Although Turnitin accepts PowerPoint files, a PowerPoint file may not be processed or may not generate a Similarity Report, depending on how it was created.
Visual effects and some themes may prevent Turnitin from fully processing a PowerPoint file and, consequently, from generating a Similarity Report. Check out our file requirements to find out more.
If the file appears to meet our file requirements, please find some other possible causes below:
Not enough text to extract
The PowerPoint file may contain either none or not enough extractable text for Turnitin to generate a Similarity Report. Please ensure that the PowerPoint contains actual text (more than 20 words) and not images of text.
Shadow and 3D effects
Turnitin does support PowerPoint files, however, text with visual effects - such as shadows and 3D - is not supported because these prevent the software from reading/extracting the file's text. Therefore, we recommend that any visual effects be removed before submitting to Turnitin.
Manually removing the visual effects from each slide or changing the design altogether to a plain theme (e.g., Office theme) should resolve this issue, allowing the file to be fully processed and to generate a Similarity Report.
Slate theme
We are currently aware of an issue when processing PowerPoint files that have been created using the Slate theme. When a PowerPoint file is submitted to Turnitin, the Turnitin system converts it into a PDF to extract text and generate an image to display the file in Feedback Studio. When the 'Slate' theme is applied, the text in the document can no longer be selected after the file is converted into a PDF, preventing Turnitin from extracting it.
Please be aware that this is not a Turnitin issue. The issue can be reproduced by manually converting the file into a PDF and trying to select the text in the document. Therefore, for files to be submitted to Turnitin, we recommend using a plain theme. A PowerPoint file saved using the Slate theme will need to be re-saved using a different theme before it can be submitted again.
If a submission meets our file requirements as mentioned above but has not generated a Similarity Report, please raise a support ticket including the submission ID, and our Technical Support team will look into this for you.
Note: Before raising a support ticket, please check with your instructor that the assignment has been set up to generate a Similarity Report. Assignments may be set to not generate Similarity Reports at all or may be set to generate Similarity Reports on a specific date (due date).