How to put a Keynote HTML export online
File → Export To → HTML gives you a folder with index.html and an assets folder. It plays in a browser, but only once something serves it as a website. These are the ways to do that, what each one costs you, and the two places most people try first that stopped working years ago.
What the export is
Keynote for Mac writes a folder: index.html, which loads Apple's web player, and an assets folder holding every slide's images, video and audio. Apple's export notes say animations and builds are exported with it. Double-click index.html and the deck plays in Safari on your Mac.
To send it to someone else, the whole folder has to sit on a web server, with index.html as the address. index.html on its own is an empty player; the slides are in assets.
Where it will not play
These are the first places people try. None of them serves a web page any more.
- Google Drive: Google ended web hosting from Drive on 31 August 2016. A shared link shows a file preview or a download, not the deck.
- Dropbox: Dropbox stopped rendering HTML from shared links in October 2016. The viewer gets a download or the source code.
- iCloud Drive: shares files, not websites.
- Email or WeTransfer: the viewer receives a folder, has to unzip it and open index.html themselves. On a computer that is a chore; on a phone it rarely works at all.
Option 1: your own web server
If you already run a site, upload the folder over SFTP or your host's file manager, keep the file names exactly as exported, and send the address of index.html. It costs nothing extra. You own the rest: the export is not compressed, Apple's player has no phone wrapper, and every revision means uploading the folder again.
Option 2: Netlify Drop or GitHub Pages
Both are free static hosts. Netlify Drop takes the folder by drag and drop and returns a random subdomain you can rename. GitHub Pages needs a repository, and on GitHub's free plan that repository is public, so anyone can browse and download the slide assets. Neither adds a password, view data or phone handling on its free tier; our Netlify Drop comparison goes through it line by line.
Option 3: Linkdeck
Linkdeck is a host built only for this export. It unzips the folder, compresses images and GIFs, serves everything from a CDN, and wraps Apple's player so the deck opens landscape on a phone, advances on a tap and plays video inside the slide.
- Drop the export folder, or a .zip of it, on linkdeck.me.
- The link is ready in about a minute. No account needed for the first deck.
- Free: 1 deck up to 200 MB; the link works for 3 days (24 hours without an account).
- Keep, €9 once: that one deck never expires and gets per-slide analytics, a password, an email gate and replace-in-place.
- Pro, €12 a month: 10 decks up to 500 MB each, all permanent, with links you name yourself.
Side by side
Third-party prices and limits change; check their sites before deciding.
| Own server | Netlify Drop / GitHub Pages | Linkdeck | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Your hosting | Free tiers | Free 3 days; €9 per kept deck; €12 / month Pro |
| Your own domain | Yes | Yes, with setup | No (linkdeck.me/slug) |
| Password on the link | If you configure it | Not on free tiers | Keep or Pro |
| Who opened it, per slide | Only what you add | No | Keep or Pro |
| Phone: landscape, tap to advance, inline video | No | No | Yes |
| Revise without a new link | Re-upload the folder | Redeploy | Replace in place (Keep or Pro) |
Check it before anyone else does
- Open index.html from the export folder in Safari and step through every slide.
- Open the hosted link on your phone, tap once so sound can start, and watch the video slides.
- If a clip stalls, re-export it at 1080p H.264 and export the deck again.
Questions
Do I have to upload the whole folder?
Yes. index.html only loads Apple's player; the slides, video and audio are in the assets folder beside it. Upload the folder exactly as exported, without renaming or moving anything.
Can I attach the export to an email instead?
If the zip fits your mail limit, yes, but the recipient must unzip it and open index.html on a computer. Most phones will not play it from a mail attachment. A hosted link avoids both steps.
Can Linkdeck put the deck on my own domain?
No. Links live at linkdeck.me/your-slug. If your own domain matters more than passwords, analytics and phone handling, host the folder on your server or on Netlify.
Host the export in a minute
Drop the export folder or its .zip. The first deck is free and needs no account.
Free for 3 days. €9 once keeps one deck for good; €12 a month keeps every deck. See pricing