even more powerful.

The most challenging about Beamer is that the learning curve is steeper. This challenge gets higher proportions if the user is not familiar with LaTeX. So, the user may find it hard to give the first steps with this package.

Another typical challenge is the syntax of the Beamer/LaTeX commands, which are quite unusual when compared to other text/presentation editing programs.

Furthermore, Beamer uses coordinates to position graphical resources. So, the positioning is very precise but can be harder to define for non-experienced users.

In such a way, this tutorial will present the first steps on Beamer, discussing multiple challenges of this package and showing how to tackle them.

3. Beamer in Practice

In this section, we’ll study the process of creating LaTeX/Beamer presentations from scratch. First, we’ll have an explanation of the Beamer basic structure. Thus, we’ll see some particular Beamer resources.

3.1. Beamer Basics

So, we opened an empty LaTeX document, and we want to create a Beamer presentation.  The very first thing to do is define our document class as a Beamer document.  We do that by adding the following line to the document:

Next, we do the definition of the presentation core information. The most common information in this step consists of the presentation title, the authors’ name, the institute or company name, and the date. We can do these definitions using the lines below:

With these predefinitions done, we can finally start to build our presentation frames. So, we insert the following line to the LaTeX document:

The aforementioned line indicates to the LaTeX compiler that the following commands, flags, and text should be present as part of the presentation. Similarly, we show that the presentation ended with the line next (which is typically the last line of the document):

Between the beginning and end flags, we build the presentation itself.  A Beamer presentation is organized with frames (slides).  Usually, the first frame is the presentation title one. Thus, with the previously stated information, we create the presentation title frame with the following line:

Compiling the document at this point will generate the following frame:

Other frames ( let’s call them content frames ) are quite different: they require a beginning and end flag to delimitate their scope. So, we define a content frame with the lines next:

Inside a frame, we have its content. The frame content is from text to images, besides other flags and commands to define some frame features. In the following subsection, we’ll explore the building of a frame from scratch.

3.2. Frame Building

At first, we should consider that all the commands, flags, and content defined in this subsection are included in the scope of a frame.

In such a way, the first thing that we typically define in a frame is its title. We can do that in Beamer by using the following line:

After defining the frame title, we can work on the frame content. By default, only typing into a frame scope results in a justified text vertically centralized in the frame after being compiled. Thus, let’s consider the following content of a frame:

So, this frame has three lines. It is relevant to note that the symbol \\ indicates a line breaking for the LaTeX compiler. Furthermore, we can see basic text formatting with a bold line (\textbf{}) and an italic line (\textit{}).

Moreover, it is possible to change the text alignment in the frame. We can do that by inserting the text between begin (\begin{}) and end (\end{}) flags defining the scope of a different alignment. The available alignments are right (flushright), left (flushleft), and center (center). Let’s see the example below:

At last, we can add images to a presentation frame. We do that by using the standard figure scope of LaTeX. An example is provided next:

This example includes a centered image called Lena.png (available in the same folder of the LaTeX project) in the frame. The caption appears below the image, and we can employ the label to refer to the figure in any presentation frame.

So, the following image shows the compiled frame with the previously presented texts and images:

3.3. Theme Gallery

Besides the default theme (employed in the examples of the previous sections), the Beamer package natively provides a set of themes.  This set encompass 25 themes:  AnnArbor; Antibes; Bergen, Berkeley, Berlin, Boadilla, CambridgeUS, Copenhagen, Darmstadt, Dresden, Frankfurt, Goettingen, Hannover, Ilmenau, JuanLesPins, Luebeck, Madrid, Malmoe, Marburg, Montpellier, Pittsburgh, Rochester, Singapore, Szeged, and Warsaw.

To change the presentation theme, we need to add a theme flag before the beginning of the document scope (\begin{document}). Let’s see this flag for the Frankfurt theme:

In this way, the previously presented frames with the Frankfurt theme are shown next:

In addition to the native Beamer themes, we can use custom themes from third-party repositories, such as the Overleaf repository .

4. Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned about how to create presentations with LaTeX.  We took into account a popular LaTeX package to build presentations: the Beamer package. In this way, we first reviewed some fundamental concepts about LaTeX and, especially, about Beamer. So, we in-depth explored the process of building presentations in practice. 

Specifically, we studied the basic structure of a LaTex/Beamer presentation, the creation of frames, inserting and formatting the frame content, and how to change the Beamer default theme.

We can conclude that LaTeX and Beamer compose a powerful solution to build presentations. The main benefits of using them consist of a generic and precise way to define graphical resources and the compiling process that automatically generates a PDF file with the presentation.

