Add Glowing Neon Text to Presentations

Want neon text to make every slide deck into a stunning work of art? It’s a powerful dramatic effect, and it’s easy to add in both PowerPoint and Google Slides.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to draw neon letters in your presentations. Neon Google Slides and neon effect PowerPoint layouts are stunning. They’re an incredible way to make your slide presentations stand out in 2024 and beyond.

We’ll explore how to make text glow in Google Slides, which is useful because Slides is a cloud-based editor you can use anywhere. It works online, so you don’t have to install any apps. With the Format Options menu in Google Slides, creating neon text effects is a breeze.

Finally, we’ll explore premium slide templates that help you add neon text automatically.

How to Use PowerPoint Templates for Neon Effect PowerPoint Styles

Let’s begin by using a beautiful custom slide template from Envato Elements.

Remember: PowerPoint presentations can be opened in Google Slides. This makes it a breeze to use your favorite templates in either tool.

When you use a template, you’ve got much of the work done for you. Many templates have built-in neon text. Plus, you’ll have inspiring designs that you can leverage for an exciting presentation. It even saves you the work of how to draw neon letters from scratch.

Today, we’ll use the amazing Shaper PowerPoint Template from Envato Elements. Click the link to download it and follow along. Let’s get started.

How to Make Neon Text in PowerPoint (Step-by-Step)

We’ll begin with Microsoft PowerPoint. Did you know that you can add neon effects to any text in PowerPoint? Absolutely! We’ll work through the powerful Glow effects that can transform all of our dull, everyday text into neon masterpieces.

Let’s learn how to make neon text in PowerPoint, step-by-step. To get started, be sure that you’ve got the Shaper PowerPoint Template downloaded and open in PowerPoint. We’ll be using the template to illustrate adding neon text effects.

1. Choose Text to Add Neon Effects To

Let’s tackle how to make neon text in PowerPoint. It starts by selecting a slide to add neon effect PowerPoint styles to.

With your PowerPoint presentation slides open, navigate to a key slide. Choose where you want to add a neon effect PowerPoint.

Keep in mind: this effect works with any text that you’ve got in PowerPoint. You can use existing text or add new text by inserting a text box and typing into it.

Let’s use slide #3 in the Shaper PowerPoint Template as an example. As you can see above, I’ve added some custom text here to the center. Now, what we want to do is add neon effects to these existing words.

To get started, click into the text box as we practice how to make neon text in PowerPoint. Then, select the contents inside.

Keep in mind: you don’t have to select all of the text. You can choose just a certain selection to apply neon effects to.

2. Open the Format Text Effects Menu

Start with the text selected. We’ll use it to add a neon effect PowerPoint. To begin adding these effects, right-click on your selection. A drop-down menu launches. On it, you’ll see an array of options listed.

From these, choose Format Text Effects. When you do, a new sidebar menu launches on the right side of your PowerPoint screen. Here’s where we’ll add neon text in the next step.

3. Add Glow Effects to Create Neon Text in PowerPoint

On the sidebar, with your text selected, be sure that you’re working on the Text Options tab. On this tab, you’ll see several listed options to add text effects. To apply neon designs, go ahead and launch the Glow dropdown tab.

In the Presets group, you can choose from a series of pre-built neon effects. Click on the Presets drop-down, and you’ll see these previewed. They’re great options, but they’re far from your only ones.

With the Color drop-down, you can choose and apply your very own custom neon text effect colors.

To do that, simply click on one of the color swatches on the Color drop-down. You’ll see the neon effect of your choice apply to the text that you’ve selected.

4. Customize Glow Effects to Change the Look and Feel

Once you’ve chosen a neon text shade, you’re not done making edits. Look below the Color menu. There, you can find two very useful features that really help you change up the look and feel of your neon text.

First is the Size slider. This really controls how far outside of your text that the neon effects apply. The smaller the size, the tighter the neon edit. Click and drag on the slider to experiment. As you can see, a larger size makes for a thicker and more vibrant neon effect PowerPoint.

