Why is Designer not Working on PowerPoint: Troubleshooting

Designer is a new addition to the PowerPoint software that offers design ideas for the existing slides. Many users have complained about Designer not working for their slides. There are only a few solutions to troubleshoot Designer.

Designer might be a new tool to many readers, so don’t worry because we will answer queries like “why is Designer not working on PowerPoint,” and how to troubleshoot Designer, and how to use Designer.

What is a Designer Tool in PowerPoint?

PowerPoint has introduced Designer as an AI tool to generate ideas for the existing slides. The ideas use the available content and elements of the slides to suggest different possible layouts and formats for the slides.

You shouldn’t expect much from the AI capabilities of this tool because it only analyzes the images, content, and title of the slide and then rearranges them in different layouts; that’s all.

For beginners and non-creative users, Designer can help them generate attractive slides without much editing or formatting. You ask the Designer for suggestions and then pick the one that you like the most.

Common Designer Issues and Their Solutions

Before digging into the details of the Designer troubleshooting, you need to understand a few points about using Designer for PowerPoint presentations:

1. Designer is available only for the paid Office 365 subscribers
2. You may not have access to this feature if you have a free version or use an old PowerPoint version
3. It works only for a certain type of slides, and does not generate ideas for all slides 

 Once you have confirmed that all of these points do not concern your situation and it has been working fine before, here are some problems and their solutions that might help you troubleshoot Designer.

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Issue 1: Designer Feature not Available

If you don’t see the Designer feature icon on the right side of the Home tab, there are a few possible reasons behind this problem:

• You are using an outdated version of PowerPoint. Try upgrading to the latest version
• Office 365 subscription is not active. Check if your account is all set up.
• You have not checked the Designer tool to be displayed in the ribbon, customized the ribbon, and checked that the Designer feature is enabled for ribbon display.

Issue 2: Sorry, no design ideas for this slide

Here is the real issue faced by most users. When you try Designer for a specific slide, the tool shows no suggestion, and a message is displayed like this.

This warning or issue can be triggered due to many reasons. To resolve this issue, here are possible steps that you might want to try.

Solution 1: No Internet Access

Designer features are not available for offline users. Your device must be connected to a stable internet connection for Designer to work properly. PowerPoint fetches the design ideas from online servers, so make sure that your internet is active and your computer has internet access.

Solution 2: Add Content to Slides

Your slide must have enough content and elements for the Designer to work properly. Imagine a slide has an image only, without any heading, paragraph, title, or other elements.

There is no way for the Designer to suggest design possibilities without enough content. Make sure your slide has either the Title or Title + Content slide layout applied.

Solution 3: Remove Mixed Shapes from the Slide

Designers may not work if a slide has different elements like lines, graphs, timelines, or videos. This feature has limited capabilities, so try this tool for slides with editable placeholders only. It works fine with simple slides with a few images and text boxes.

Solution 4: Try PowerPoint Templates

Users may download templates and themes from 3^rd party designers, and for these templates, the Designer feature may not work. It works best for the templates that are found inside the PowerPoint template library.

Solution 5: Check PowerPoint File Type

Not all PowerPoint presentations have the same file type or extension. If your PowerPoint version is compatible with Designer, then check if the file type is also correct. Designer feature may not work with the following file types:

• PowerPoint Macro-Enabled Presentation (.pptm)
• PowerPoint 2003 to 2007 Presentation (.ppt)

 Solution 6: Check if someone else is editing the Slide

Some teams ask different members to contribute to the presentations. When someone else is editing the file, other users may not be able to generate ideas with Designer. Make sure no one else is editing the presentation file at the same time.

What is the Alternative to Designer?

You have tried all these possible solutions, but Designer is still not working for you. What are you supposed to do? Why is Designer not working on PowerPoint even after troubleshooting?

There is a true AI-powered add-in for PowerPoint that is way better, faster, intelligent, and capable than Designer, Twistly.

What is Twistly?

Unlike Designer, Twistly is not just a design ideas tool but a fully functional AI-powered personal assistant to make complete presentations for you. You can install this add-in from the library or Microsoft AppSource, and it will give you a dedicated space just like Designer.

Generate Professional Presentations Instantly

Using Twistly is easy, and it requires no prior experience. Even a beginner can make a perfect presentation within moments, as you just need to follow these simple steps:

1. Input the topic, AI prompt, and select the number of slides
2. Review the AI-generated outline, and select the template
3. Wait for a few moments while slides are being generated
4. Review and edit or optimize the slides

Conclusion

These possible steps can solve “why is Designer not working on PowerPoint” for most users. As a replacement, try Twistly and experience the most powerful AI add-in for PowerPoint that can generate professional presentations, not just design ideas.

Twistly has a free trial version for new users, so give it a try now, and once you are satisfied with the promised features, upgrade to the premium version for a reasonable price. Explore unlimited possibilities and turn them into professional slides with Twistly.

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