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Use LaTeX in PowerPoint

jph00/latex-ppt

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How to use latex in powerpoint.

To use LaTeX in PowerPoint you have to complete a few setup steps first. ( I've only tested this on the latest Office 365 on Windows 10 .)

• Download the latex PowerPoint addin from here
• Put the addin file somewhere convenient, and then add it to PowerPoint by clicking File then Options , clicking Add-ins in the options list on the left, then choose PowerPoint Add-ins from the Manage drop-down, and click Go . Choose Add New in the dialog box that pops up, and select the latex.ppam file you downloaded
• Click Enable Macros in the security notice that pops up.

You'll now find that there's a new LaTeX tab in your ribbon. Each time you open a new PowerPoint session you'll need to switch it to "LaTeX mode". To do so, click inside a text box (so the cursor is flashing) and choose Enable LaTeX in the LaTeX tab. This file will now be in LaTeX mode until you close and reopen PowerPoint.

Now you are ready to insert your equation. Click inside a text box, and ensure the cursor is at the end of the text box (currently the macro only works if you're at the end of the selected text box). Now click Paste LaTeX in the LaTeX tab, and paste your equation into the input box that pops up (you can also type into it, of course, although I'd suggest you type your LaTeX into a regular text editor and paste it to PowerPoint from there, so you have a convenient source for all your equations' LaTeX source). That's it! The equation is now a regular PowerPoint equation, so when you click inside it, everything is editable, and you can also select the equation and change its font size, color, etc.

You can even select the equation and add Wordart effects to it, if you want to really ham things up!...

Additional customization and tips

If you want to see the original LaTeX source again, click Linear on the Equation ribbon. However, don't edit this LaTeX directly in PowerPoint—it will mangle it as you type! Instead, copy it into an external editor and change it there, then create a new equation with the Paste LaTeX command as above. (This is why it's easier to simply keep all your original LaTeX source in a plain text file.)

Apparently Microsoft hates productivity, or at least that's the only reason I can think of that they decided to remove one of the most important features for productivity: the ability to customize and add keyboard shortcuts. So if you want to add a keyboard shortcut for Paste LaTeX , you instead have to right-click on the Paste LaTeX button in the ribbon, and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar . You'll now see an extra button in the very top left of your window (that's the Quick Access Toolbar ). Press and release Alt , and you'll be able to see what numeric shortcut has been assigned to that button. Press and release Alt again to remove the shortcut overlays. Now you're ready to use the keyboard shortcut. Click inside a textbox as before (at the end of it) and, while holding down Alt , press the number you noted down before. You should see the input box appear.

Contributors 2

Presentations

Presentations, otherwise known as seminars, talks or lectures, are given to an audience with the purpose of sharing information with a group of people. This may be at an academic conference, a business meeting or even a project progress update. Since LaTeX produces PDFs, you simply need to open the presentation PDF in full screen mode in your PDF viewer to give the presentation.

Beamer Presentation

This presentation template uses the well-known beamer class and shows how effortless making presentations using LaTeX can be. The template contains extensive commenting which lets you customize your presentation easily, be it to change the layout theme, colors, fonts, font size, text alignment or more. It also features many example slides for virtually any presentation element you may need.

• View Template Information

Focus Presentation

This template creates modern presentation slides using the beamer class. The minimalist design lets you quickly enter your content and spend time honing your message rather than wasting time in presentation software. The template includes examples of many slide types which should cover most use cases as well as different ways of putting in your content no matter what it is and how you want to emphasize it.

Fancyslides Presentation

This presentation template uses the Fancyslides class which builds on top of the well-known beamer class to give it a modern and concise design. The template is very minimalist with large font sizes and little space for text and would thus be suited for popular presentations by confident speakers. It makes extensive use of background images for slides to provide a strong visual counterpart to the verbal presentation. Content within the presentation is housed within translucent colored circles or rectangles. The former are used for main points or section delineations while the latter are used for larger blocks of text or data slides. Several predefined color options are present within the template and you can also define your own.

LaTeX Templates Information

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Why should I use LaTeX for presentations?

I've read that LaTeX can be used also for presentations, using specific packages to make slides in PDF.

But I'm wondering: since LaTeX is a typographic language made to separate content from style, and being PDF a format designed for printing; what are these presentation tools meant for? Maybe I'm thinking about the wrong type of presentation?

What's the reason for using LaTeX for this task?

UPDATE: I'm asking this because I'm about to start making a presentation, and yes, I'd prefer avoiding PowerPoint; I like vector graphics and I was wondering if it's possible to create a sort of vector animation, or anyway something of platform-independent. But I find PDF too static for this purpose (maybe it's just a personal feeling).

