Adobe Express (previously called Adobe Spark) is a design application that enables quick creation of graphics, print layouts, videos, web pages, and more. In these materials, we’ll learn how to use Adobe Express to create and deliver a presentation.
NOTE: While Adobe Express is available through a web browser and as a mobile app, these materials only cover the web browser version of Adobe Express.
Logging into your Adobe account and navigating to Adobe Express
To start the process of creating a flyer with Adobe Express, you’ll need to log into your Adobe account and navigate to Adobe Express. We’ll start out by going to the Adobe at IU page to accomplish this.
To navigate to the Adobe at IU page, click on the following URL:
To start the process of logging in to your Adobe account, near the top of the Adobe at IU page,
Click
A new browser tab will load and display the Adobe ID login page.
NOTE: If you've recently logged in to your Adobe account, the Adobe ID login page may appear briefly before taking you to the Adobe homepage. If this happens, you can skip the following steps and move to step 2.
To continue the process of logging into your Adobe account, in the Email address text entry field,
type your email address in the username@iu.edu format, Click
On the IU Login screen, enter your IU username and passphrase, and authenticate with Duo if necessary. (This screen may not appear if you’ve previously logged into your IU account today.)
Once you're successfully logged in, the Adobe home page will load.
To open the Creative Cloud site, underneath the Welcome heading on the Adobe homepage,
Click Open Creative Cloud
To open Adobe Express, under the Create on web heading in the navigation on the left side of the screen,
Click
A new browser tab will open, and the Adobe Express homepage will load.
NOTE: You can also access Adobe Express through the Creative Cloud Desktop application – to do this, under the Featured heading in the navigation on the left side of the Creative Cloud Desktop window, Click Adobe Express. Your default web browser will open and load Adobe Express.
The Adobe Express homepage will load, and will look similar to the following image:
At the top of the screen is the search bar, which allows you to search through available project templates that can be used to start a new project. On the left side of the screen is the navigation – from here, you can create a new project, as well as view existing projects and brands. In the middle of the screen, there are suggestions for creating new projects. Across the bottom of the page, we can see thumbnails representing projects we’ve recently edited.
Creating a new presentation
Let’s create a new presentation. We’ll start the process using the Create a Project button, which is located at the top of the navigation on the left side of the page.
To start creating a new project, at the top of the navigation on the left side of the page,
Click
To search for the Presentation project type, in the Search field at the upper right corner of the Get Started dialog box, type:
presentation
To create a new presentation, in the Search results,
Click Presentation
At this point, Adobe Express will load the project editor and display a blank document, as we see in the following image:
The header bar across the top of the page contains the file name, as well as options for adding additional editors for the presentation, commenting on the presentation, and downloading and sharing the presentation. The toolbar, present on the far left side of the screen, collects various tools that you can use when creating a presentation. Options for using these tools will appear in the panel immediately to the right of the toolbar. We also have the document toolbar, located above the document workspace, that contains options for working with the file as a whole — including changing the document size, changing the color theme, adjusting the alignment of objects on the page, and translating the text in the presentation. As you add pages (which are similar to slides in PowerPoint) to the presentation, thumbnails for each page and options for navigating through the presentation will appear in a panel across the bottom of the document workspace.
NOTE: Depending on your screen’s resolution and browser window size, the icons in the document toolbar may display only the icon instead of the icon and icon’s name.
Changing the file's name
As you work on the presentation, Adobe Express will automatically save your changes — however, it’s a good idea to give the file a more descriptive file name so you can more easily identify the file and its contents later on.
To change the name of the file, in the header at the top of the page,
Click, type desired file name Enter key
Adding editors to a presentation
If you need to work with others to design a presentation, you can add them to the file as editors so they can open the presentation and add content as needed. Editors can be added to the presentation at any point after it’s been created — this is done using the Share button in the upper right corner of the Adobe Express project editor. You can collaborate with anyone who has an Adobe account.
