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December 23, 2025
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slideshow software

  • December 23, 2025
  • 5 replies
  • 303 views

Which Adobe sofftware should be used to create slideshows?

Correct answer Conrad_C

Can you be more specific?

The software you need depends on whether you want your slide show to be interactive or self-running, with music or without, as a PDF, video file, precisely laid out with typography or simply assembled from existing images, etc. 

 

Adobe Photoshop can create a slide show using either of these features:

  • The Timeline panel, where you can add transitions, timing, and audio. This can export to a video. 
  • File > Automate > PDF Presentation, if you just need images and graphics. 

 

Adobe Bridge can play an interactive full screen slide show (the commands View > Slideshow and View > Slideshow Options) directly from a selected folder or collection. Its Output panel can create a self-running full screen PDF slide show. 

 

Adobe Lightroom Classic can also do that in its Slideshow module, and can export the slide show as a video with sound, but Lightroom Classic is limited to image file formats. 

 

If you want precise design and typographic control over a slide show layout, you can use Adobe InDesign. You can present pages of an InDesign document as an interactive slideshow using its full screen Preview mode, or export the pages to a PDF file. 

 

Adobe Acrobat can combine documents into a full screen PDF slide show, interactive or self-running. 

 

If you need a slide show exported as a video file, edited to professional video production requirements, you can use Adobe Premiere Pro. If you need to add advanced special effects and animations, use Adobe After Effects too. 

5 replies

Conrad_C
Community Expert
Conrad_CCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
December 24, 2025

Can you be more specific?

The software you need depends on whether you want your slide show to be interactive or self-running, with music or without, as a PDF, video file, precisely laid out with typography or simply assembled from existing images, etc. 

 

Adobe Photoshop can create a slide show using either of these features:

  • The Timeline panel, where you can add transitions, timing, and audio. This can export to a video. 
  • File > Automate > PDF Presentation, if you just need images and graphics. 

 

Adobe Bridge can play an interactive full screen slide show (the commands View > Slideshow and View > Slideshow Options) directly from a selected folder or collection. Its Output panel can create a self-running full screen PDF slide show. 

 

Adobe Lightroom Classic can also do that in its Slideshow module, and can export the slide show as a video with sound, but Lightroom Classic is limited to image file formats. 

 

If you want precise design and typographic control over a slide show layout, you can use Adobe InDesign. You can present pages of an InDesign document as an interactive slideshow using its full screen Preview mode, or export the pages to a PDF file. 

 

Adobe Acrobat can combine documents into a full screen PDF slide show, interactive or self-running. 

 

If you need a slide show exported as a video file, edited to professional video production requirements, you can use Adobe Premiere Pro. If you need to add advanced special effects and animations, use Adobe After Effects too. 

Trevor.Dennis
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 24, 2025

How would you like the slideshow to work?  Is it an automatic advancing, and rotating series of images.  I am not sure how the subscription plans work, but if you have Photoshop, does that mean you can also use Lightroom?  If yes then maybe that would be the easiest way to go.

 

If you use the Photoshop time line then you have the choice of video which is full res, full colour, with audio, but AFAIK will not loop.  Or you could output to a GIF frame animation, but that restricts you to 256 colours, although it would loop.

 

My camera club uses Bridge to sort through and organise images.  Thst works well as you can rate them and filter accordingly.

 

There several free apps that will do the job if you search.

 

jane-e
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 24, 2025

@multiple formats in video 

 

A third option for a slideshow is Adobe Acrobat. 

 

Create the slides in another app (or apps) and convert to PDF. Then create page transitions and timings between the slides and set the initial view to Full Screen. You need to use Acrobat to create the slideshow, but it can be run with the free Acrobat Reader. 

 

The app you use to create might be Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, et cetera. You don't need to have the source app installed on the computer that runs the slideshow.

 

Details here: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/setting-pdfs-presentation.html

 

Jane

Chuck Uebele
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 24, 2025

Yes, I use this method also, @jane-e .

Peru Bob
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 23, 2025

If you want total control and not a template, Premiere Pro works well.

 

 

davescm
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 23, 2025

You could use Photoshop's timeline functions to create a slideshow. If you have Lightroom Classic it has built in slideshow functions and can export the slideshow in PDF or Video formats.

Dave