The Best Software for Editable Presentations: A Comprehensive Guide

One of the questions that clients often ask me is if I want an editable presentation, which software should I use?

We, as designers and businesses, are very lucky to have soooo many great editorial design solutions for presenting to our potential clients, that sometimes it can be overwhelming to know which to use and as we get used to one, more are released on the market, with different capabilities, spangly new interfaces and sometimes, better pricing.

Here are some of the possible options you can choose from (and this is by no means, an exhaustive list):

Figma (who also released Figma Slides in June 2024)

Figma came on the market initially as a software solution for UX/UI (user interface design and user experience design), and was an alternative to Adobe XD and Sketch at the time. It got popular pretty quickly because of its real-time collaboration features. Seeing that a lot of designers started using the platform for other types of design, in June 2024, Figma introduced Figma Slides, designed specifically for presentations.

If you're a designer who already uses Figma for web design, then it's probably a logical step for you to take advantage of your muscle memory to put together presentations quickly, plus you can use prototypes to display animated features, impressing your clients with dynamic presentations.

If you're a non-design trained client, this isn't the best option for you - it has a steep learning curve, and you're likely to get frustrated. We wouldn't recommend you use this as a solution for your team, unless you have genuine interest in upskilling everyone and really making the most of Figma for other tasks, too.

Best for: Design teams, collaborative work, cloud-based editing

Pros:

• Cloud-based collaboration with real-time editing
• Powerful design capabilities
• Works on any device with a browser
• Integrates with other design tools
• Quite cost effective, if you use it for other tasks, too.

Cons:

• Steeper learning curve for non-designers
• Not as straightforward for traditional slide-based presentations
• Limited offline functionality

InDesign

InDesign has long been the industry professional standard go-to for editorial design work. When we trained in Graphic Design, other than Powerpoint (which was branded the devil by our teachers and design peers), you would be forgiven for thinking there were any other options. Originally developed for print and digital publishing, Adobe InDesign is still, in general, the industry standard for designing magazines, brochures, and complex layouts - though watch this space, because we think Affinity Publisher could be about to give them a run for their money.

Best for: Professional designers, high-end editorial design

Pros:

• Ideal for highly designed, polished presentations
• Best for multi-page documents and PDFs
• Advanced typography and layout control (this is why designers love it)

Cons:

• Not beginner-friendly
• Not designed for live presentations or animations (which nowadays is an issue as we are progressively getting more expectant of motion in design)
• Requires an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription 💸💸💸
• Not ideal if you have a team that needs to edit the same document, as you'll get installation on 2 computers with ACC and it's not optimised for collaboration.

Apple Keynote

Keynote is an interesting one, because it's often overlooked as presentation design software in our experience, but if you have a Mac, it's sat right there, winking at you every time to turn on your computer. Personally, until Adobe Creative Cloud went subscription based, we'd never given it a second thought. Launched in 2003, Apple Keynote was designed as Apple's answer to Microsoft PowerPoint, offering a sleek and intuitive way to create professional presentations. Of course, if you already have a PC, not so likely that you are going to swap to Mac just for this little free piece of software.

Best for: Mac users, polished presentations with animations

Pros:

• Beautiful templates and transitions
• Free for Mac users
• Great for animated and interactive presentations
• You can export in PPT and there are some work arounds for InDesign, too
• Personally, we love the fact that you can just paste .svg (scaled vector files) directly into the presentation, and it also has a version backup system incase you accidently overwrite your work.

Cons:

• Limited compatibility with Windows users
• Fewer collaboration features compared to Google Slides or PowerPoint

Canva

If PPT was the devil for designers for its clumsy user interface, then Canva was a demon for threatening to take away our jobs. It started as a simple, web-based graphic design tool in 2013, making it easy for non-designers to create social media graphics, posters, and presentations. Actually it hasn't taken any jobs away that would have been of much interest to seasoned designers, in fact it's made design software accessible to more people, and in the case of many of our clients, made them realise that designing from scratch isn't just a case of grabbing a text and a few images and making something immediately functional. What's great about Canva for building presentation templates, is that we can create things that are custom designed, especially for you and your team and the interface is intuitive enough for a non-designer to get the hang of it pretty fast.

Best for: Non-designers, quick and visually appealing presentations

Pros:

• Drag-and-drop interface
• Large selection of templates
• Free version available
• Easy for beginners
• Very reasonable bank of free images (and you get loads more on the paid plan)

Cons:

• Limited customisation compared to Figma or InDesign
• Advanced features require a paid plan
• Can feel restrictive for experienced designers

Powerpoint

As designers, admitting that we work with Powerpoint (and potentially even enjoy it, is an absolute no no). The thing is that we just keep coming across the PPT client again and again, and logically so because over 500 million people worldwide are said to use it (according to PRESENTATIONLOAD). Love it or hate it, it's here to stay and at Studio Ayl, we have totally made our peace with it. In our experience, it's just a case of changing your way of thinking when you enter the PPT realm and with a little warm-up, it's just as fast and easy to use once you get into it. Respect your elders, it's been around since 1987. It's older than some of your clients.

Best for: Businesses, corporate presentations, offline access

Pros:

• Familiar interface for most users
• Advanced animation and slide transition features
• Strong offline functionality
• Can integrate with Microsoft 365 tools
• Very economic solution for both businesses and designers. Designers can pay for a monthly account and then cancel subscription, but documents are still there on return ✨

Cons:

• Heavier file sizes compared to cloud-based options
• Less modern design templates compared to Keynote or Canva
• Can be overwhelming with too many features for beginners
• Used to have very awkward compatibility issues, but they are solved with Microsoft 365.

Google Slides

Introduced in 2006 as part of Google Workspace, Google Slides was designed as a free, cloud-based alternative to PowerPoint, with a focus on easy sharing and real-time collaboration. As designers, personally, we have always found it to be very clumsy, with some really obvious presentation needs requiring unusual work-arounds to achieve similar results in much more time and its really lacking in tools to enable really high quality, polished, professional design solutions. Some businesses also express concerns over the privacy of google workspace products, so it's not for everyone. That said, many businesses use it for its cloud accessibility and because it's often already integrated somewhere in their teams' workflow.

Best for: Cloud-based collaboration, teams working remotely

Pros:

• Cloud-based, accessible anywhere
• Easy collaboration and sharing
• Free with a Google account
• Works well for simple business presentations

Cons:

• Fewer design customisation options
• Limited offline capabilities
• Animations and transitions are basic

So, after all of this, what should you design your editable presentation templates in? If you were our client, we would ask you these questions:

→ Who’s going to be editing the presentation?
→ What design knowledge do they have?
→ What software do they already know how to use?
→ In what context will they be using the presentation? Video call? On a stage? One-to-one? Via email?
→ How many people are in the team?

The bottom line is, what’s easy for us might not be easy for you (and vice-versa of course). Not all solutions are accessible to every business, and the right tool depends on your specific needs and those of your team.

Additionally, consider these factors:

🧠 Leverage existing knowledge.

Your team may already have experience with certain software, which could save time and effort.

🌱 Scalability & ease of implementation.

Choose a solution that will grow with your needs and be simple for everyone to adopt.

💸 Cost vs. Value.

You likely want to avoid any unnecessary software costs if they don't add significant value to your business.

Ultimately, the best tool is the one that makes your work easier and more effective, whether you're presenting to potential clients or collaborating with your team.

Yes we are designers, and yes, we are at peace with Powerpoint. Almost.

If you need some support deciding what to use for your presentation designs, don't hesitate to email us. We'd be more than happy to jump on a call and help you out!