How do I get more icons in PowerPoint?

PowerPoint How To  

This hints and tips article provides an overview of what icons are, why icons in PowerPoint are popular and where you can find additional icons for PowerPoint presentations.

Icons are becoming increasingly popular on websites, in marketing materials and, of course, in PowerPoint because of their generally sleek modern design, simple color scheme (usually just one color) and the ability to resize without losing clarity or distorting the image.

PowerPoint Icons are not standard images (such as a jpeg. or png. files), they are vector files. This means you can resize icons in ppt presentations and they will not get pixelated.

Here’s some examples of icons that appear on the PPT Productivity website;

Screenshot of example icons from PPT Productivity homepage

If you're using Microsoft 365, Microsoft now provides access to hundreds of pre-loaded PowerPoint icons, included in with your PowerPoint subscription. But they're a bit tricky to find, so we've created a step by step guide:

To access PowerPoint icons, navigate to the ‘Insert’ tab, click ‘Pictures’ then select ‘Stock images’ from the dropdown menu.

Insert Icons into PowerPoint from Stock Images

Click the ‘Icons’ tab in the image library to reveal a selection of hundreds of useful icons.

screenshot of Microsoft PowerPoint insert icons popup window
Microsoft PowerPoint Icons Free

You can search the icon library by category or search word (eg search for Transportation Icons or search for truck icons).

Once you have found the icon you are looking for, select the image, then click ‘Insert’ at the bottom of the image library

screenshot of Microsoft PowerPoint insert icons popup window insert button highlighted
Insert Free PowerPoint Icons

Your selected icon(s) will be pasted directly onto your slide. Once you have pasted the icons on PowerPoint slides, you can update the color and resize to suit your requirements.

Screenshot of example PowerPoint icons recolored and resized
Update Free PowerPoint Icons

What if I can’t find the icon I need in the PowerPoint Icon library?

If you can’t find the icon you are looking for in the Microsoft Icon Library, there are additional icons available in the PPT Productivity Slide Library. PPT Productivity add-in for PowerPoint has more than 800 icons in 28 categories available in the PPT Productivity Slide Library. The PPT Productivity icon libraries have more of a focus on business icons for powerpoint.

When using an icon from the PPT Productivity Slide Library they will insert onto your slide with your template’s theme colors already applied. You can also recolor and resize the icons. View the full list of available icon categories.

Screenshot of PowerPoint Icons using PPT Productivity Slide Library Toolbar
PPT Productivity Slide Library for PowerPoint - Icons in Slide Library Toolbar

Another great resource is the Noun Project add-in for PowerPoint. It has some free icons along with the option to pay a subscription fee to access a larger library of additional royalty free icons.

Can I save icons in PowerPoint?

If you're a graphic designer or you're working with a design team, you might have custom icons for your organization that you want to save in PowerPoint to easily reuse. PPT Productivity's Slide Library for PowerPoint lets you save icons, shapes, images and text for easy reuse from the Slide Library Toolbar.

Your organization may also have an icon library (for example in a Brand portal).  You can easily save icons from Brand portals in the Slide Library so they are easily accessible when creating PowerPoint presentations.  Teams using PPT Productivity’s Team Slide Library feature can also add icons to your Team Slide Library, so that all team members can access the icons in PowerPoint. Using a PowerPoint library of icons specifically created for your organization will ensure your presentations are brand aligned and consistent with your colleagues. PowerPoint Team Slide Libraries created with PPT Productivity can be updated on a regular basis and automatically synced with all users throughout the organization. Learn more about PPT Productivity's PowerPoint Team Slide Library feature.


Chief Productivity Officer Lee-Ann has been working with PowerPoint for more than 18 years. Lee-Ann was initially an office manager and assistant, then a Production Specialist at Boston Consulting Group. Lee-Ann is now Chief Productivity Officer at PPT Productivity. Lee-Ann nominates PPT Productivity's Remember/Set Size & Position feature as one of her favourite.

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