How to add a presentation to a lesson depends on which course builder you are using. In the New Course Builder, presentations are embedded as content blocks from external tools such as Google Slides or Prezi. In the Classic Course Builder, Presentation is its own lesson type that accepts PDF uploads and displays each page as a navigable slide.
How to Add a Presentation in the New Course Builder
In the New Course Builder, presentations are added by embedding externally hosted content — such as a Google Slides or Prezi presentation — as a content block within a lesson.
- From the content menu, select More.
- Select Presentation.
- Copy the link to your presentation.
- Paste the link into the Paste link field.
- Click Embed.
For full instructions on embedding external content, see: Using Embedded Content in the New Course Builder.
How to Add a Presentation Lesson in the Classic Course Builder
In the Classic Course Builder, Presentation is its own lesson type. You upload a PDF file — each page is converted to a slide that learners can navigate through in the Course Player. You can also record or upload audio for each slide directly in Thinkific.
If you have created a presentation in an external platform like PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides, export it as a PDF before uploading.
- From your Admin Dashboard, select Products.
- Select Courses.
- Select the course you want to edit by clicking on the course card image.
- In the course's Curriculum, select Add Lesson.
- Select Presentation.
- Enter a lesson name under Lesson Title.
- Under Presentation pages, drag and drop your PDF file or click Select PDF file.
- Wait for the PDF to finish processing.
- Click Save.
Processing typically takes no more than three minutes, but may vary depending on file size. Once uploaded, you can record or upload audio for each slide.
Managing Audio
You can record audio directly in Thinkific or upload pre-recorded audio to each slide, giving learners additional context for your presentation. See: Managing Audio in Your Presentation Lesson.
Replace a Presentation or Slide
If you need to update your presentation, you have two options depending on how many slides need to change.
Delete the Existing Presentation
If you have several slides to update, or need to add or reorder pages, deleting and re-uploading the full PDF is recommended.
Note: Deleting a presentation permanently deletes all slides and audio. If you do not have a copy of your audio, download it from each slide before deleting.
- Navigate to your Presentation lesson in the Course Builder.
- Scroll down to the Presentation pages area.
- Click the ellipsis (three dot icon) to the right of the Presentation pages heading.
- Select Delete Presentation.
- Check off all confirmation boxes.
- Click Delete PDF & Audio.
Replace an Individual Slide
If you only need to replace one or two slides, you can replace individual slide images without affecting the rest of the presentation or any existing audio for that slide.
Since pages from your original PDF were converted to images on upload, you will need to use an image file (we recommend .png or .jpg) to replace a slide.
See: How to Replace a Presentation Slide.
Completion Required Setting
You can require learners to navigate through all slides before they can complete the lesson. This disables the Complete & continue button until all slides have been viewed. See: Presentation Completion Required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a page limit?
There is no page limit. For the best learner experience, keep presentation sizes to approximately 20 PDF pages — larger files will increase processing time. If you have a longer presentation, consider splitting it into multiple PDFs and creating each section as its own lesson.
Are presentation slides responsive?
Yes. Slides always fill the lesson content height, so learners will see the largest visual possible based on their browser window size.
Important Considerations
- For the best learner experience, keep presentation sizes to approximately 20 PDF pages. Larger files will increase processing time.
- PDF pages should have 16:9 dimensions for the best display in the Course Player.
- PDF file size is limited to 200MB.
- The Presentation builder is only supported in Firefox and Chrome. This limitation applies to lesson creation only — presentations can be viewed on all Thinkific-supported browsers.
Related Articles
- Learn more: Using Embedded Content in the New Course Builder