It’s important to note that while multiple people can be added to a presentation as editors, only one person can edit a presentation at a time. The Adobe Express editor works differently than you may be used to when working in Google or Microsoft 365 apps, where multiple people can work on a document at the same time. If someone is currently editing a document, that document is locked and other editors are unable to open the document until the person currently editing it exits the Adobe Express editor. If you’re collaborating with others to create a presentation, you’ll want to coordinate with the other editors and take turns editing the flyer.
The following accordion contains instructions for adding an editor to a presentation.
To start adding someone to a presentation as an editor, in the upper right corner of the Adobe Express project editor,
Click
To add someone as an editor, in the “Add names or emails” field under the Share heading at the top of the menu,
type the full email address of the person you want to add as an editor, press: Enter key
NOTE: If you’re inviting an IU user to edit the file, make sure to type their email address using the format username@iu.edu.
If desired, enter a message in the “Message(optional)” field.
To send the invitation, underneath the right side of the message field,
Click
The person (or people) you invited to edit the presentation will receive an email letting them know they’ve been added as an editor. Additionally, if they have the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop app installed on their computer, they'll receive a notification in the app letting them know they’ve been added as an editor. They can accept the invitation from either place.
How to find projects you've been added to as an editor
In order to find projects you've been added to as an editor, you'll need to navigate to the Your stuff section of Adobe Express. From here, you can view projects you've created as well as projects that have been shared with you. You can access "Your stuff" from the Adobe Express homepage - the following accordion contains instructions for doing this.
To navigate to the Adobe Express homepage, in the upper left corner of the Adobe Express web page editor,
Click
To access your files and content that's been shared with you, in the navigation on the left side of the Adobe Express homepage,
Click
To view projects that have been shared with you, near the top right side of the "Your stuff" page,
Click , Click Shared with you
A list of projects that have been shared with you will display.
Designing a presentation
Once you’ve created a new presentation, you can add content to it using the tools located on the left side of the screen. The following list explains the available tools in more detail:
Search: Search through a collection of different assets, templates, and more that can be used in a presentation.
Your stuff: Access files you have stored in your Creative Cloud storage, as well as any Creative Cloud Libraries you have access to.
Upload: Upload a variety of files from your computer, including images, audio, video, and even Photoshop (PSD) and Illustrator (AI) files.
Templates: Browse through a collection of professionally designed pre-made templates that you can edit to meet the needs of your presentation.
Media: Upload content from your device, or browse through Adobe Stock’s collection of stock photos, videos, and images to find assets to use in a presentation. You can also create an image from text using generative AI with the Media tool.
Text: Add your own text and style it however you want, or use provided templates as a starting point and change the formatting to match your presentation's theme.
Elements: Contains different design elements you can add to your presentation, including visual accents, backgrounds, shapes, and icons.
Grids: Add a variety of different photo grids to pages in your presentation.
Brand: Use colors, fonts, assets, and logos from a pre-existing brand created in Adobe Express. (To learn more about brands, read the Adobe Help article Create brands in Adobe Express).
Add-ons: Different plugins you can use to help with designing and creating content.
Depending on what you’re creating the presentation for, you may end up using only some of the tools present in the presentation editor. The following accordion folds cover how to accomplish many basic tasks that are part of the presentation design process.
To change the color theme for a presentation, in the toolbar above the document workspace,
Click
To select a new theme, in the Color theme panel,
Click on one of the color theme swatches to select it
To shuffle the colors used in the theme, to the right of the Page Theme heading near the top of the Color theme panel,
Click
To add a second page to a new presentation, in the lower right corner of the document workspace,
Click
To add additional pages to a presentation after adding a second page, in the page navigation toolbar at the bottom of the screen,
Click
To start the process of changing the background color of the presentation, in the toolbar above the document workspace,
Click
NOTE: The color of the icon may differ from the previous screenshot, depending on the active color theme.
To choose a color from one of the swatches visible on the Swatches tab,
Click the desired color swatch
To switch to choosing a custom color, at the top of the Background color menu,
Click the Custom tab
To choose a color, in the hue slider,
Click on the desired color
To choose the intensity of the chosen color, in the color gradient below the hue slider,
Click on the desired shade
The color choices will be applied automatically.
