Rounded is Here to Stay in PowerPoint
Back in July 2021, we wrote about PowerPoint’s visual refresh and Microsoft’s generous use of rounded corners throughout the user interface. At the time, Microsoft was referring to the style as “Soft Corners,” and we pointed out how it showed up across the Ribbon, the QAT, and, especially, the slide thumbnails in the left filmstrip.
Now we have an update, five years later.
THE UPDATE
The rounded corners are still there, and for presentation design work, they are still not great.
The main issue still is the slide thumbnails. A PowerPoint slide is a rectangle, and designers build around that rectangle. And while the actual slide canvas still displays correctly, the thumbnail preview rounds off the corners, which slightly changes how the slide appears at a glance.
Sometimes that is barely noticeable… but other times, especially with slides that use strong borders, corner details, or a very clean linear style, the thumbnail can make the slide look different from what it actually is!
That sounds like a tiny UI detail, but in a visual design tool, small UI details like this matter so much.
Rounded corners can make an interface feel modern and consistent with current app and web design trends, but in PowerPoint, the slide thumbnail is not just decorative; it’s a working reference. Designers use thumbnails to scan layouts and spot design issues quickly. When the thumbnail changes the perceived shape of the slide, it becomes less reliable as a reference tool.
So, five years later, our view has not really changed: the rounded UI is still part of PowerPoint, and the rounded slide thumbnails are still not ideal.
-Troy @ TLC Creative
New Podcast Episode Available! “What Makes the 2026 Presentation Summit a Must-Attend Event for Presentation Professionals?”
Episode 253 welcomes Presentation Summit founder Rick Altman to chat with hosts Troy Chollar, Sandy Johnson, and Nolan Haims about the upcoming 2026 Presentation Summit. Celebrating its 24th year, the Summit remains the gold standard for presentation training and networking.
It is a fully virtual event, globally accessible (for both attendees and presenters!), a packed schedule with the industry’s best presentation instructors, and amazing non-industry guest keynotes. Want to know what makes this year’s event special? Tune in and get a behind-the-scenes preview before the conference begins. Listen on your favorite podcast app, or at The Presentation Podcast site here.
Adobe Stock Images are Free!
TLC Creative Services has maintained an Adobe Stock (https://stock.adobe.com) subscription for our design team for several years. Yes, it is a budget expense, but the freedom when designing of not having any issue with getting high-quality, royalty free images for design projects has been worth the expense.
Well this is something new that I observed just this week – and I am not certain how I feel about it…
Adobe Stock has had a limited number of “standard” images available for free, to anyone that has a free Adobe Creative Cloud account. But this week as I am searching for images the “Download for free” label has been on upwards of 50% of the images! Good for everyone, but kind of makes me wonder what TLC Creative is paying for as we rarely used the monthly credits (which do not roll over to the next month’s allotment).
I am going to look into what changes Adobe has made to their image offerings – my assumption is their push to expand the Adobe Express app use included a significant increase in free assets. So if you need art assets for a presentation, or any design project, Adobe Stock appears to have more (lots more!) available for free!
-Troy @ TLC
Stop Adobe Express From Automatically Opening Downloaded Images
If you are suddenly experiencing (and most likely being frustrated) downloaded images automatically opening in Adobe Express – you are not alone!
My first frustration was – why is Adobe Express installed on my computer, I did not install it! Yes I have Adobe Creative Cloud and have several Adobe apps installed. But Adobe Express is not an app I clicked to have installed. My assumption is that a recent Adobe update silently included this as a companion app – argh!
So here is what I am talking about. I have found this image on our Adobe Stock account and downloaded it. Note: Adobe Stock is not the reason, or connector – any downloaded image, from any web resource, is going to trigger this new “helpfulness”.
To confirm, the image is my downloads folder:
But after downloading, the Adobe Express app launches and displays the downloaded image. Apparently Adobe feels they know a better workflow and feel they should change my workflow to working on this image in their app – argh!!
The only good news is, this is easy to turn off! In Adobe Express, click the account icon in the upper right and then Settings.
There are surprising few settings options. Turn off the “Images Downloaded from the Web” option.
Done. Adobe Express will no longer launch and open each image you downloaded (BTW, I was downloading 20+ icons for a presentation project from The Noun Project – and the constant interruption of Adobe Express opening each image is what set me off on figuring out how to turn of the unwanted behavior!).
Perhaps I will do a future post on Adobe Express’s capabilities as it does offer some good image editing features – and a paid Adobe Creative Cloud account is not needed to install and use it, although there are many limitations in the free version.
-Troy @ TLC
PowerPoint’s New Open Dialog
PowerPoint’s open file recently had a makeover. Previously there was a small information text line and status bar in the lower right. Now that information is in the center of the edit area and much larger.
If you have not noticed it, it is most likely your computer is fast, and the PowerPoint files are small. I have noticed that many files do not have time to display the open information or status bar because the file is instantly open.
It is a small item, but I like that it shows us the PowerPoint team is focused on improving PowerPoint!
-Troy @ TLC
New Podcast Episode Available! “Midyear Check – Where Do You Use “AI” for Presentations?”
New episode of The Presentation Podcast now available!
As we reach the midpoint of 2026, the world of presentations is undergoing profound transformation, thanks to the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence. This episode we are joined by presentation experts who share their real-world experiences, frustrations, and triumphs with AI-powered tools for their PowerPoint-related workflows.
Across all conversations, a clear theme emerged: AI is a powerful assistant, but not a replacement for human expertise. Listen on your favorite podcast app, or at The Presentation Podcast site here.
PowerPoint “Paste Special” Tip – Fix Angled/Rotated Images
Imagine you’ve rotated a photo 30 degrees, using PowerPoint’s ability to rotate any shape, image or text box. It now fits the slide design better – YAY! But the image needs to now be cropped, and the cropping a rotated image is not going to allow the image to be cropped…
When you select Crop, you’ll notice that:
- The crop handles follow the image’s original orientation.
- Cropping can feel awkward and imprecise.
- It’s difficult to crop exactly what you see on the slide.
This happens because PowerPoint stores the rotation as an attribute of the image instead of creating a new, rotated image. So, let’s use Paste Special to add a new version of image, that is on the 90-degree axis (eg. straight) and crop the image!
- Select the rotated image
- Copy (CTRL + C)
- Delete the original (or hide it via selection tool)
- Use Paste Special > Picture (PNG) (or the Paste Special > PNG Quick Access Toolbar button)
- The result is the same image (now in a .PNG format) is on the slide and ready to crop!
Now when you select Crop:
- The crop handles align with the image as you see it.
- Cropping feels natural.
- Easier to make precise adjustments.
The picture hasn’t changed visually, the only thing changed is the way PowerPoint treats it.
TIP: Make this a 1-click formatting option. If you haven’t already added Paste Special – PNG to your QAT (Quick Access Toolbar), check out the on how to add this super helpful shortcut to your PowerPoint setup. This of course is if you are working in PowerPoint Windows desktop app. See the July 16, 2026 post, PowerPoint “Paste Special” Tip – Make it a QAT Button.
-Troy and the TLC Creative presentation design team