How to share a Keynote with someone on Windows
Skip the PowerPoint conversion and the "it looks different on my machine" email. The HTML export plays in Edge or Chrome as you built it, and the viewer needs nothing installed.
Why .pptx export changes your deck
Keynote and PowerPoint have different animation engines and different font handling. When Keynote writes a .pptx, it translates each effect to the nearest PowerPoint equivalent; Apple's export page notes that some features may change in the process. Magic Move has no PowerPoint equivalent. Fonts that are not on the Windows machine get substituted, which reflows every text box. The deck opens, and it is not your deck.
What Windows can open natively
Three things, and only the last one keeps the motion.
- PDF: opens anywhere, loses builds, transitions, video and audio.
- Movie export: plays in any player, but it is a video, so hyperlinks and click-to-advance are gone.
- HTML export in a browser: Keynote's own web player, with the builds and media, in Edge, Chrome or Firefox.
The HTML export route, step by step
- In Keynote for Mac: File → Export To → HTML… and save the export folder.
- Open index.html from that folder in Safari and step through it once. What works here works at the link.
- Right-click the folder in the Finder and choose Compress.
Turning the export into a link
You could email the ZIP, but a 200 MB attachment bounces, and a Windows user who unzips it and double-clicks index.html may hit browser restrictions on local files. Upload the .zip on linkdeck.me instead. You get a link that opens in Edge or Chrome, on a PC or a phone, with no Keynote and no Apple Account. On Pro you can add a password, replace the deck in place, and see which slides they spent time on.
Text and fonts
In the exports we have handled, text arrives drawn into the slide assets rather than as font files, so the viewer's PC does not need your typeface and nothing reflows. Apple does not document this in detail, so open the link on one Windows machine before a deck with an unusual face goes out.
When you really do need a .pptx
If the client will edit the deck in PowerPoint, they need the file, not a link. Export to PowerPoint, open the result yourself in PowerPoint if you can, and fix what moved. Linkdeck does not convert PowerPoint files; it hosts Keynote HTML exports only.
Questions
Will the fonts match on Windows?
In our exports, text is rendered into the slide assets, so it looks as designed without the font installed. Apple's page does not document this, so check one deck on a PC before relying on it.
Does the viewer need Keynote for iCloud?
No. A Linkdeck link needs only a browser. Nothing to install, no Apple Account.
Can they edit it?
No. It is a playback link, not the file. If the Windows user needs to edit, send a .pptx as well.
Upload the export and open the link on a PC
Free for the first deck, no account needed.