Inserting icons in PowerPoint makes your slides livelier and helps your audience picture your ideas. Icons work best when they represent your main points. In this article, I will show you how to insert icons into your slides from some very rich icon libraries. Let’s go!
Insert built-in icons in PowerPoint
PowerPoint on Mac and Windows comes with a built-in set of icons for you to use, and the library covers quite a lot of topics. This method is very quick, so use it if you are short on time.
Step 1: Click Insert on the PowerPoint menu, then click Icons in the toolbar below. The icon panel appears on the right. Click an icon to select it, then click the Insert button at the bottom to add it to your slide.
Step 2: Click the icon on the slide, click Graphics Format, then go to Graphics Fill to color the icon.
Insert icons in PowerPoint from another source
Of course, even though Microsoft provides a library of icons, you may not like them. So I will also show you how to insert icons from free online icon libraries.
- How to insert: As SVG images.
- Icon sources: I will cover 3 popular sources: Font Awesome, Flat Icon, and Material. For other online sources, you can follow the same steps.
- Changing size and color: Once inserted into PowerPoint, SVG icons behave like shapes, so you can easily resize and recolor them, and the PowerPoint file keeps its formatting when you send it to others.
Download icons from Flat Icon
Flat Icon offers unique icon sets from many contributors. A few sets are paid because they are especially distinctive, but the rest are free and still look great.
Tip: Flaticon is the source I like most.
Note: Free icons on Flaticon come with an attribution requirement: you need to credit the author and link back to Flaticon, for example on the last slide or in a footnote. Only paid plans let you skip the credit. Read the license before using these icons in client decks or commercial materials.
Step 1: Go to flaticon.com and search for icons by keyword. Then click the info icon and select Download SVG.
Step 2: A window appears. Click the Free Download button to download the icon.
Download icons from Font Awesome
Font Awesome is actually an icon font and is widely used in web design. Even here on Lucid Gen, you can spot a few Font Awesome icons. From version 5 onwards, I think their icons look a lot better.
Step 1: Go to fontawesome.com/icons and search for icons by keyword.
For example, if I want a heart-shaped icon, I can try keywords like love or heart.
If your keyword returns nothing, just scroll slowly through the list. Another tip is to search Google for “Font Awesome + keyword”, which usually finds it too.
Step 2: After choosing an icon, click the download icon to download the SVG file.
Step 3: When the window appears, click Agree & Download the SVG to download the icon.
Download Icons from Material
The Material set is the icon set used in stock Android. If you use Android or have rooted a phone to install stock Android, you will recognize it. Google Pixel phones also run stock Android.
The set is now called Material Symbols and lives on Google Fonts. Go to fonts.google.com/icons and type a keyword into the search box to filter icons. Click the icon, then click the SVG button in the right-hand panel to download it.
Insert icons in PowerPoint
Step 1: In PowerPoint, go to Insert on the menu, then click Pictures in the toolbar below. Select Picture from File to insert the icons you downloaded.
Step 2: Click the icon you just inserted and resize it like any normal shape. Then go to Shape Format (Graphics Format) to color the icon.
What if the icon turns into a colored square?
This can happen with Material and some other online icon sources. But if you really like that icon, it is worth a little extra effort.
Step 1: Select the icon, click Graphics Format on the menu, then select Convert to Shape in the toolbar.
Step 2: When you color the icon after converting it to a shape, you will see it filled as a square block. Click the edge of the square and drag it away to reveal your icon behind it, then delete the square and you are done.
Conclusion
With these 2 ways to insert icons in PowerPoint, I am sure you can make your slides more attractive. Just keep the colors and sizes of your icons, titles, and text balanced. Do you enjoy PowerPoint tutorials like this one? Leave a comment below and let me know.