• presentations

• 18 You can (re)use math and pictures (creates with the likes of TikZ) perfectly. –  Raphael Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 0:12
• 1 To expand a bit on Stefan's answer: PDF is a general-purpose vector graphics language. Keeping everything in vector graphics means text, lines, and images are all clear and consistent no matter what resolution the slides are projected at. Some presentations are made in Illustrator for this reason; others just prefer TeX or need beamer's facilities for table of contents and hyperlinks. –  Chel Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 0:29
• 2 The main reason why LaTeX was designed for printing is probably because, at the time, there was no computer presentation (beamer) hardware. The first comparable packages for presentations were based on overhead foils (print em; use em). –  user10274 Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 9:31
• 6 Just a side note that I have to add to the discussion: I always , always always make sure I have a copy of my presentation in PDF form because I will always have access to a PDF reader. Might not have a powerpoint install, or even a web browser (rules out most HTMl5 presentation type things). –  jrg Commented Jan 16, 2012 at 0:24
• 4 Another advantage is that with LaTeX you can generate one or several documents from the same source file. E.g. with a package like beamer you can generate a presentation and lecture notes from the same input. Some input may be used only for the presentation, some input may be used only for the notes, and the rest may be shared. Have a look at the last part of the film on csweb.ucc.ie/~dongen/LAF/LAF.html for further information. The last presentation also explains the mechanism. (Alternatively, read the beamer documentation.:-) –  user10274 Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 7:44

13 Answers 13

PDF is not just designed for printing. It is a format for displaying electronic documents, independently of hardware (printer, screen, e-reader, smartphone, projector etc.) and software (such as the operating system). This format is both good for printouts and presentation, so a good choice as output format.

Presentations with technical or scientific content are often based on documents, very often written in LaTeX also because of it's mathematical typesetting capabilities. It's very natural to use the same tool, LaTeX, for the presentation.

The benefits of LaTeX, such as separating the form/style and the content, portability in source, implementation and output, cross-referencing capabilities and typesetting quality, are great for presentations as well.

As I use LaTeX, I can work on the source using Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X, and I can give the presentation away as a PDF for reading or presenting on a conference, the reader or speaker can use Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, a tablet computer, a smartphone - or a printout.

If I would use PowerPoint - well, I would be pretty bound to Windows Version X with PowerPoint Version Y or a suited viewer, which is also a limit for the reader or presenter.

• 1 But i wonder if it offers the flexibility that is often required for presentations, for instance to put images everywhere, and even create small animations; and i wonder if it's just possible to create presentations, or if it's also advisable –  clabacchio Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 0:19
• 3 @clabacchio Yes. If you have specific questions, just ask here, post a new question for each topic. Images everywhere, no problem (packages esopic , everyshi , atbegshi , textpos , TikZ), animations are possible (packages multimedia , movie15 , animate ). –  Stefan Kottwitz ♦ Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 0:24
• 17 Well, take a look in the beamer documentation (especially the guidelines for preparing presentations). Notice also that "putting images everywhere" might be exactly what is not advisable. The question is: should your presentation be impressive or informative ? (La)TeX is well suited to prepare informative documents (including presentations), which happen to be also impressive for people with a bit of artistic/typographic soul. Most "impressive" presentations (irrespective of the tool used) are prepared to show off and not to convey useful information. –  mbork Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 0:27
• @mbork: this is a very good point. I have seen a number of powerpoint presentations that were meant to be informative, and frankly, most were pretty bad. As a consequence, I had very bad opinion about powerpoint. Last year I attended a session where several selected faculty members were presenting for the board of control. I saw there several very very impressive powerpoint presentations. They were not informative, in all cases, the information presented could easily fit on one slide, but they were very impressive. –  Jan Hlavacek Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 3:00
• 43 So to summarize the above discussion: If you have something to say, use LaTeX. If you want to hide that you don't have anything to say, use PowerPoint. :-) –  celtschk Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 9:01

This is simply a longish comment...

I am having some difficulties in trying to understand why you think that way. Let me briefly enumerate your points

1) since LaTeX is a typographic editor not meant to work on the final aspect of the work,

I am pretty sure that made many eyebrows raise after reading that here :) Actually, apart from the fact that LaTeX not being the editor but rather the " language ", many typographical rules apply directly to presentations too. You might have seen some presentations with the Powerpoint's default sans-serif font mixed up with Equation Editor's serif-like fonts. They immediately look bizarre and copy-pasted, devaluing its content. For example, this is a simple typographical mistake that you want to avoid. Hence, having its peculiarities, we are still operating in a typography-aware context.