To close the Background color menu, in the upper right corner of the menu,
Click
To add an image to the presentation, in the toolbar on the far left side of the flyer editor,
Click
To upload an image from your computer, near the top of the Media panel,
Click
In the Open dialog box, navigate to where the image you want to upload is located on your computer.
To select the image, in the Open dialog box,
Click the file, Click Open
The image will be added to the presentation.
Add an image to the page as outlined in the accordion fold Add an image stored on your device to the presentation.
To view the properties for the image you want to set as the background, in the document workspace,
Click the image
To set the image as the slide background, in the Image panel on the left side of the screen,
Click
Once the image is set as the background for the page, you may want to adjust the opacity of the image to help make it easier to read any text placed over the image.
To change the opacity of the image, in the Opacity section of the Image panel,
Press & Drag the opacity slider to the left until the image is more transparent and appears lighter
To add text to the presentation, in the toolbar on the left side of the project editor,
Click
To add a text box to the presentation, at the top of the Text panel,
Click
Type the desired text into the text box.
With a text box selected, the Text panel will show formatting options for changing the appearance of your text:
The formatting options are relatively straightforward — you can change the font, font weight, and font size, as well as adjust the text box’s layout, change the text’s fill color, outline color, and outline thickness, change the opacity, and apply visual effects to the text.
NOTE: You may need to scroll down in order to see all of the options available in the Text panel.
To start adding a shape or an icon to the presentation, in the toolbar on the left side of the flyer editor,
Click
To view the available shapes that can be added to a presentation, at the top of the Elements panel,
Click, Click Shapes
To add a shape to the presentation,
Click the thumbnail for the shape you want to add
The shape will be added to the presentation.
To view the available icons that can be added to a presentation, at the top of the Elements panel,
Click Icons
To add an icon to the presentation,
Click the thumbnail for the icon you want to add
The icon will be added to the presentation.
Once a shape or icon has been added to the presentation, you can change its color and other appearance options by clicking on the item to select it. Once it’s selected, the panel on the left side of the project editor will display options for changing the shape’s appearance, similar to what’s shown below for when a rectangle is selected:
The formatting options are rather straightforward — the options displayed will vary, depending on whether the item selected is a shape or an icon. For most elements, you can change the color and apply visual effects; for shapes, you can also change the outline color, width, and style.
To start adding a photo grid to the presentation, in the toolbar on the left side of the project editor,
Click
To select the type of photo grid to add to the presentation, in the Grids panel,
Click the thumbnail for the type of grid you want to add to the presentation
To start changing a photo in the photo grid, in the document workspace,
Click the photo in the grid that you want to change
To replace the image, near the top of the Image panel on the left side of the project editor,
Click
Use the search feature to search for an image to use from Adobe Stock, or click on to upload an image from your computer.
Repeat steps c-e to replace the other images in the grid.
The steps outlined here work for resizing, rotating, and repositioning images, photo grids, icons, shapes, and text boxes.
To select the item you want to resize, in the document workspace,
Click the item
To resize the item, in the document workspace,
Press & Drag the round handles on the corners of the shape’s bounding box in any direction to make the item larger or smaller, as shown in the image below:
To rotate the item, with the item selected,
Press & Drag in any direction
To reposition the item, in the document workspace,
Press & Drag the item to a new location on the page
Aligning items on a page can help make a presentation's contents look neater, which will give the presentation a more professional look and feel. To align objects on your page, you can use the Align option in the document toolbar. You can also ensure equal amounts of space between items on a page by using the Distribute option in the Align menu.
To select the items on the page that you want to align, in the document workspace,
Click the first item, press and hold Shift key, Click the other items you want to align
To start the process of aligning the selected items, in the document toolbar,
Click
The Align menu will appear:
Here, you can choose which side or axis you want the items to be aligned on. If you have more than two objects selected, the Distribute options will appear as well, allowing you to choose whether you want the items distributed horizontally or vertically.
