Best PowerPoint Courses Online in 2026 (Ranked & Reviewed)

Last updated: June 2026. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. See our review methodology.

QUICK VERDICT

See Our Top Pick on Coursera →

Almost everyone uses PowerPoint; very few use it well. The gap between a wall-of-bullets slide and one that actually lands a point is a learnable set of skills — layout, hierarchy, animation, and the templates and shortcuts that save hours. A focused course closes that gap fast, and several of the best are free.

We’ve ranked the five PowerPoint courses worth your time, by intent — learning the tool, going comprehensive, designing better slides, presenting persuasively, and the most popular all-rounder. We confirmed each was live and checked its rating at the time of writing. We earn a commission if you enroll through our links, which never changes the order.

HOW WE PICKED

We weighed the instructor’s authority, whether the course is hands-on with real slide-building (not just menu tours), learner ratings at scale, and whether each pick serves a distinct need — tool mastery, comprehensive depth, design, presentation delivery, or a popular all-rounder. We dropped a couple of once-listed courses that have since been retired.

1. Best overall (official, free) — Work Smarter with Microsoft PowerPoint (Coursera)

Taught by Microsoft itself, this is the most authoritative way to learn the tool — 4.7★ across 1,219 reviews, around 21 hours. It walks the complete workflow: building and managing slides, formatting, inserting graphics and multimedia, tables and charts, animations and transitions, and preparing to present. It’s part of Microsoft’s 365 specializations, so it doubles as a credible, shareable credential.

Best for: anyone who wants official, thorough tool training they can take free.  Worth knowing: you can audit it free; the certificate needs a Coursera subscription. It’s the most current of our picks (built around Microsoft 365).

Enroll on Coursera (free audit) →

2. Best comprehensive (paid) — PowerPoint From Beginner to Advanced (Udemy / Kyle Pew)

If you’d rather pay once and own it, Kyle Pew’s course is the most thorough on Udemy — 4.6★ across more than 24,000 ratings. Pew is a veteran Microsoft Office instructor, and the course takes a complete beginner through to advanced features most users never touch, with step-by-step guidance throughout. It’s the deepest single tool-training course here.

Best for: people who want one cheap, lifetime-access course that covers everything.  Worth knowing: Udemy list prices are inflated — wait for the usual $15–$20 sale. Mac users will see a slightly different interface.

View on Udemy →

3. Best for design & animation — PowerPoint Masterclass: Design & Animation (Udemy / Andrew Pach)

Knowing the menus is one thing; making slides that look genuinely designed is another. Andrew Pach is one of the best-known PowerPoint design instructors, and this course — 4.5★ across more than 24,000 ratings — focuses on professional slide design, motion graphics, and animation built entirely inside PowerPoint. It’s the pick if your slides work but look amateur.

Best for: people who can use PowerPoint but want their slides to look polished and modern.  Worth knowing: it assumes you know the basics — pair it with a fundamentals course if you’re brand new.

View on Udemy →

4. Best for business presentations — Effective Business Presentations with PowerPoint (Coursera / PwC)

This PwC course — 4.5★ across 1,093 reviews, around 13 hours — is less about the software and more about the presentation: an eight-step framework for planning, audience analysis, storytelling, data visualization, and delivery, ending with a recorded presentation and peer feedback. If your problem is that your decks don’t persuade, this is the one to take, and it’s free to audit.

Best for: professionals who know PowerPoint but want to present more persuasively.  Worth knowing: it’s a communication course built on PowerPoint, not a button-by-button tutorial. Audit free; certificate needs a subscription.

Enroll on Coursera (free audit) →

5. Most popular all-rounder — Beginner to Pro in PowerPoint (Udemy / 365 Careers)

365 Careers’ course is the most popular PowerPoint course on Udemy by enrollment, with millions of students and a 4.5★ rating across more than 14,000. It’s pitched at a business audience — basic tools, slide design, then a full case study building a company presentation the way Fortune-100 employees do. A polished, business-flavoured alternative to the Kyle Pew pick above.

Best for: business users who want a popular, practical, presentation-focused course.  Worth knowing: it overlaps with the Kyle Pew course — choose this for the business framing, that one for the deepest tool coverage.

View on Udemy →

PowerPoint courses compared

WHAT ABOUT A POWERPOINT CERTIFICATION?

If you want a credential, the recognised one is Microsoft’s MOS: PowerPoint Associate (exam MO-300) — part of the Microsoft Office Specialist program, validated by a proctored exam. The course-completion certificates above are useful for learning, but the MOS is the credential employers actually know. Any of the comprehensive tool-training picks above is solid preparation for it; you then sit the exam separately through Microsoft.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best PowerPoint course?

For learning the tool, Microsoft’s own Work Smarter with Microsoft PowerPoint on Coursera (4.7★, 1,219 reviews) is the best — official, thorough, and free to audit. For a cheap, lifetime-access option, Kyle Pew’s PowerPoint From Beginner to Advanced on Udemy (4.6★, 24,000+ ratings) is the most comprehensive.

Can you learn PowerPoint for free?

Yes — two of our top picks are free to audit on Coursera (Microsoft’s Work Smarter and PwC’s Effective Business Presentations). You only pay if you want the shareable certificate. It’s one of the better skills to learn free, since you can practise immediately in PowerPoint itself.

Is there a PowerPoint certification?

Yes — the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS): PowerPoint Associate certification, earned by passing exam MO-300. It’s the credential employers recognise. The comprehensive courses above are good preparation; you book the exam separately through Microsoft.

How long does it take to learn PowerPoint?

You can get productive in an afternoon and competent in a week. The comprehensive courses above run roughly 10–21 hours; work through one and build a couple of real presentations and you’ll be ahead of most office users within a few weeks.

Should I learn the tool or presentation design first?

Learn the tool first so you’re not fighting the software, then design. A good path is Microsoft’s Work Smarter (or Kyle Pew’s course) for the fundamentals, followed by Andrew Pach’s design course to make your slides look professional.

Start With Our Top Pick →