How do I check the file size of each slide in PowerPoint 365?

Unfortunately, PowerPoint 365 doesn't have a built-in feature to directly display the individual file size of each slide. However, there's a workaround that involves "publishing" your slides as individual presentations and then checking their file sizes in your operating system's file explorer. Here's how:

Steps to Determine Slide File Sizes:

1. Prepare your PowerPoint Presentation: Ensure your presentation is complete and saved.

2. Publish Slides as Individual Presentations:

   • Go to File > Export > Create Handouts.
   • In the "Send to Microsoft Word" dialog box, choose an option like "Notes next to slides" or "Blank lines next to slides." The important thing is that this process exports your presentation. Select “Create Handouts in Microsoft Word”.
   • Word will open a new document, or prompt you to.
   • Save the Word document.

3. Extract Slides from Word Document as Pictures

   • In Word, select each slide picture individually and "Copy" (Ctrl+C).
   • Open PowerPoint and "Paste" (Ctrl+V).
   • Right click the slide, and select "Save as Picture..." Give the picture a recognizable name (such as "Slide1"). Repeat for each slide. Save all the slides to a single folder for easy access.

4. Save Each Image as a Separate Presentation:

   • For each saved image, open a new PowerPoint presentation.
   • Insert the image (from step 3) into the new presentation.
   • Save the new PowerPoint Presentation to a folder. Give it a meaningful name like "Slide1.pptx," "Slide2.pptx," and so on.

5. Check File Sizes in File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (macOS):

   • Open File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (macOS) and navigate to the folder where you saved the individual slide presentations.
   • The file size of each *.pptx file will represent the approximate size of the corresponding slide. You may need to enable the "Details" view to see the file sizes directly. Right-click in the folder, go to "View," and select "Details."
   • Sort by file size to easily identify the largest slides.

Why This Works:

The file size of each individual slide presentation primarily reflects the size of the image or media embedded within that slide. Larger images, videos, or embedded objects will result in a larger file size for that particular slide.

Important Considerations:

• Approximation: This method provides a good estimate of slide size. There's slight overhead from the PowerPoint file format itself, but the difference is generally negligible compared to the size of media elements.
• Image Optimization: If you find slides with large file sizes, consider compressing images or optimizing media within those slides to reduce the overall presentation size.
• Alternative Approach: You could also save each slide as a picture (e.g., PNG or JPG) directly from PowerPoint and check the individual image file sizes. Then recreate each slide individually. However, the method above is a bit easier.

By following these steps, you can effectively determine the relative file size of each slide in your PowerPoint 365 presentation and identify which slides contribute the most to the overall file size.