Start by signing in and opening Create a presentation. Choose the starting material you already have, generate or write your slides, then review the result in the editor. The trial and credits guide explains the limits before you begin.
Choose how to create your deck
The creation screen has four options:
- AI Prompt: Describe the topic, audience, desired outcome and facts the deck must use. The guided flow lets you choose language, slide count, audience, tone and visual style.
- Outline: Enter a presentation title, section titles and supporting points. Add at least one section with a title, then select Generate Slides. The outline guides generation; it is not a guarantee of one slide per section.
- Document or URL: Choose Upload file for a PDF, DOCX, TXT or MD file, or Paste a link for a public page. After extraction succeeds, review the extracted text, choose the slide count and select Generate Slides. This creates a draft from text; it does not copy the source document's page layout. Scanned images without extractable text need another source. See document-to-presentation guidance.
- Markdown to Slides: Open the Markdown editor to write slide content with a live preview. Separate slides with
---. Manual Markdown writing is available during the trial; AI generation, enhancement and translation in that editor require a paid plan.
You can also browse presentation templates for a starting structure. Premium templates require a paid plan; saving a template as a new presentation counts toward your deck limit.
Give AI enough direction
Include the decision you want the audience to make and the facts they need to make it. For a fictional project briefing, you could write:
Create a 6-slide briefing for a project team deciding whether to launch a pilot. Cover the problem, proposed pilot, timeline, risks, owners and decision needed. Leave budget and dates as placeholders because they have not been approved.
Replace that example with your own facts. Review names, numbers, quotations and recommendations before presenting. An AI draft can introduce errors or details that were not in your brief.
Make your first edit
After generation finishes, SlidesMate saves the new presentation and opens it in the editor. Select a slide from the slide list, click its title or body text and change the wording. Click outside the text field to commit the change. You can also change the deck title at the top of the editor.
Start with the message: check slide order, remove unsupported claims and shorten crowded text. Then adjust the theme or layout and preview the presentation. A finished sample deck can help you judge how much text to keep on each slide.
Check that your work is saved
Edits to a saved presentation are saved automatically. The editor shows Unsaved, Saving... or Saved near the title. After editing text, click outside the field and wait for Saved before closing the tab or leaving the page.
If a save fails, the editor keeps the status at Unsaved and asks you to keep the tab open and try another edit. Check your connection and make another edit to retry. Do not assume that a visible change has reached your account until the status confirms it.
Return to the dashboard to open your saved deck again. For file downloads, read export options; the trial offers a watermarked PDF preview, while clean exports and PowerPoint downloads require a paid plan. To send a viewing link instead, follow sharing a presentation.