2) and being PDF a format designed for printing.

This is actually confusing since the abbreviation PDF is for Portable Document Format . As you can see, even its name was coined towards the possibility of document exchange. If you print it, you don't need any compatibility or portability etc. anyway. Hence, it is quite the opposite.

Now, extrapolating what you meant from these points, I think you are questioning why we should ever switch to (La)TeX (and probably using beamer package) to produce a presentation that can be produced by Powerpoint or any other WYSIWYG-enabled software.

My take on this is simply due to the fact that they are much more beautiful (personal!) and typographically pleasing (personal!). A big credit goes to the author of the beamer package Till Tantau who also created PGF/TikZ . Many things are already in the right place and merging graphics with slides are naturally supported.

Also, I don't need to carry a 7.1 MB of .ppt file around hoping for compatibility and trying to get the animations working or making sure that the movies have the proper codecs etc. (combine the presentation with VLC Portable and you are, 99% of the cases, good to go). If you are slightly fluent with the respective packages, this method solves a lot of problems by itself and you can simply concentrate on what you are trying to say. Many things that are seemingly missing from these tools are actually bad for presentations anyway. You really don't need clapping noise or badly scaled clip-arts here and there.

I have actually used only once ever, the slide transitions and other attractions when I was addressing some company's big shots. I wanted to impress them (oh boy, so did I) and I used the Impressive script for the bling-bling part. Just try it; I don't like those things in presentations but it is indeed impressive :). But, surprise surprise, I had to spent 5-10 minutes of precious meeting time on explaining how I did it. So in that perspective, served its purpose? Nope!

Rule of thumb is: Don't try to impress the audience with gadgets etc. if you need their attention drawn to the content.

You might say "Well OK, how about creating slides? It's a pain in the rear bumper to put a single logo over that corner of the page and details like that makes it super difficult, whereas in Powerpoint you just click and it's there."

I think that is a valid point against LaTeX based presentation preparation in general. However, after a few attempts you simply get many things working and most of the stuff is not required anyway other than some logos and a few words here and there.

Obviously, you need to try it out and see it for yourself to decide.

• @percusse do you have some sample pdf+vlc presentation to show me? or any kind of animated presentation, i'm curious about the result! –  clabacchio Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 15:38
• @clabacchio I've checked some DVDs but there is nothing much after my stolen laptop. Still, you can either use [movie15](tug.ctan.org/pkg/movie15) package to specifically tell Adobe to reach for a plugin or you can call VLC from Acrobat. I will try to find what I have done exactly but not much hope. –  percusse Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 21:01
• @clabacchio By the way here is another topic that we tried our way through under Mac OSX –  percusse Commented Jan 23, 2012 at 21:10
• 2 I read this as: "If you've got content, say it with LaTeX. If you haven't any content, why are you there? (And if you have to be there, but have nothing to say, use Powerpoint in the hope that no-one notices)." If my reading is right, I completely agree! –  Andrew Stacey Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 11:57
• 2 @AndrewStacey Indeed :) See the celtschk's comment to Stefan's answer. I think both of you summarize the point quite cleverly. –  percusse Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 16:00

There are plenty of good reasons to use LaTeX for presentations.

For me, a key reason that I havn't seen here so far is this:

Consistent tools . I use LaTeX for my regular work. I need an easy way to get my "printed" work into the presentation. LaTeX-beamer allows me to do this very easily. All the way to publishing it on my homepage. This in particular includes the various functionality ranging from formulas , code excerpts to any other LaTeX extension.

Focus . On the contents, not on the presentation. Once you are used to LaTeX presentations, Powerpoint pretty much looks like a drawing program to you, instead of a presentation tool.

Quality . Even with "just" screen resolution, LaTeX just looks more polished.

As for PDF . It is designed to give a guaranteed result . I know plenty of people that always keep a PDF version of their presentation around, just in case that PowerPoint again screws up. Heck, I've seen Microsoft engineers do their PowerPoint presentation in edit mode, because switching to presentation mode would screw up the text positions. Plus, the PDF can easily be put online . And even more: pdflatex with the hyperref package will not just create a dumb PDF, but actually a cross-referenced PDF .

As for being static . I never use animations in my presentations. They tend to distract people from what I'm saying . And after all, it's not a slideshow, but a talk .

