Can I convert a PowerPoint to PDF on my phone without the PowerPoint app?

Yes. Open PowerPoint to PDF in the phone's browser and pick the .pptx from Files or Drive. The PDF is made in the tab and lands in Downloads. Google Slides is the other route for a deck in Drive.

Why is there no Export to PDF in PowerPoint on Android?

Most Android builds rely on the system print service. Choose Print and pick Save as PDF, or use the browser converter in Chrome, which keeps the links.

Does converting a deck on a phone keep the hyperlinks?

The browser converter, the iPhone Export command and the Google Slides export do. Any route through the print sheet, on either phone, turns links into plain text.

Why does the phone browser reload while converting a large deck?

It ran out of memory. The whole deck and the whole PDF are held at once, and a phone has less room than a desktop. Use the PowerPoint app for that deck or convert on a laptop.

Can I turn a PDF back into a PowerPoint on my phone?

Yes. PDF to PowerPoint runs in the phone browser, writes one editable slide per page, and reads the .pptx back before offering it. Open the result in the PowerPoint app.

Is the deck sent anywhere when I convert it on a phone?

Not by the browser converter or the print routes, which run on the phone. The PowerPoint app on iPhone can use Microsoft's online service for some exports and says so on screen. Google Slides converts on Google's servers.

PowerPoint to PDF on a mobile phone

Turn a PowerPoint into a PDF

How to convert PowerPoint to PDF on a phone

Open the deck

Open PowerPoint to PDF in Safari or Chrome and pick the .pptx from Files or Drive, or open the deck in the PowerPoint app.
Convert it

In the browser tool, press Convert and wait for the receipt. In the PowerPoint app on iPhone tap the three dots, then Export, then PDF. On Android tap the three dots, then Print, and choose Save as PDF.
Save it somewhere you can find

A browser download lands in Downloads. The iPhone app asks where to save in Files. Android writes to Downloads.
Open the PDF once

Scroll to the last page and count. A hidden slide is left out on purpose; a missing picture is a reason to convert on a laptop instead.

Three routes, and what each keeps

The deck is either in a Files or Drive folder, in the PowerPoint app, or in Google Slides. Which one decides the route. All three keep the slide text selectable in the PDF. The browser converter and the PowerPoint app's Export keep hyperlinks; any route through the phone's print sheet turns them into plain text. The desktop guide, Convert PowerPoint to PDF, covers the options the phone lacks: slide ranges, handouts and notes.

None of the routes below needs a laptop, and one of them needs nothing installed at all.

In the phone browser, with nothing installed

PowerPoint to PDF runs in Safari on an iPhone and in Chrome on Android. Open the page, tap the picker, and choose the .pptx from the Files app or from Drive. The first run downloads the layout engine once and the browser caches it. The slides are laid out in the tab, on the phone, and the finished PDF is reopened and its text counted before the Download button appears. Nothing is sent to a server.

Memory is the limit on a phone. The whole deck and the whole PDF are held at once, so a deck with a hundred photographs can run a phone browser out of room where a desktop would not. If the tab reloads, use the app route below for that deck. A .ppt is refused on a phone as on a desktop; the PowerPoint app can save it as .pptx first.

How to convert PPT to PDF on an iPhone in the PowerPoint app

Open the deck in the PowerPoint app and tap the three dots in the top right. Choose Export, then PDF, then Save to Files, and pick a folder in iCloud Drive or On My iPhone. The PDF appears there and in the Recents tab of the Files app. If the export screen says that Microsoft's online service will convert the file, the deck is sent to Microsoft to do it. Read the notice before confirming.

The on-device alternative is the print sheet. Tap the three dots, then Print. In the print preview, pinch outward on the first page thumbnail and the preview becomes a PDF with a Share button. Tap Share, then Save to Files. This renders on the phone and drops the hyperlinks.

PowerPoint to PDF on an iPhone from the Files app

A .pptx sitting in the Files app opens in Quick Look with a tap. Tap the Share button, choose Print, pinch outward on the preview, and share the PDF that appears to Save to Files. This route uses the iPhone's own renderer, not PowerPoint's, so a deck with unusual fonts can shift and animated objects show in their final state.

For a deck that must look exactly as PowerPoint draws it, the app's Export is the closer match. For a deck that must stay on the phone and keep its links, the browser converter is the only route that offers both.

On an Android phone

The PowerPoint app on Android has no Export to PDF in most builds. Tap the three dots, choose Print, and open the printer list at the top of the preview. Save as PDF is always there, provided by Android itself. Tap the save button, confirm the file name, and the PDF lands in the Downloads folder. Where the Microsoft 365 app shows Share as PDF under the three dots, use it instead, because it keeps the links.

Android's Save as PDF is a print driver, so hyperlinks do not survive. For a deck that people will click through on screen, use the browser converter in Chrome, which writes the links and keeps the deck on the phone.

From Google Slides on either phone

If the deck lives in Drive and opens in Google Slides, tap the three dots, choose Share & export, then Save as, and pick PDF document. Slides makes the PDF on Google's servers and drops it in the same Drive folder as the deck. Fonts are swapped for the nearest Google font, and hyperlinks stay clickable.

The same menu on a Word document is covered in Word to PDF on a phone, and the Docs app and the Slides app share the layout of their menus.

Where the file ends up

On iPhone, a browser download goes to the Downloads folder in the Files app, and anything saved through Save to Files is in the folder you chose, with Recents listing it first. On Android, the browser download and the print route both write to Downloads, which the Files by Google app shows under Downloads. Slides exports sit in Drive next to the deck on both phones.

To attach the PDF to an email, start in the mail app and use its attach button, which opens Files or Drive.

PDF to PPT converter in mobile, the other direction

A PDF that arrives on the phone and has to become an editable deck goes the other way. PDF to PowerPoint runs in the same phone browser, writes one slide per page with every line as a real text box, and reads the .pptx back to count the text before the download. The .pptx opens in the PowerPoint app from Files or Downloads. A scanned PDF comes out as pictures on slides, because a scan holds no characters.

The rest of the deck and document guides are under PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint help.

Questions people ask

Can I convert a PowerPoint to PDF on my phone without the PowerPoint app?: Yes. Open PowerPoint to PDF in the phone's browser and pick the .pptx from Files or Drive. The PDF is made in the tab and lands in Downloads. Google Slides is the other route for a deck in Drive.
Why is there no Export to PDF in PowerPoint on Android?: Most Android builds rely on the system print service. Choose Print and pick Save as PDF, or use the browser converter in Chrome, which keeps the links.
Does converting a deck on a phone keep the hyperlinks?: The browser converter, the iPhone Export command and the Google Slides export do. Any route through the print sheet, on either phone, turns links into plain text.
Why does the phone browser reload while converting a large deck?: It ran out of memory. The whole deck and the whole PDF are held at once, and a phone has less room than a desktop. Use the PowerPoint app for that deck or convert on a laptop.
Can I turn a PDF back into a PowerPoint on my phone?: Yes. PDF to PowerPoint runs in the phone browser, writes one editable slide per page, and reads the .pptx back before offering it. Open the result in the PowerPoint app.
Is the deck sent anywhere when I convert it on a phone?: Not by the browser converter or the print routes, which run on the phone. The PowerPoint app on iPhone can use Microsoft's online service for some exports and says so on screen. Google Slides converts on Google's servers.

Do it now

The tool runs in this browser. Your file never leaves the machine, and the result is checked before you download it.