To align the selected items along a specific side or axis, in the Align menu,
Click the desired side or axis you want the items aligned on
To equally distribute the selected items, under the Distribute heading in the Align menu,
Click the desired distribute option
The steps outlined here work for adding animation to anything on a page in a presentation, including text, images, and design elements. Different animation options will appear depending on what type of object you have selected – for example, the Typewriter animation will appear for text objects but not images.
To select the item to add animation to, in the document workspace,
Click the item
To open the Animation panel, in the toolbar at the top of the document workspace,
Click
To choose when the animation should play, near the top of the Animation panel on the left side of the screen,
Click either In, Loop, or Out, depending on when you want the animation to play
Scroll through the list of animations in the Animation panel to see the various types of animations available.
To choose an animation to apply to the selected item, in the Animation panel,
Click the thumbnail for the desired animation
After applying an animation to an object, you can adjust the settings for the animation by clicking on the animation's thumbnail again – the thumbnail for the applied animation will look similar to the following screenshot, which shows the Typewriter animation's thumbnail after applying it to text:
To start the process of adding a transition to a page in a presentation, in the page navigation at the bottom of the document workspace,
Point to the thumbnail of the page you want to add the transition to until the Page actions icon () appears in the upper right corner of the thumbnail
To open the Transitions panel,
Click , Click
To apply a transition to a page, in the Transitions panel,
Click the thumbnail for the desired transition
To adjust the settings for the selected transition, on the selected transition's thumbnail
Click, adjust the settings as desired
To apply the selected transition to all pages in the presentation, at the bottom of the Transitions panel,
Click
To view the presenter notes panel, on the far right side of the page navigation panel at the bottom of the project editor,
Click
To add presenter notes, in the Presenter notes panel on the left side of the screen,
Click inside the text entry field, type in notes as needed
Any notes you add will be automatically saved as you add them. If desired, you can format your notes using the formatting tools at the bottom of the Presenter notes panel. You can view your notes during the presentation by starting the presentation in Presenter mode.
Once you've finished creating your presentation, you can present it through Adobe Express as well. You can choose to display your slideshow or use presenter mode to view your notes as you present. Clicking the Present button in the header bar will start your presentation from the page that's currently displayed in the editor. More options for presenting your slideshow are located in the Present drop-down menu, which is accessible by clicking the drop-down menu button next to the Present button:
In this menu, you can choose to Present from first page, which starts the presentation from the beginning, or you can use Presenter mode, which will open an additional browser window that displays your presenter notes along with controls for navigating through the presentation. If you have video or audio content in your presentation, the Content Playback drop-down menu lets you choose whether to have media start playing automatically when the page loads or to have it play after clicking anywhere on the page.
Downloading the completed presentation
After creating your presentation, you may want to download a copy of it, especially if you plan on printing it or sharing it digitally. You have multiple file type options available for downloading a completed presentation:
PDF Standard and PDF Print: Best if you want to share a copy of your presentation in one single file, or if you want a high-quality version of your presentation for printing. However, if you include video, audio, animations, or transitions, they won't play when exported as a PDF, so keep that in mind if you decide to export as a PDF.
PNG and JPG: Exports each page in the presentation as an image file - PNG is the best file format for a presentation with lots of detailed images, while JPG is best for creating images with small file sizes. All images are compressed in a .zip file, which you can then extract to your computer. However, just like with a PDF, any video, audio, animations, and transitions will not play when exported to JPG or PNG.
PNG + MP4 and JPG + MP4: Exports each page in the presentation as an image, just like for the PNG and JPG options. This option will also export a video file of your presentation that contains any audio, video, animations, and transitions added to your presentation. (This option will not display in the Download menu if there aren't animations or other media elements in your presentation.)
You can download the finished version of your presentation through the Download button in the header at the top of the project editor. The following accordion will walk you through the process of downloading your presentation.
To start the process of downloading the presentation, near the top right side of the window,
Click
To choose between exporting the current page and the entire presentation, under the Page selection heading,
Click the radio button for the desired export option
To choose the appropriate format for the presentation, under the File format heading,
Click, Click the desired file format
To download the presentation in the desired format,
, type desired file name 
, 
, 
in any direction
) appears in the upper right corner of the thumbnail
, adjust the settings as desired
, 