Copilot in PowerPoint vs Scholarly: PDF to Slides
Copilot in PowerPoint vs Scholarly for turning a PDF or lecture notes into slides: file sources, speaker notes, editing, languages, and free plans.
Short answer: use Copilot in PowerPoint if you already have an eligible Microsoft 365 plan and want native, editable slides in your own template; on home plans it drafts a deck from a Word document, and building from a PDF needs a work Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Use Scholarly if your source is a lecture PDF, notes, a recording, or a YouTube lecture and you want a designed deck with speaker notes written from that source on every slide, then a narrated video lecture, a podcast, or flashcards from the same upload. Scholarly's free plan makes one 10-slide deck you can present and share by link; PowerPoint download is paid.
Disclosure: Scholarly is our product, so read this with that in mind. Every Microsoft fact below comes from Microsoft's own support pages and Microsoft 365 Insider blog, linked where they are used and read on November 6, 2026. Microsoft changes Copilot often, so check the linked page before you rely on a detail.
Copilot in PowerPoint vs Scholarly at a glance
| Copilot in PowerPoint | Scholarly | |
|---|---|---|
| Best at | Editable slides inside PowerPoint, in your template or brand kit | A deck and its talk built from your source, then more formats from the same source |
| Where it runs | PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 on Windows and Mac, and PowerPoint for iPad, per Microsoft's create page | Any browser, on a computer or a phone |
| Build from a file | A Word document on home plans; a PDF or TXT file in OneDrive or SharePoint with a work Copilot license | PDF (choose the pages), Word, PowerPoint, images, notes, pasted text, websites, YouTube links, recordings, Google Drive files |
| Speaker notes | Included in a draft built from a Word document, or generated for all slides from the View tab | Written from your source on every slide |
| Slide count | Copilot may ask how long the deck should be | 10 slides on Free; 5 to 30 on paid plans (default 15) |
| Editing | Native slides you edit like any other | No slide-by-slide editor; steer it with instructions before it builds |
| Export | It is already a PowerPoint file | Paid: PowerPoint with notes in the notes pane (slide visuals are images), Word, PDF, Google Slides, Google Docs |
| What you need | An eligible Microsoft 365 subscription, or a work Copilot license | A free account for one deck; Premium or Laureate for more |
| Beyond slides | Copilot in Word, Excel, Outlook, and the other Microsoft 365 apps | Video lectures, podcasts, flashcards, quizzes, practice exams, and cited chat from the same source |
Starting from a PDF or lecture notes
This is the difference most people hit first.
Copilot in PowerPoint can start from a prompt or from a file. Microsoft's FAQ says home users can create a presentation from a single Word file, and that a work Copilot license adds the option to use a PDF. A Microsoft 365 Insider post from June 2025 describes referencing PDF and TXT files stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, for users with an enterprise Copilot license. Microsoft's create page adds that Copilot works best with Word documents smaller than 24 MB. So on a personal plan, a lecture PDF has to become a Word document before Copilot can build from it.
Scholarly takes the PDF as it is. Upload it to PDF to PowerPoint, pick the pages you need, and it reads the text along with the charts, diagrams, and tables the PDF contains. The same works for typed notes (notes to PowerPoint), photos of handwritten pages, a slide deck, a website, a YouTube lecture, or a class recording (lecture to slides). On paid plans you can combine sources, up to 10 on Premium and 20 on Laureate, such as the chapter and the professor's slides together.
Free uploads are capped at 8 MB, and PDFs are read up to their first 32 pages. Premium reads PDFs up to 1,000 pages and Laureate up to 3,000.
Speaker notes
Both write them, in different ways.
Copilot: Microsoft's preparation guide says a draft built from a Word document comes with images and speaker notes. For an existing deck, Microsoft's speaker notes page describes generating notes for the current slide or all slides from the Notes menu on the View tab, and says the feature works best on presentations with fewer than 50 slides.
Scholarly writes the talk first, from your source, and then designs the slides to fit it. Every slide arrives with notes that carry the explanation, the detail behind each point, and the numbers to quote. On a paid plan, the PowerPoint download puts those notes in the notes pane, ready for Presenter View.
If your goal is to stand up and present a chapter you only half know, notes written from the source are the most useful part of either tool. Read them against the PDF before you present.
Design and editing
Copilot wins on editing. Its slides are ordinary PowerPoint slides, so you change text, layout, and images by hand. Microsoft's create page says Copilot uses your selected template, and that you can pick a brand kit if your organization requires one.
