How to Track Changes in Microsoft PowerPoint

As many individuals and companies seek flexible ways of working, productivity tools with collaboration features are in high demand. Microsoft 365 occupies 41.59% of the productivity market, with over one million dependencies on Microsoft Office.

Features such as tracking changes in Microsoft Word and Excel are useful for collaboration. However, Microsoft PowerPoint, which has more than 120 million users, does not have this feature. What do you do when you need to monitor changes?

Tracking Changes Made in an Offline Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation

There is no Track Changes option in Microsoft PowerPoint. However, you can Compare two PowerPoint Presentations to track the changes made.

You must have two files to compare the changes. The first file should be the original presentation, the second file should be changed. Once you have these two files, follow these steps to compare the changes:

Stage 1: Start the original PowerPoint file.

Step 2: Select the Review tab on the Ribbon.

Stage 3: Click on Compare. This option allows you to select a file to compare with the original.

Step 4: In the file library, select the file to compare with the original and click Merge.

Step 5: Once the file is merged, check to see if a Review Pane also appears in PowerPoint.

Step 6: In the Revisions pane to the right of your PowerPoint, select Details.

Step 7: Using the slider in the Revisions pane, read the comments in the presentation to identify changes in the content of the Slide or the Presentation.

Step 8: In the Slide Changes or Presentation changes pane, select any of the changes and all the details should resolve.

Step 9: Mark the changes and select Accept to save the changes or Reject to delete the changes.

Step 10: When the review is finished, select End Review to apply all changes.

Tracking Changes Made in an Online Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation

Another way to track changes in a document is to work on it online. For example, you can choose to use Microsoft OneDrive or Microsoft SharePoint to collaborate with others on your file. Here’s how to monitor such changes:

Microsoft SharePoint

Review Edits in OneDrive or SharePoint

Here’s how to track changes to files hosted on OneDrive or SharePoint:

Microsoft OneDrive

Stage 1: Start the shared presentation in OneDrive or SharePoint.

Step 2: You should see a notification that a change has been made to your shared file. Select Show Detailed Changes.

Stage 3: In the thumbnail pane of the presentation, certain slides should be highlighted in turquoise (slides with changes are highlighted with this color). Also, notice a tooltip that says Slide has unread changes.

Step 4: Click the highlighted thumbnail to open the slide. All new changes will be highlighted in turquoise. There is also a note showing who made the change and when.

Note: Occasionally, you may notice that a slide is highlighted in the review pane. But when you click on it, there is no information. This happens when the changes are related to shape deletion, commenting, animation changes, or changes to the notes pane.

Checking Version History in OneDrive or SharePoint

If your PowerPoint is hosted on OneDrive or SharePoint, Office 365 protects all versions of the presentation. You can use previous versions to track changes. Here’s how to access the previous version:

Stage 1: Click the filename at the top of your presentation.

Step 2: Select Version History from the drop-down menu.

Stage 3: Previous versions of your file should be displayed in a pane. Click on the file version to review.

Step 4: Select Save a Copy if you want to compare the changes, or select Restore if you want to revert to the old presentation.

Step 5: After downloading the old file, compare it to the new file to see all the changes made.

Alternatives to Microsoft PowerPoint

Tracking changes in Microsoft PowerPoint is not as easy as you have it in Microsoft Word and Excel with the Track Changes feature. But tracking changes in PowerPoint relies on having an old version of the presentation or working online. If you need a more convenient way to track changes, you can try looking for an alternative to PowerPoint.