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How to convert PowerPoint to PDF on a Mac
By Himanshu Ranjan · Updated 8 November 2026
Select the presentations in Finder, open FileDial and choose To PDF › Convert to PDF. It uses Keynote or PowerPoint when either is installed; otherwise the built-in renderer is used, which leaves out charts and SmartArt. It runs offline on your Mac, many decks at once.
What the tool does
A PDF keeps slides looking the same on every device and is the safe way to circulate a deck. FileDial's To PDF › Convert to PDF is listed for slides, and its note is specific: it uses Keynote or PowerPoint when installed, otherwise the built-in renderer, with no charts or SmartArt.
The installed app decides the quality. With PowerPoint or Keynote present, the deck is drawn by an app that understands it. Without either, expect a simpler result and check any slide that relied on a chart or diagram.
Steps
One deck or a folder of them.
- Select one or more presentation files in Finder.
- Open the dial with the right Option key and choose To PDF, then Convert to PDF.
- Open a result and check the slides with charts, SmartArt or unusual fonts.
- If you also want images of the slides, see the slides to images guide.
Choosing between the options
Keynote's own export gives you control FileDial does not: Apple documents a PDF export where each slide is its own page, with options to include presenter notes, skipped slides, each build stage and comments, and a choice of image quality. If you need handouts with notes, use the app's export.
If you need a plain PDF of many decks fast, the batch tool is the better fit. PowerPoint's Save As or Export with the PDF format covers the single-deck case in Microsoft's app.
Reducing the size first
Decks full of photos make large PDFs. Compress › Compress images is listed for slides and shrinks pictures to 1920 px and re-encodes JPEGs, leaving slides untouched. Run it on the deck before converting, or compress the PDF afterwards with the PDF tools in our compress PDF guide.
Privacy
A deck can hold unreleased financials, product plans or client names. Online converters upload it. FileDial runs entirely on your Mac and works with Wi-Fi off, and you can also run Privacy › Remove metadata on slides to clear author, company and comment authors.
Handouts, notes and size
A PDF of slides is for reading, not presenting, so think about the reader. Notes pages and handouts are not something FileDial's tool promises, so if you need them, use Keynote's export, which Apple documents with options for presenter notes, skipped slides, each build stage and comments. Otherwise a plain PDF with one slide per page is what you get from the batch tool.
Size depends on the pictures. Run Compress › Compress images on the deck before converting if the PDF is going to email. For an already finished PDF, our compress PDF guide covers Compress › Compress PDF (strong).
Common mistakes and when FileDial fits
With neither Keynote nor PowerPoint installed, the built-in renderer is used and charts and SmartArt are left out. For a text-and-photo deck that is fine. For a deck whose point is a chart, install one of the apps, or export from the app you used to author it. If you only need images of the slides, see the slides to images guide.
It is the right tool for many decks, quick distribution copies and archives, and it stays local. If a deck is final and visually complex, export from the authoring app, where you can check each slide as it is drawn.
Be especially careful with decks that rely on animations: a PDF shows one state per slide, so build steps are flattened unless the app's export keeps each stage, as Keynote's PDF options can. If animations matter, a PDF is the wrong deliverable.
Sending a PDF made with the fallback renderer without looking at the chart slides is the biggest. Another is forgetting about fonts: if a deck uses a font that is not on your Mac, the PDF shows a substitute, so install the font first or embed it when you export from the authoring app. A third is leaving hidden slides or speaker notes in a deck that was meant to be tidy; check before you convert. And a fourth is sending huge PDFs by email without compressing the images first.
For client decks, run Privacy › Remove metadata on a copy of the deck before converting, so author and company names are cleared from the source file.
If the PDF needs to be searchable and the deck had only pictures of text, run OCR afterwards; our OCR PDF guide covers the tool. If the PDF needs a signature page or stamp, the PDF tools can add a watermark or page numbers once the conversion is done, so the deck itself stays untouched.
Questions
Do I need PowerPoint or Keynote installed to convert slides?
No, but the result is better with one installed. When Keynote or PowerPoint is present it is used to render the deck. Otherwise FileDial uses its built-in renderer, which leaves out charts and SmartArt, so check slides that depended on them.
Are speaker notes included in the PDF?
The tool's note does not mention notes, so do not assume they are. If you need notes in the PDF, Keynote's own PDF export has an option to include presenter notes, and you can also choose to include comments and each build stage there.
Can I convert several decks at once and then shrink the files?
Yes. Select all the decks and run To PDF › Convert to PDF once; each deck gets its own PDF. To shrink them, run Compress › Compress images on the decks first, or compress the resulting PDFs with the PDF compression tools afterwards.