The Transparency slider controls how opaque the neon effects are. Put differently, think of transparency as a fade effect. If you want a subtle, very light neon effect, choose a higher Transparency value. Again, the choices are yours. You can adjust these sliders any way you want to transform your neon text effects in PowerPoint.

As you can see, it’s amazingly easy to transform words with neon text effects in PowerPoint. Neon effect PowerPoint presentations stand out from seas of boring slide decks.

How to Make Text Glow in Google Slides (Step-by-Step)

Now, let’s explore how to do the very same in Google Slides. We’ll use the same Shaper PowerPoint Template that we’ve already been working with.

Below, you’re going to learn how to make text glow in Google Slides. With your template open in Slides, choose a slide to edit on. Just like in PowerPoint, you can add glowing effects to any text that you want to type in Google Slides.

1. Add Text With the Word Art Menu

In Google Slides, the workflow varies slightly from PowerPoint. Here, you’ll add text and then see how to draw neon letters.

Begin on a slide with some blank space where you want to add text. Then, find the Insert tab on the Google Slides menu. Click Insert, and from the list of dropdown options, choose Word art.

When you click Word art, the Word art box launches on your slide. This is your key to neon Google Slides designs. In the box, type in some custom text.

When you’re finished, simply hit Enter on your keyboard. Your text box will now be populated with your own words. We’ll transform this to neon Google Slides effects in the next step.

2. Apply Custom Neon Text Effects in Google Slides

With your text added, it’s time to apply custom neon text effects. Make sure that your Word art text box is still selected. Then, find the Fill color button. This sits on the menu bar, right above your slide.

Click Fill color and explore your options. While any of these can work, I like to use a Gradient shade. Gradients have an almost 3D look and feel. They lend themselves well to neon Google Slides effects. Click Gradient and choose one of the preview colors. Click to apply it and watch as your text transforms.

Beside Fill color, click Border color. What this menu does is allow you to outline neon Google Slides effects in a different shade than the Fill color. It adds a crisp, bold edge to your neon text effects.

Again, the options are up to you. But for the most robust neon effect, choose a Border color that’s brighter than your Fill color. Of course, you can try out as many options as you want until you find the perfect look for your neon Google Slides.

Finally, you can change the border weight with the Border weight menu. The Border weight icon is next to the Border color icon. This adjusts the thickness of your border. Again, this really helps to delineate neon Google Slides shades from their borders.

That’s all it takes! That’s how to make text glow in Google Slides, quickly and easily.

The Top Source for the Best Neon Text Slide Templates (With Unlimited Downloads)

Searching for the very best way to bring neon text to your presentations? Premium templates are the perfect answer. And the best source for these is Envato Elements. Envato Elements offers thousands of premium presentation designs, with more added every day.

They work with Google Slides, Apple Keynote, Microsoft PowerPoint, and more. Many have neon text effects built in. You can simply drop in your own text and enjoy it with a neon glow! No other edits are required.

The Elements offer is powerful: unlimited downloads. That’s right! For a flat monthly rate, you can download and use as many stunning neon text slide templates as you want.

And that’s not all. Elements includes millions of digital assets, like fonts, music, photos, and more, all included in the amazing unlimited downloads offer.

Envato Elements makes it easier than ever to find the top digital content for your next project. With their brand-new AI-powered search assistant, you can simply type in what you need for your project, and Elements will find the perfect (human-created) digital assets for you. In seconds, you’ll have a curated collection of media ideal for your work.

Start Adding Neon Text Effects to Your Presentations Today

In this tutorial, you learned how to draw neon letters! We explored key features for this in both Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides. You know how to make neon text in either of your favorite presentation design apps.

Lean on the Format Text Effects menu as you apply neon effect PowerPoint styles. This way, you can apply custom neon text effects to any block of text in your slide deck. And with Google Slides, you’ll insert and customize powerful word art styles. In moments, you’ll be working with stunning neon designs of your own.