PowerPoint 2016 comes with several new and improved features that make creating and sharing presentations easier and more intuitive. Here are some of the key new capabilities in PowerPoint 2016:
Updated User Interface
- The ribbon menu has been streamlined with fewer icons and more drop-down menus to reduce clutter. The Tell Me feature allows you to quickly find commands and features by typing what you want to do ([1], [5]).
- A new black and dark gray theme options allow you to change the overall interface color scheme to create better contrast ([6]).
- The backstage view for managing documents has been updated with a modern look and improved functionality ([10]).
Enhanced Design Capabilities
- The new Designer feature generates design ideas and layout suggestions automatically based on the content you add to a slide, saving you time in layout creation ([1], [2], [5], [10]).
- Five new chart types have been added: Treemap, Box and Whisker, Sunburst, Pareto, and Waterfall. These new charts give you more options for data visualization ([5], [10], [11]).
- New slide transitions like Morph, Spin, and Flip provide more dynamic and smooth ways to transition between slides ([2]).
Improved Collaboration Features
- Real-time co-authoring allows multiple people to work on the same presentation simultaneously, with each person’s edits appearing instantly to others ([5], [7], [19]).
- Present Online allows you to present a PowerPoint deck remotely using a web browser, enabling collaboration when people are in different locations ([15]).
- The new Share button makes sharing presentations with others seamlessly via email, social networks, or cloud storage locations like OneDrive ([5], [7], [19]).
Tighter Integration with Other Microsoft Products
- Integration with OneDrive and SharePoint enables easier sharing, storage and co-authoring capabilities ([7], [16], [19]).
- Addition of new services like YouTube, Flickr and Facebook allow you to easily access content from those sites to use in your presentations ([10]).
- Delve and Sway capabilities provide alternative options for enterprise information aggregation and lightweight content creation alongside PowerPoint ([25]).
Enhanced Graphics and Multimedia
- 4K video support allows you to insert and play ultra high-definition video files for the best playback quality ([1]).
- New compression options help reduce file sizes of inserted pictures and video files ([4]).
- Morph transition effects can seamlessly transform images from one state to another, creating visually smooth transitions ([2], [17]).
Overall, PowerPoint 2016 provides visual, collaboration and integration upgrades that can help make your presentation creation process easier and more engaging. While the core slide editing functionality remains similar to previous versions, the updates do add helpful new capabilities.