Some additional benefits:

• Consistent screen and print versions . With little effort you can use the same source to produce both screen versions (with overlays) and print/handout versions (no/reduced overlays). The print quality will be up to your usual standards.
• BibTeX for easy citations in presentations. Even with a link to the publication.
• Includes . You can easily build multiple versions with overlap, if you structure your input data appropriately. For example, you can have multiple chapters, and build either a single big presentation (for reference), or per-lecture excerpts easily. This can be useful on many levels, e.g. including "about us" slides easily, sharing chapters or topics across presentations etc. All without copy&paste - fix an error in one place, have it fixed in the other place, too. Include some additional material as backup slides for your presentation version etc.
• Programmable . You can even write programs to generate your slides. Or plots (this is where I mostly use it).

• 3 I did save my thesis presentation in PDF! :) –  clabacchio Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 14:51
• I use it predominantly for my lectures. Using pgfplots/TikZ/Beamer for uncovering plots, explaining graphs it is so much easier –  Leeser Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 17:47

To me it's all about the math. If I'm giving a talk or lecture with a large amount of math in it, I will want to use beamer so I can do it in LaTeX.

Another big advantage to beamer over WYSIWYG presentation apps is the programmability of LaTeX. You can copy-and-paste code or write macros to eliminate repetition. You can produce slides and handouts from the same source file. And so on.

If it's a non-mathematical presentation I will use Keynote, and let me just defend apps of its sort. I think that many of the objections people raise to WYSIWYG apps are the fault of poorly prepared talks using WYSIWYG apps. Gratuitous animations and transitions can be distracting, but these effects can also be used well. So maybe one advantage to LaTeX as a presentation editor is that it makes it harder to make a bad presentation. On the other hand, I have seen several talks prepared with beamer which are just the article on the screen in slightly larger type, so it's not idiot-proof.

• 1 Yes, in fact i was reading some resources about creating presentations, and i was going to do anything but a super-fancy one, but i just had that feeling of 'staticity' of PDFs... –  clabacchio Commented Jan 17, 2012 at 19:18
• 1 @matthew: I widh I could upvote your answer more than once ! IMHO, it's so much more concise than all the others, and still it does contains the exact amount and diversity of information needed to answer the question ! –  Gyom Commented Jan 19, 2012 at 18:46

For me having PDF output is a huge advantage. I've seen many times where PowerPoint presentations did not show up right (mostly font issues), and sometimes the person presenting it getting quite desperate about it. I've never seen a PDF talk have such problems.

• 6 Not all pdf viewers support all festures of pdf. For example, using javascript for stepping through slides, works only with acrobat reader (at least on linux, no other viewer supports these transiions) –  Aditya Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 12:09
• But doesn't PowerPoint allow you to export a .pptx file to a PDF? –  Mew Commented Jul 6, 2021 at 13:29
• @Mew: Note the year that answer was written in. –  celtschk Commented Jul 10, 2021 at 7:00
• @celtschk Sure, but a quick Google search shows that PowerPoint 2010 already had support for PDF/XPS publishing. Hence, by 2012, "having PDF output" and "PowerPoint presentations" were not mutually exclusive. –  Mew Commented Jul 10, 2021 at 10:04

I will add a different answer from the vast majority here. I am an (very) old time TeX user. Albeit Beamer and Tikz are great achievements, I would like to warn especially new users . The web is full of articles about beamer, saying basically "look how simple it is to write your slides". So I will insist on the flip side of the coin.

My point is: they should say rather "how fun it is" because it may definitely not be simple nor fast (however it can be fun!).

First, no, it is not that easy. Whenever you have something non trivial to write down, you need to resort to the complex TeX language (unless someone knowledgeable has already solved your problem). In the end you use more brain power to typeset your slides than to think about what to put in them . Because the TeX world is a complex world, with lots of intricacies.

All the beamer presentations look the same (and actually, not many themes are acceptable to me). You may wonder why ? Try to design your own theme. Not impossible, but not for the newcomer either. It takes a lot of time . Even when you know TeX. Only academics can hope to defray the learning costs over a very long period of time (IMHO).

Secondly, I have beamer slide decks that take several minutes to recompile with LuaLaTeX. And whenever I do it, I have to check I have not introduced some glitch somewhere, in which case I need to recompile.

It is slow and it requires a lot of attention that would better be used somewhere else.

My answer today is not PowerPoint (or Impress), albeit it is definitely easier than the beamer route. I'm using reveal.js to typeset HTML slides. Not perfect, but a lot easier than beamer and MathJax can render the maths. Javascript is also easier to play with than the TeX language. And the source text for the slide is markdown : it is not cluttered with TeX macros everywhere (I have slides with much more TeX/beamer/Tikz code than with actual text!)

Finally, I don't understand the PDF argument: my PowerPoint is perfectly able to save a slideshow as PDF.

