3 surprisingly useful PowerPoint projects to try this weekend (July 17–19)

Most people think of PowerPoint only as a tool for creating slide decks, but it's capable of much more. If you have some free time this weekend, these three hands-on projects will help you build more polished, interactive presentations while teaching you useful features along the way.

Create immersive slides using 3D models and Morph transitions

Turn static objects into seamless animations

One of the easiest ways to make PowerPoint feel less like a traditional presentation tool is by combining its built-in 3D models with the Morph transition . When you do this, you can simulate smooth camera movements that make one slide flow naturally into the next.

To get started, insert your 3D model and position it on the slide:

1. In the Inserttab, click the top half of the 3D Modelsbutton.

2. Browse through the categories or use the search bar to find an object. Once you've found what you're looking for, select it, then click Insert.

3. Click and drag the circular rotation handlein the center of the 3D model to orient it to your starting perspective.

4. Add any necessary text boxes, titles, or formatting to your slide.

Once your starting slide is designed, you can use the Morph feature to animate the model's transition into a new view:

1. Right-clickyour starting slide in the left-hand thumbnail pane and click Duplicate Slide.

2. On the duplicated slide, use the rotation handleto turn the 3D model to the final perspective you want your audience to see. You can also move, resize, or adjust existing text boxes, shapes, and other elements to create additional changes between the two slides.

3. With the second slide still selected, open the Transitionstab and click Morph.

Morph only animates elements that exist on both slides. Any new text boxes, shapes, or images you add will fade in rather than moving smoothly into place, and they may appear before the transition has finished. Editing text inside an existing text box also simply replaces the text instead of morphing it.

Now, press F5 to start the slideshow and watch the 3D model smoothly rotate and move between each view as you step through your slides. To add further movements, keep duplicating the final slide and changing the model's angle. When you do this, the Morph transition settings will automatically carry over to your new slides.

Build a custom countdown timer without sketchy add-ins

Keep your audience on track

Countdown timers are great for progress indicators, timed classroom activities, or any presentation that needs visual pacing. While you can create complex digital timers in PowerPoint or download third-party add-ins, this visual progress wheel is much quicker to build and gives your audience an easy way to see how much time remains at a glance.

First, create the timer itself:

1. Go to Insert > Shapesand choose the Oval.

2. Hold Shiftwhile dragging to draw a perfect circleon your slide.

3. Copy and pastethe circle, then drag the second circle directly on topof the first.

4. Change the fill colorof the top circle so it contrasts clearly with the one underneath.

5. Select the top circle, open the Animationstab, and click the Animation Stylesdrop-down arrow.

6. Choose the red Wheelexit animation.

Now, configure how the timer behaves:

1. In the Animationstab, click Animation Pane.

2. Click the drop-down arrow next to the Ovalanimation and click Timing.

3. Set Startto On Clickand enter your preferred countdown length in secondsin the Durationfield.

Press F5to preview your timer in action. Once you've built it, you can copy and paste both circles together into future presentations and update the Durationfield to adjust the length.

Create an interactive map using Slide Zoom

Create a presentation that your audience can navigate themselves

If you've ever been asked to skip ahead to a particular topic during a presentation, you'll know how awkward it can be to hunt through your slides. Slide Zoom solves that problem by turning PowerPoint into an interactive navigation hub, letting you jump between topics and then return to your main menu with a single click. The same technique also works brilliantly for self-guided presentations and interactive displays.

First, create your map overview and destination slides, then use Slide Zoom to connect each location to its corresponding slide:

1. Insert a clean image of a map on your overview slide(the first slide), along with a text box telling your audience where to click.

2. Create separate slidesfor each location on your map and add the relevant details, images, or other information you want your audience to explore. Use large, clear slide titles so they are easy to see when you add them to your overview slide. Finally, add a text box telling viewers they can click anywhere to return to the main map.

3. Go back to your overview slideand click Insert > Zoom > Slide Zoom.

4. Check the boxes next to all of your destination slides(not the overview slide), then click Insert.

5. Drag and resize the newly created slide thumbnails to place them over their corresponding locations on your map.

Your Slide Zoom thumbnails don't have to sit directly on top of the locations they represent. If your map becomes crowded, move the thumbnails to an open area beside the map and add connector lines to point to each location. This keeps your navigation hub tidy and easier to use.

At the moment, clicking a thumbnail on your overview slide will successfully zoom in on the relevant slide, but PowerPoint will continue forward in the presentation order afterward. To turn your map into a true navigation hub, configure each thumbnail to return to the overview slide:

1. On your overview slide, select one of the thumbnail images.

2. Open the contextual Zoomtab.

3. Check Return to Zoomin the Zoom Optionsgroup.

4. Repeat this step for each remaining thumbnail. Unfortunately, there's no way to apply this setting to multiple Zoom objects at once, so you'll need to repeat the process for every location.

Now, press F5to preview your interactive map. Click a thumbnail to jump to its information slide, then return to the overview and choose another location.

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Ready for your next project?

These three projects show how a little experimentation can transform PowerPoint from a simple presentation tool into something far more interactive. If you enjoyed building these examples, you can keep building your Microsoft 365 skills with last weekend's Excel projects —each of which you can finish in 15 minutes.