Scholarly gives you a finished deck rather than a canvas. You choose a Full Deck or Exam Prep preset, a color look (or Auto), and dark mode if you want it, and add instructions such as "end with three practice questions." It picks a layout for each idea: a comparison becomes a side-by-side, a process becomes numbered steps, and a formula is typeset as a real equation. There is no slide-by-slide editor, and in the PowerPoint export each slide's visual is an image, so you cannot edit the text inside it there. The Word and Google Docs exports keep the text editable.
If you need to restyle every slide in your school's or company's template, use Copilot. If you want a clean deck without design work, Scholarly is faster to a result you can present.
Languages
Microsoft's FAQ says many languages are supported and that quality is expected to be highest in English.
Scholarly writes the deck in Auto (matching your source) or in any of 71 named language options, counting regional variants, and the source does not have to be in the same language. Arabic and Hebrew decks keep their right-to-left lines in order, and labels follow the deck's language rather than defaulting to English. The app itself comes in 38 interface languages.
What it costs, and what is free
Copilot in PowerPoint comes with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription. Microsoft's subscription FAQ lists Personal, Family, and Premium among the home plans with Copilot, says those plans include AI credits, and says that on a Family plan only the subscription owner can use the AI features. Microsoft's PowerPoint FAQ adds that some features, including creating a presentation from a file, only work if the user also has a Designer license. With a school or work account, whether Copilot appears depends on your organization's license and settings. Check Microsoft's plan pages for current prices.
Scholarly free: 1 lifetime AI creation, which can be one 10-slide deck from one upload. You can present it full screen and share a view link; downloads need a paid plan. The creation is shared with every other tool and does not reset.
Scholarly paid: Premium is $30 a month or $180 a year, with 15 AI Creation Credits a week. Laureate is $99 a month, with 80 a week. A deck uses 1 credit on the default model, or 2 on Best. Premium Lite is sold only in certain countries, not the US. See pricing.
If you already pay for Microsoft 365 and only need slides, try Copilot first. Scholarly is easier to justify when you will also use the video lectures, podcasts, or flashcards.
After the deck
With Copilot, the deck is the finished product, and it lives in PowerPoint with the rest of your files.
With Scholarly, the deck is one output from a source you keep. The same upload can become:
- A narrated video lecture built on the same slide designs.
- A podcast for review on a walk.
- Flashcards on an SM-2 spaced-repetition schedule.
- A practice test for the week before the exam.
A deck usually finishes in about 6 to 15 minutes, in the background, so you can close the tab.
Which should you pick?
Pick Copilot in PowerPoint if:
- You already have Microsoft 365 with Copilot, at home or through work.
- Your source is a Word document, or you have a work license for PDFs.
- You need native slides in a set template or brand kit.
- You plan to edit every slide by hand.
Pick Scholarly if:
- Your source is a lecture PDF, notes, a recording, or a YouTube lecture.
- You want speaker notes written from the source on every slide.
- You do not have Microsoft 365 with Copilot.
- You want a video lecture, podcast, or flashcards from the same material.
Frequently asked questions
Can Copilot in PowerPoint turn a PDF into slides?
With a work Microsoft 365 Copilot license, yes: Microsoft's FAQ says that license adds the PDF option, and its Insider post describes PDF and TXT files stored in OneDrive or SharePoint. For home users, Microsoft's FAQ describes creating a presentation from a single Word file.
Does Copilot in PowerPoint add speaker notes?
Yes. Microsoft says a draft built from a Word document includes speaker notes, and you can generate notes for one slide or all slides in an existing deck from the View tab.
Is Copilot in PowerPoint free?
It needs an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription or a work Copilot license. Microsoft's FAQ lists Personal, Family, and Premium among the home plans that include Copilot, with AI credits.
Can Scholarly turn a PDF into an editable PowerPoint?
Scholarly turns a PDF into a designed deck with speaker notes, and paid plans download it as PowerPoint. In that file each slide's visual is an image, with the notes in the notes pane, so the slide text is not editable in PowerPoint. For editable text, export to Word or Google Docs.
How many slides can each one make?
Scholarly makes 10 slides on Free and 5 to 30 on paid plans, 15 by default. Microsoft does not state a slide limit for Copilot, and its create page says Copilot may ask how long the deck should be.
What is the best AI tool to turn lecture notes or a PDF into slides?
It depends on what happens after the deck. Our ranking of AI slide generators compares Gamma, Plus AI, Copilot, Gemini Notebook, and Scholarly by job, and Gamma vs Scholarly covers the design-first option.