• 4 Welcome, you aren't forced to use beamer to do the slides. beamer adds stuff like overlays, and other fancy things. If you don't need that, you can modify a simple article document. An asnwer of mine has a link to an article about that topic: \pause in KOMA-script scrartcl –  Johannes_B Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 17:13

The answer to this question depends on your idea of what a presentation should be.

If your presentation is going to be a heads-up version of a mathematical paper -- i.e. mostly text and math -- then obviously Beamer is the right choice. But for me personally, presentations are visual aids that assist in conveying information that I am delivering orally and also perhaps through a handout. They are not "documents". Therefore a document processing language is not the optimal solution.

My usual workflow is to map out what I want to say during the presentation and figure out how much of that is best represented orally, best represented in printed text, and best represented visually. The oral stuff is spoken. The printed text is printed on a handout. Everything else goes into the presentation (for which handouts can be made available).

Under that philosophy of presentations, I find Keynote to be a better tool than Beamer. Any mathematics that I want to include in the presentation in a visual format, I can create using LaTeXiT and pasting into a Keynote slide. And if I have text and graphics to put up, I just drop them in and move them where I want them. Once the presentation is done, just export to PDF.

As Matt Leingang points out, you can make a terrible presentation in Beamer and a great presentation in Keynote -- it's not really about the software but how you use it.

• The converse is also true. I made a presentation in Keynote with LaTeXiT drop-ins and the presentation was a disaster, in no small part due to how easy it is to abuse Keynote (and Powerpoint for that matter) by putting things wherever you like. The benefit of LaTeX is that it makes you think, and if you're good you can still put stuff wherever you like. That slight resistance paid off in a subsequent version of the aforementioned presentation, which included animations . –  qubyte Commented Jan 18, 2012 at 11:33
• 3 I would agree in most cases that "a presentation is not a document," my biggest exception being a class lecture. In that case everything I would put on a chalkboard should be in the slides. But for general presentations, I believe strongly that the slides should not be able to stand alone. If everything is in the slides, what value do you add standing in front of it and reading it? PS: First time I've seen you on TeX.SE. Welcome! –  Matthew Leingang Commented Jan 18, 2012 at 12:58
• 3 No, a presentation is a document. It is stuff that is to be viewed , and that's all a document is. What's the difference? I find beamer helps me enormously with preparing presentations because whatever is on the beamer slide is what the students/audience can see and therefore the only thing that I know that they are aware of. They won't read the handout until after, they'll forget what I say straight after, but the visual stuff is right there, right in front of them, and therefore the Most Important Part. Get that right, the rest follows. –  Andrew Stacey Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 11:54

One of the key benefits of LaTeX as a presentation tool is that it helps one focus on the content of the presentation and promotes consistent formatting. The content is the most important part of any presentation but it often seems as if it gets sidelined to fancy formatting.

• 1 Beamer helps you to plan the structure of the talk in terms of sections and subsections. The structure can be shown to the audience by automatically generating a table of contents slide which highlights where you are in the talk. Powerpoint has nothing like this –  Nick Riches Commented Jan 23, 2013 at 18:00

There are many similar examples in the history of Computer Science where people tried to stretch and extend tools that were familiar with and use them beyond their original intent rather than inventing or learning new tools. My favorite (being a Unix fun) is sed&awk vs Perl. Even though Perl was designed in part to obsolete those two classical Unix tools and it is definitely far more capable glue (general?) programming language it failed to kill sed&awk. As a mater of fact we even have two extensions of awk (original nawk extension and newer gawk extension).

As pointed before PDF unlike PostScript was designed to displaying electronic documents. It is not a programmable language (at least not by humans) unlike PostScript but it is very good for all sorts of electronic documents. Since you can easily process a TeX document into PDF you are immediately in business. Don't forget that historically TeX presentations were not competing with PowerPoint but with overhead slides. Check out slides LaTeX class for example.

As somebody who is PostScript (read PSTricks) bias I use Powerdot (the final output is also PDF) rather than Beamer (TikZ/PGF). I would also suggest that you look at little helper programs like Impressive which can greatly enhance static/(or with over layers) PDF slides. Including video (I like to use MATLAB to create it) and audio into your presentation is trivial with hyperref package and you are practically limited only by your PDF viewer (I like MuPDF ).

Here is a fairly complete comparison of screen presentation tools . Bare in mind that the author of the article is not fully familiar with all listed tools.

As someone who firmly believes that TeX has been successfully stretched beyond its original intent into superb presentation tool I will list an example were TeX due to its design limitations was not so successful.

