Convert PowerPoint to PDF and Maintain Document Structure

This guide walks you through the most effective approach in 2025 for creating an accessible PDF directly from PowerPoint. With updated tools and improved methods, you can now ensure your content retains structure, reading order, and accessibility tags.

Video Guide

Prioritize Accessibility in PowerPoint to PDF Conversion

Accessibility ensures that people using screen readers and assistive technologies can fully engage with your content. When you fail to preserve structural elements—like headings, reading order, and tags—the document becomes inaccessible. Therefore, it’s critical to follow best practices that guarantee consistent and inclusive digital communication.

Start by Using an Accessible Slide Design Theme

First and foremost, you should design your slides using an accessible theme. This theme should:

• Define clear placeholders for titles, body text, and images.
• Maintain a logical layout and reading order.
• Avoid freeform or floating elements that don’t align with the structured layout.

By sticking to the built-in or custom accessible design, you ensure that PowerPoint retains the semantic structure required during PDF conversion.

Choose the File > Save As > PDF Method

Next, convert the presentation using PowerPoint’s built-in Save As feature. This method currently provides the highest accuracy for accessibility.

To proceed:

1. Navigate to File > Save As.
2. Select a folder on your device.
3. In the “Save as type” dropdown, choose PDF.
4. Click Options, then enable:
   • “All” slides
   • “Document properties”
   • “Document structure tags for accessibility”
5. Click Save.

Why This Method Is the Best in 2025

Recent improvements have made this method superior. It ensures:

• Proper heading tags (like <H2> for titles)
• Logical reading order that mirrors your slide design
• Nesting of all content inside a <Document> and/or <Section> structure
• Auto-artifacting of headers, footers, and non-essential visual elements

These features allow screen readers to interpret the document correctly, thus enhancing accessibility.

Verify Tags Using Adobe Acrobat

Once you create the PDF, you must validate the structure. To do this:

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.
2. Select View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags.
3. Inspect the tag tree to ensure:
   • Presence of a <Document> tag
   • Content, including headings and list items, is properly tagged
   • Artifacts are correctly applied to decorative elements

If all elements are intact, then your PDF is accessible.

Consider the Acrobat Tab Method with Caution

You can also convert the PowerPoint file using the Acrobat tab within PowerPoint. Here’s how:

1. Go to the Acrobat tab.
2. Click Preferences and adjust your export settings.
3. Select Create PDF.

Why This Method Falls Short

Although this method is customizable, it can fail to preserve nuanced formatting. For instance, in our video example, Slide 17 lost its nested title when exported via the Acrobat method. Therefore, unless you need specific features only Acrobat offers, the File > Save As method is the better choice.

Understand the Evolution of Best Practices

In earlier years, the Save As method had limitations. Users experienced issues like:

• Broken font encoding
• Misaligned reading order

However, as of July 2025, Microsoft has improved its PDF export feature dramatically. It now surpasses Acrobat in preserving the fidelity of your document’s structure and formatting.

After conversion, always double-check your PDF in Adobe Acrobat. Look closely at the tags, headings, reading order, and artifacting. Even when using the recommended method, it’s essential to confirm that nothing was lost in translation.

Let me be your champion for inclusion. I offer tailored solutions (and self-paced courses!) to ensure your documents meet and exceed compliance expectations. For more detailed insights, tutorials, and in-depth discussions on accessibility and related topics, don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel: The Accessibility Guy on YouTube. Subscribe for regular updates!