Presentations

Build slides with text, pictures, shapes and arrows, and write speaker notes for each one.

The slide editor lists the deck's slides down the left and shows the current slide beside them, in 16:9. Add text, pictures from Your images, shapes and arrows, then drag them into place. Each change is saved to the deck's draft as you work.

Get started free

Starting a deck

A deck belongs to Personal or to the team selected when it is made. Create presentation asks for a title and a starting point. A starter adds ordinary slides that you change or delete like any other.

Blank deck
One title slide with the deck's title on it.
Project update
A title slide, a Progress slide with Completed, In progress and Blocked, and a Next steps slide.
Pitch deck
A title slide, The problem, Our approach, and a closing slide for your contact details.
Paste JSON
A whole deck built from a JSON document that describes each slide. See Building a deck from JSON below.

What goes on a slide

Text
Add text places a text box on the slide. Double-click it to type on the slide, or open Edit selected to change its text, size and alignment. Make selected text a list adds a bullet to each line.
Pictures
Add image opens the image picker: choose several pictures from Your images or upload new ones. Each is placed on the slide to move and resize.
Shapes and arrows
Add shape adds a rectangle and Add arrow adds an arrow, both in the deck's accent colour.
Layers
Bring forward and Send back change which element is drawn on top when two overlap.
Title and two-column slides
Add title slide and Add two-column slide add a slide with placeholder text to replace.
Background and accent
Background sets the colour of the current slide and of new slides. Accent sets the colour of new shapes and arrows.

Arranging elements and slides

  1. Move and resize

    Drag an element to move it, or drag its handle to resize it. It snaps to the slide's edges and centre as you drag. Shift-click selects several elements to move together.

  2. Order the slides

    Drag a slide in the list down the left to a new place, or use its up and down buttons.

  3. Hide a slide

    The eye button leaves a slide out when presenting, of the shared deck and of PDF export, and keeps it in the draft.

  4. Undo and Redo

    Undo and Redo step through your changes while the editor is open, including a deleted slide.

  5. Keys

    N adds a slide, Ctrl or ⌘ D duplicates one, and the up and down arrows move between slides. Press ? to list every key.

Speaker notes

Speaker notes opens a box for the current slide's notes. Notes are for the person giving the presentation: they are not shown in the shared deck, when presenting, or in a PDF.

People who can view the deck in Magpie can read its notes in the editor, and people who can edit it can change them.

Building a deck from JSON

A JSON document can describe a whole deck: each slide's layout and words. Magpie places the text, and each slide it makes is an ordinary slide to change in the editor. Paste JSON on Create presentation builds a new deck. Import JSON, in an existing deck's File menu, replaces every slide in the draft; the published version stays until you publish again.

Copy the prompt copies the format with instructions for writing a deck in it. The whole document is checked first: if one part does not fit the format, nothing is created or replaced, and the message names the slide.

title and section
An opening slide or a divider between parts of the deck, with a heading and an optional subheading.
bullets
A list of points with an optional heading. Magpie adds the bullets, and a long list is set in smaller text.
text
A paragraph with an optional heading. Line breaks are kept.
quote
A quotation with the name of who said it. Magpie adds the quotation marks.
blank
An empty slide to build in the editor.
Colours, notes and hidden slides
The document can set the deck's background, text and accent colours. Any slide can have speaker notes, its own background colour, or be hidden.

Saving, copies and the assistant

Saved as you work
The editor saves the draft after each change, and the page bar reads Draft saved. The shared deck changes only when someone publishes.
Two tabs at once
If another tab or person saves a newer version, the editor will ask you to reload before saving again, so that version is not overwritten.
Duplicate
Duplicate, in the File menu, makes a copy of the deck's draft in the selected team and opens it.
The assistant
The assistant on Dashboard can create a deck, duplicate one and change a draft. It publishes, shares or moves a deck to Trash only when you confirm it in your message.

Make your first deck.

Create a Magpie account, open Presentations and choose Create presentation.

Create account