Many of you frequenting this site are musicians and are well aware of Music TeX and its "failure". I personally use LilyPond to type music. The secret is that TeX produces fairly symmetric output (yes Don talks about liturgies in the TeXbook but notes are much worse than letters). As professional musicians will testify scores do not look nice if they are symmetric hence LilyPond.

• +1 for the mention about Lilypond and MusicTeX, I've always wondered about them. –  imnothere Commented Jan 15, 2012 at 6:52

At the risk of getting downvoted ...

Most likely you should not. Beamer encourages bad presentation practices.

This is not just about Beamer vs PowerPoint. It is about writing markup vs designing graphically.

Let me quote from one answer here:

Focus. On the contents, not on the presentation. Once you are used to LaTeX presentations, Powerpoint pretty much looks like a drawing program to you, instead of a presentation tool.

But presenting well is precisely about ... good presentation . You already have the content. Now the question is: how do you present it effectively? Arguably, a good presentation should be designed , not written , so a drawing program is precisely what you need for it.

It is certainly possible to make good slides with Beamer, but if you give someone both a markup based and a graphical designer based system, and ask them to make slides, guess which one will end up with:

• Just text and text and text, typically bullets in a single column.
• Figures always arranged in a boring grid without any flow that shows relationships.
• Irrelevant or distracting information that shouldn't be there, but the person had the urge to fill the template.
• Things that should be said will be written instead.

One argument for Beamer is the ease of writing equations. This question was originally asked in 2012. Since then, both PowerPoint and Keynote have come a long way. They both have good equation editors which can be used (I'd say are best used) with LaTeX syntax . You will still feel at home.

Of course, Beamer does have its place. It can be great for teaching math, if you already decided that you do not want to use a blackboard. I can also see how it makes it easy to generate information-dense handouts—but then you might ask yourself if you are really creating a presentation or lecture notes? However, in practice, there often isn't time to create both.

However, for a presentation where you need to get the message through effectively in a limited amount of time, where the audience is actually listening to you instead of just reading slides, do consider using a "drawing program" like PowerPoint. There are good open source ones too. You would end up using a drawing program to make the figures for a good Beamer presentation anyway.

• 3 You might be right here and some points are very valid, but in my experience using PP to create text-heavy slides is also common practice. Personally, I would say that if you know how to make good presentations the tool plays a subordinate role. And for me, being used to TikZ the benefit from creating consistent slides with visually designed content is neither much worse nor much better than using PP (except for being able to reuse graphics in lecture notes later on). –  TeXnician Commented Oct 31, 2018 at 11:48
• 3 @TeXnician If you know how to make good presentations the tool plays a subordinate role. Grave in stone. –  yo' Commented Oct 31, 2018 at 11:49
• 4 Though I agree with your main points (the presentation must be designed visually, and Beamer makes it too easy to do the wrong thing — but even Powerpoint does this to some extent), I have tried Beamer, Powerpoint, Google Slides etc., and I find that the best tool for designing a presentation is actually none of these but the ultimate drawing program: paper and pen. After having planned the presentation completely (e.g. draw roughly what each slide will look like, move the pieces of paper around etc.), then one can start to use technology to achieve the desired visual outcome. –  ShreevatsaR Commented Nov 1, 2018 at 7:32

I'm using beamer because of its comprehensive and partly unique features:

• Math: With LaTeX the best mathematical layout is available
• Sketches: With the tikz package any technical sketch or diagram is possible
• Graphs: With the pgfplots package you font consistent, complex graphs with overlay effects are possible
• Videos , Animations and 3D objects: With the media15 package animations and youtube videos, even embedding of 3D objects into PDF s is possible with pdflatex
• Overlay effects: With beamer you can overlay even between formulas and tables
• Hyper linking: With beamer you can link and connect anything, formulas, table of contents and beamer -buttons
• Layout: Total control of any layout aspect (through (La)TeX, at least theoretically)
• Self-contained: All information, all layout controls in one single text file and all media content embedded in one single output file
• Standardised: With the PDF output format you are independent of proprietary viewer formats and software versions! (I started with beamer after I was forced to present my PowerPoint presentation with a different PowerPoint version: Some formatting changed and my animations didn't run!)
• Typography: The default beamer layouts and font selections guide you in good presentation techniques (not too cramped, etc.)
• Availability: The tools are standardised, cost-free and easily available on many OS, LaTeX is the standard in scientific publishing and there are no licensing or patent issues nor software lock-in.

