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PowerPoint: Design Ideas no Longer Support icons?

Anonymous
2021-03-21T16:25:34+00:00

One of the best and most helpful features of PowerPoint's Design Ideas feature was the ability to contextually place and arrange icons next to your bullet points, giving instant clarity and readability to a mundane list. Any icons that weren't perfect could be swapped out for a more appropriate one in seconds.

Why does this not work anymore? My design ideas suggestions never have Icons any more. Hand placing them all takes a really long time, and doesn't include the circles with negative space. It's not just me, many of my colleagues use it too.

Has this feature been removed? If so, Why? Is it possible to access it some way? I'd even downgrade my version if need be, none of the new features are even close to as useful. But as far as I know that's not possible.

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-07-05T22:27:41+00:00

    So it is my understanding that this feature is no longer available. I tried to access it via smartart and that icon list option does not appear. Please bring it back! If someone finds a workaround I would appreciate it.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-03-23T14:25:26+00:00

    Hi George,

    Thanks for the prompt reply. This functionality was present for me as recently as February. Below is a screenshot from an earlier presentation of mine, where I used the functionality during that month.
    Image

    This slide layout was generated completely from Design ideas, the suggestion on the right is often how it would be presented. I started by creating a brand new slide and simply typed out my title and four bullet points. Design ideas proceeded to contextually add Icons that it felt was appropriate, which I assume is driven by the key words.

    Despite it being very convenient, I am finding myself unable to recreate it using the smart art system it has clearly utilized to produce the graphic, including adding shapes to back the icons and punching a hole of negative space into the shape.

    If it has been consciously removed from PowerPoint during a recent update is it possible for me to downgrade my version and return to using this functionality? I can make a suggestion using a method you have suggested, but it will be easier for me to downgrade than wait potentially months/years or it to maybe/maybe not be added back in.

    Thank you for your time,

    All the best,

    Alice

    [UPDATE];
    It has also come to my attention that if you look at the bottom of the Smart Art panel on the left, you can see the name of the Smart Art template is called "Icon Leaf Label List" which as far as I know doesn't seem to be an option when adding smart art. Icon specific Smart art would be incredibly useful, but it seems to be hidden as a feature.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-06-14T08:16:39+00:00

    Looks very hit and miss, not as good as it was in the past. I managed to get it to work but using one word entries in the bullets.... not sure what happened but its definitely not as good as it was

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-03-21T18:58:37+00:00

    Hi Alice,

    Thanks for posting in the community.

    According to your description, my understanding is the Design Ideas won’t give suggestions for inserting icons next to bullet points.  

    If my understanding is right, I have tested on my side (version 2104, 2102) and I also cannot find the related ideas in the Design Ideas. Sorry for the inconvenience that happens to you.

    Based on the situation, I would like to suggest you:

    1. Post the suggestion in our UserVoice community where other members vote for their suggestions in the community. It’s the platform for us to hear your voice and improve our products.
    2. Open PowerPoint, click File> Feedback and send feedback directly to our team.

    For your concern, I need to test on my side and check whether the related feature is available in one old version. If I have any updates about the old versions, I will post back and let you know.

    Also, if my understanding conflicts with your meaning, please post back and let me know. Appreciate your understanding and patience.

    Regards,

    George

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