PowerPoint 2026: 8 New Features Every Presenter Should Know

PowerPoint’s 2026 release is one of its most substantial in years, and much of it is aimed at the part of presentation-building everyone dislikes: the mechanical work of laying out slides and wrangling images. Microsoft MVP Mike Tholfsen’s walkthrough of eight notable updates is a good map of what changed. Some features work for everyone; several of the most powerful require a Copilot subscription. Here is what is new and how to use it well.

Image editing inside PowerPoint

You can now edit images without leaving the app – remove backgrounds, adjust content and alter objects directly on the slide. Previously this meant a round-trip to Photoshop or a separate tool; now a quick background removal or object tweak happens in place. For most business decks this removes the single most common reason people had to leave PowerPoint mid-build.

Copilot that drafts and rewrites slides

Integrated Copilot editing can generate or rewrite slide content, suggest layouts and even produce AI images directly inside PowerPoint. You can hand it a rough idea or an existing document and get a usable draft deck back far faster than building from a blank slide. As with all Copilot features, treat the draft as a starting point to refine, not a finished product to present unchecked.

Agentic AI for multi-step tasks

PowerPoint joins Word and Excel in gaining agentic Copilot features for paid users – the AI can perform multi-step actions on its own rather than waiting for a prompt at each stage. Building out a full deck from a brief, restructuring an existing presentation, or applying a consistent treatment across many slides become single requests instead of repetitive manual work.

Faster design with Designer and layout suggestions

PowerPoint’s design suggestions continue to improve, offering layout and design ideas as you add content so a plain slide becomes a polished one without manual alignment. Combined with the new AI image generation, you can produce on-brand, well-composed slides quickly – useful for anyone who is not a designer but needs decks that look professional.

How to use the new features without losing the plot

The risk with so much automation is decks that look slick but say nothing. Keep the discipline: decide your message first, let the AI handle layout and imagery, and edit ruthlessly afterwards. Verify any facts Copilot adds, check that generated images suit your brand and audience, and remember that the best presentations are still built on one clear idea per slide – something no feature can supply for you. Note that the most powerful items here need a Copilot licence, so check what your organisation has before relying on them.

Key takeaways

• PowerPoint 2026 adds in-app image editing – remove backgrounds and adjust objects without leaving the app.
• Integrated Copilot can generate or rewrite slides, suggest layouts and create AI images from a rough idea or document.
• New agentic Copilot features (paid) let PowerPoint perform multi-step deck-building actions on its own.
• Improved design suggestions turn plain slides into polished ones without manual alignment.
• Several headline features require a Copilot subscription; decide your message first and edit AI output critically.

Featured video: 8 New PowerPoint Features for 2026 (Mike Tholfsen)
Related sources: PowerPoint 2026: 8 New Features – hubsite365 · Explore new features in PowerPoint – Microsoft Support · Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Add New Agentic AI Features – Thurrott