High-level roadmaps feature 4 to 6 stages displayed in chronological order. This type of roadmap is a good way to provide a broad overview of a project to your audience. Detailed roadmaps show many project tasks and when they’ll occur. This roadmap is great for showing every step of a project to your team and stakeholders. In this wikiHow guide, we’ll walk through a few ways to make roadmaps in PowerPoint. Take a look at our intro guide to PowerPoint if you want to review the basics.
Some PowerPoint templates will have multiple slides featuring different roadmap formats in similar styles.
For example, if the template has headers that say “Milestone,” change these headers to your project’s key stages. This could be something like Planning, Analysis, Design, and Implementation.
Text and shape placement. Click and hold a text box or shape. Drag it to a new location on the slide. Text font. Click the edge of a text box to select it. In the Home tab Font section, choose a new font, size, color, or highlight for the text. Shape color. Click a shape to select it. In the Home tab Drawing section, change the outline or fill color for the shape.
Click Blank Presentation. This is in the top left of the PowerPoint Home screen. Click New Slide. You’ll find this under the Home tab in the Slides section. A drop-down menu with new slide options will appear. Select Blank. A new slide will be created with nothing on it.
Click the text box button. The button is in the Text section at the top of the screen. This will activate the text box-drawing tool. Click and hold anywhere on your slide. This will be where one corner of your text box starts. Drag your cursor to draw the text box. Then, let go when you’ve drawn the text box size and shape that you want. (You can always edit the text box after letting go!) To resize the text box, click and drag one of the 8 nodes on the textbox. To move the text box, click and drag an edge of the textbox.
To change the font, click the edge of a text box to select it. In the Home tab Font section, choose a new font, size, color, or highlight for the text. To change the alignment, select an option in the Paragraph section of the Home tab. To change the text box colors, go to the Shape Format tab. Change the Shape Fill and Shape Outline colors in the Shape Styles menu.
Right-click an edge of the text box if you’re currently typing in the text box. Otherwise, you can right-click anywhere in the text box. Select Copy in the drop-down menu. Right-click any blank spot on your slide. Select the paste option with an “a” on top of a clipboard. This will paste a copy of the text box using the theme of your presentation.
To add a photo, go to the Insert tab, click Pictures in the Images section. Select a photo from your device or PowerPoint’s stock image search menu. To add an icon, go to the Insert tab, click Icons in the Illustrations section. Select an icon from the Icons menu.
A brief title for each task. Approximately when the task will start and end. What team is working on each task.
Click Blank Presentation. This is in the top left of the PowerPoint Home screen. Click New Slide. You’ll find this under the Home tab in the Slides section. A drop-down menu with new slide options will appear. Select Blank. A new slide will be created with nothing on it.
The columns will represent the timeline for your project. The column headers will be equally spaced times. For example, a year-long project starting in January could list January through December as the column headers. This would be 13 columns total — 12 for the months and 1 for the row headers. The rows will represent different teams (or individuals) that are responsible for different key tasks. For example, you might have 3 teams: Design, Analytics, and Marketing. This would be 4 rows total — 3 for the teams and 1 for the column headers.
Click OK to confirm your settings and make the table. It will appear on your slide. Resize the table to fill the slide. Click and drag the 8 nodes until your table fills most or all of the slide.
Click and drag to select the cells you want to edit. Navigate to the Home tab to choose a new font size, color, and alignment so that the text is easy to read and matches the style you’re going for.
Click the text box button. The button is in the Text section at the top of the screen. This will activate the text box-drawing tool. Click and hold anywhere on your slide. This will be where one corner of your text box starts. Drag your cursor to draw the text box. Then, let go when you’ve drawn the text box size and shape that you want. (You can always edit the text box after letting go!) To resize the text box, click and drag one of the 8 nodes on the textbox. To move the text box, click and drag an edge of the textbox.
To change the font, click the edge of a text box to select it. In the Home tab Font section, choose a new font, size, color, or highlight for the text. To change the alignment, select an option in the Paragraph section of the Home tab. To change the text box colors, go to the Shape Format tab. Change the Shape Fill and Shape Outline colors in the Shape Styles menu.
Right-click an edge of the text box if you’re currently typing in the text box. Otherwise, you can right-click anywhere in the text box. Select Copy in the drop-down menu. Right-click any blank spot on your slide. Select the paste option with an “a” on top of a clipboard. This will paste a copy of the text box using the theme of your presentation.
Arrange the text boxes as needed. Click and drag the edges of the text boxes to move them. Place each key task in the column and row that corresponds with the time and team for the task respectively.
