6 Simple Steps to Insert Gifs Into PowerPoint

An easy-to-follow guide for adding animated GIFS in your PowerPoint presentations

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: June 3, 2023

This wikiHow teaches you how to insert an animated GIF into a PowerPoint slide. While you can’t play back GIFs on the PowerPoint mobile app or mobile web browser, you can use the desktop program available for PCs and Macs to both insert and play GIFs.

Things You Should Know

Go to "Insert > Pictures/Online Pictures" and choose your GIF.
The inserted image will look like one frame, or a static image, but it will be animated when the PowerPoint is presented.
You can't use the mobile app to both add and play back GIFs, but you can do both of those with PowerPoint on your computer.

Steps

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1
Open PowerPoint. You’ll find this in either your Start Menu or Applications folder.
- The GIF you insert into your PowerPoint cannot be played on the mobile app or mobile web browser on Android or iOS. You'll only see the animation when viewing the presentation on a computer.
You can open a previously saved project by going to File > Open or create a blank project by going to File > New.

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You can select the slide you want to insert the GIF to from the slide panel on the left side of your screen.
You’ll find this in the ribbon above your slide or in the ribbon along the top of your screen.^{[1]
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5
Click Pictures or Online Pictures. You have the option to include a GIF from your computer’s local storage or using a picture online.
- If you chose to upload pictures from your computer’s local storage, your file browser will pop up and you’ll need to navigate to and double-click on your GIF to select it. You can filter the file formats that display by clicking File Type (or something similar) and GIF instead of "All File Formats." That way, only file formats ending in GIF will appear.
- Although your GIF displays static on your slide as you edit, the GIF will display properly when you view the slideshow.
You’ll find the option to view your slideshow from the View tab.