Have you ever wondered why a PDF and a PowerPoint are so different? If you’ve used both types of documents, you’ve probably noticed that they don’t look or act the same. So you might think they’re just different versions of the same thing—but they’re actually quite different when it comes to editing and formatting your content.
Layout
The layout of a PPT is dynamic and can be changed by the user. A PDF, on the other hand, is static and cannot be changed once it’s been created. One of the major differences between a PowerPoint and a PDF might be the way each one can be viewed: A PPT can be viewed online or downloaded as an eBook; a PDF is generally printed out as an offline document with no ability to view it online. Also, there are a number of PDF to PPT converter tools online.
A PowerPoint also has some unique features that make it better suited for visualizing data than a traditional Word document or Excel spreadsheet (although both of those formats are still widely used).
For example, while you could use PowerPoint 2013 to prepare your tax return, it would likely require some extra work since you’d have to manually type in all your numbers into cells rather than just copy them from your other documents (which is possible if they’re all saved in one file). Of course, the advantage of Microsoft Excel over PowerPoint here would be efficiency—you won’t have to retype everything into cells if there are already columns set up correctly!
Popularity
Although both PDF and PowerPoint are popular, more people use PDF than they do PowerPoint. This is because it’s easier to read a PDF file than it is to follow along with a PowerPoint. So when you’re reading a document in PDF format, you don’t have to worry about moving through slides or jumping around. You can just focus on what matters: the text of your document.
Accessibility
When you’re presenting a slide deck, it’s important to think about accessibility. Unfortunately, PDFs are not as accessible as PowerPoint. For example, they can’t be interacted with in the same way that PowerPoint slides can. Additionally, they are not interactive and don’t have the same features as PowerPoint (such as animations).
Editing
Editing a PowerPoint is a lot more complex than editing a PDF. For example, if you want to change the font in your PDF document, you can simply go over to the “Formatting” menu and select “Font.” Then, choose the font type and size you want to use. Once that’s done, all of your text will be changed automatically.
However, try doing something similar with a PowerPoint document (such as changing its theme). In that case, it won’t work nearly as well—and there are much more limitations on how much customization is possible before things start breaking down entirely.
As per Adobe Acrobat experts, “The PPT conversion process will make sure that the converted file includes the content from your original PDF document.”
In the end, the difference between PDF and PowerPoint is that one is a document format and one is a presentation format. If you want to make your content accessible to everyone on any device, then consider using a PDF. If you need to create presentations with animations, transitions for slideshows, then use PowerPoint as an alternative for creating presentations in an easy-to-use interface with all the features needed.