Text to Slides: I Converted a 10-Page Report in 3 Minutes

Text to Slides: I Converted a 10-Page Report in 3 Minutes

Last Thursday, my boss sent me a 10-page quarterly report and said "Can you turn this into slides for the all-hands tomorrow?"

It was 4:47 PM.

Here's how I did it without staying late.

What I Actually Did

Step 1: Copy the Document (30 seconds)

I opened the report, hit Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C. The whole thing.

Step 2: Write a Quick Prompt (30 seconds)

"Create a 10-slide executive summary presentation from this quarterly report. Focus on key metrics, highlights, and action items. Audience: All employees (mixed technical and non-technical)."

Then I pasted the entire report below the prompt.

Step 3: Configure Settings

Slide count: 10 slides

Use Images: Turned on for visual interest

Use Background: Left off for a clean look

Step 4: Generate (60 seconds of waiting)

TextDeck processed the document and created 10 slides:

Title slide with quarter overview

Key metrics summary

Revenue breakdown

Customer growth

Product highlights

Department updates

Challenges and mitigations

Q1 priorities

Key dates

Q&A slide

Step 5: Quick Edit (90 seconds)

I scanned through:

Fixed one metric the AI slightly misread

Added the CEO's quote I knew she'd want

Selected slides 7-8 and asked for "more specific action items"

Step 6: Export and Done

Downloaded the PPTX. Applied our company template in PowerPoint. Done.

Total time: Under 4 minutes. I left at 5:00 PM.

Why This Works Better Than Manual Conversion

When you manually convert a document to slides, you:

Spend 15+ minutes just reading and deciding what to include

Struggle with how to structure the information

Fight with layouts and formatting

End up with ugly, text-heavy slides

The AI does this automatically:

Identifies key points

Creates logical structure

Applies appropriate layouts

Maintains visual hierarchy

The result usually looks more professional than what you'd create manually—because the AI applies design principles consistently.

When Text-to-Slides Works Best

It's great for:

Reports → Summary presentations

Meeting notes → Recap decks

Research → Overview presentations

Long emails → Stakeholder updates

Documentation → Training materials

It's less great for:

Unstructured brain dumps (organize first)

Highly confidential content (generate structure, add sensitive details in PowerPoint)

How to Prepare Your Text

Better input = better output.

What Helps

Headers: If your doc has clear section headers, the AI uses them as slide titles Lists: Bullet points convert cleanly Key numbers: Statistics get pulled out and highlighted Clear conclusion: Summary points often become a great final slide

What Hurts

Walls of text: Break up long paragraphs Missing context: Add specifics, not "the meeting went well" Multiple documents: Convert one at a time

The Prompt Modifiers That Matter

Slide count: "Create a 10-slide summary" gives you control

Audience: "For executives" (high-level) vs "For the implementation team" (detailed)

Focus: "Focus on financial metrics" vs "Focus on customer feedback"

Visuals: Configure "Use Images" and "Use Background" in settings

Editing After Generation

The edit mode is powerful for refinement:

Select specific slides to modify

Add context: "Make slide 3 more visual"

Iterate: "Simplify the text on all slides"

Attach files: Drop in a chart or image to incorporate

The Time Math

Old way (manual):

Read document: 15 min

Create structure: 10 min

Write content: 30 min

Format and design: 20 min

Review: 15 min

Total: 90 minutes

New way (AI):

Paste and prompt: 1 min

Generate: 1 min

Quick edit: 2 min

Export: 30 seconds

Total: Under 5 minutes

And the AI version usually looks better. Consistent design, proper hierarchy, clean layouts—things most people get wrong when rushing.

The Bottom Line

Text-to-slides isn't magic. It's just fast and often better.

You still need good source material. You still review the output. You still make judgment calls about what matters.

But the mechanical work—extracting key points, structuring slides, applying design—that's handled by something that does it better than most humans would.

Try it with your next document. Time yourself. I bet you beat 10 minutes.