But I'd also like to mention possible disadvantages of beamer , compared to WYSIWYG solutions, for example, Libre Office's Impress or PowerPoint ;-)

• The learning curve is steeper, but excellent tutorials and user communities ( TeXamples e.g.) are available
• Command syntax is harder to memorise and type, but the LaTeX and beamer manuals and references are excellent and widely available.
• Image positioning remains somewhat cumbersome :-/
• When mitigating point 3. and placing images automatically, a sterile and a bit too perfect overall impression might ensue (at least for my taste)
• Often corporate presentation templates are not available for LaTeX (but it's worth to redo them in beamer ;-) )
• Sharing with WYSIWYG content is only partly possible, the majority in business environment is using PowerPoint :-(
• Expressing oneself in a mark-up language like LaTeX compared to WYSIWYG is brain dependent and might be more difficult for some humans. If you enjoy programming anyway, go for beamer !
• Often the process of editing, compiling and evaluating the change in your document takes longer. But this improved much with auto-reverting viewers and faster CPUs, besides there are now WYSIWYG environments for LaTeX available TeX SE question .

By the way, I'm using now org-mode to write my beamer presentations (and anything else textual) to save myself some of the cumbersome aspects of the LaTeX language among other advantages.

By, by the way, lately I discovered Reveal , the html presentation framework. Which is looking interesting when considering to publish the presentation on the web or want to exploit some interactive graphical javascript capabilities 6 .

• @Joseph Wright: thanks for the formatting hints –  Dieter.Wilhelm Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 10:45
• 2 IMHO point 4 of your list of disadvantages is invalid: the same can happen with other software, too. :) Point 7 of the first list says it all: the author is in charge of the appearance and not the software. :) –  cgnieder Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 14:55
• @clemens: You're right with the 4th disadvantage, I edited it to make my point clearer. Thanks –  Dieter.Wilhelm Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 20:18

For me it is one huge advantage and one disadvantage.

I prepared series of lectures about Perl programming. The outcome is I got beautiful, and extremally well-looking slides, but... this took me A LOT of time. A single lecture, which was prepared in OpenOffice Impress was usually done in few hours (with some scripting, because oo is ugly and requires way too much clicking), where the single lecture contained about 50-70 slides. The same thing done in LaTeX took me up to eight times longer. Of course, I'm newbie, and I had to Google for every single thingy.

First lecture which I have prepared was written by me for about a week of daily work. The second one has taken only few days. But even now, after several iterations and more slides, it takes me enormous amount of time, and I just can't do if faster. Of course I'm a beginner, so that's the reason. So for me they are pros and cons.

Pros - beautiful slides, just awesome fonts and general good looking, simply kicking ass and so hell nice that I'm amazed.

Cons - time! (even with copy/paste it require up to 8x times longer), another one is error-prone, because I usually have to type perl code with much escapes inside... For example even single line like this: $a = "$b{x}\n"; forces me to write ugly latex code similar to \$a = "\$b\{x\}\textbackslash{}n"; - which is just unreadable.

So, I would love to use LaTeX for some less technical slides, with more simple text typing. For programming languages it serves me moderately easy.

• 6 (There are much easier ways to get code into LaTeX documents, including presentations - which partially proves your point: when you know how to do it, it's quick. When you don't know, it's slow.) –  Andrew Stacey Commented Jan 18, 2012 at 11:30
• 2 Being a teacher of computer science, I can feel your pain. By now, I actually have completely given up on slides for teaching material. I'm using the chalkboard instead, which is very much more time-efficient as far as preparing the content is concerned, but it is also a bit frustrating. and not very good-looking ! –  Gyom Commented Jan 19, 2012 at 18:59
• @Gyom: I've gone the opposite way. I have actually completely given up on the chalkboard for teaching material. I'm using slides (beamer) instead, which is very much more time-efficient as far as preparing the content is concerned, helps me organise my lectures far more than "chalk and talk" ever did, and is "good looking" (in my ever-so-humble opinion). –  Andrew Stacey Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 11:52
• 1 @Gyom, try using minted in beamer. You will never want to go back to presenting code in powerpoint/impress or on the chalkboard. There's nothing better than syntax highlighted code for teaching programming related stuff. –  recluze Commented Dec 5, 2012 at 13:36
• @recluze, try out Python's ipython notebooks. I've recently seen awesome presentations, including code to be run (and modified!) on the fly. On my ToLearn list now... –  vonbrand Commented Oct 14, 2015 at 14:51

It occurred to me that there could be another reason to use TeX for presentations, which is of course applicable to all TeX documents: the convenience of using source control and diff tools to track changes to the document.

That is likely possible with most of the other formats, but it usually works best with plain text of course.

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