How to share presentations with a client

A pitch, a campaign concept or a quarterly review usually ends with someone on the client side saying “can you send the deck over?” The deck then travels around their organization: the marketing lead forwards it to the finance director, who reads it on a phone between meetings, and somebody else opens an older copy from a thread two weeks back.

This page covers how people usually send presentations to clients, what tends to go wrong once the deck leaves the room, and how to share PowerPoint and Google Slides decks from Fabric as links: one per stakeholder if you want to see who has looked, with the option to update the slides after the meeting.

How people usually send presentations to clients

Emailing the PPTX is the habit for many teams. It keeps the deck editable, which the client may want for internal reuse. Decks heavy with images can exceed attachment limits, and if the client doesn’t have the same fonts installed, PowerPoint substitutes others and the layout shifts.

Exporting to PDF fixes the layout and makes the file smaller, at the cost of any animations and speaker notes. A shared Google Slides link keeps one live copy and suits clients who work in Google Workspace; teams presenting to clients on Microsoft 365 sometimes find access requests and sign-in prompts slow things down.

Founders and sales teams who want to know whether a deck was read often add a document tracking tool such as DocSend. That covers tracking well, and it’s one more tool sitting between the file and the person reading it.

Step 1: Add the deck to the client’s space

Upload PPT or PPTX files to the client’s space by dragging them in or clicking Upload a file. If you build decks in Google Slides, connect Google Drive from the Fabric marketplace and your slides come through; the Google Drive connection syncs both ways, and connections need a paid plan.

Keep supporting material with the deck: the research it draws on, the brief, the recording of the pitch meeting. When the client asks a follow-up question, the answer is likely in the same space. How to deliver client work professionally has broader advice on packaging a handover like this.

Step 2: Publish a separate link for each stakeholder

Click Share to open the share modal, open the Publish tab, and click Create link. Give the link a name for the person receiving it, such as “Dana, CMO”, and turn on collect engagement analytics. Repeat for each stakeholder; you can create as many publish links as you want, each with its own settings. Copy each link and send it to the right person.

Each link gets its own chart of traffic over time, plus visit dates and the location and device of each visitor. Analytics don’t name the visitor, which is why one named link per person matters: comparing the links shows who has opened the deck and who hasn’t. Link analytics are on the Pro and Team plans. How to know if an investor read your pitch deck applies the same method to fundraising.

Step 3: Decide on downloads, indexing and passwords

Each publish link has its own settings. Allow downloads if the client needs the file for internal reuse; leave it off if the deck is for viewing. For client work, turn off allow indexing by search engines. You can also choose whether visitors can copy the deck to their own Fabric. If the slides contain pricing or unreleased plans, add a password: right-click the deck, choose Add password protection, and enter a password. There’s no reset, and viewers re-enter it after six hours. Password protection needs a Pro or Team plan.

Agencies presenting under their own brand can publish on a custom domain, so the link reads as their address rather than fabric.so. Custom domains are on the Pro plan, and how to share files on your own domain walks through the DNS setup.

Step 4: Update the deck after the meeting

Clients often ask for changes once they’ve seen a deck: a different headline figure, an extra slide on timeline. Make the change to the source in Fabric. Editing the source updates the published version, so every stakeholder link shows the revised deck and the finance director isn’t left reading last week’s figures.

To prepare for follow-up questions, open the client’s folder and ask the AI assistant something like “which figures in the deck come from the Q2 research?” It works within that folder and cites the files it used. If you want the client’s slide-by-slide comments on a draft, share a PDF export with commenter permission; commenters can highlight text in a PDF and attach a comment, and you can mark each comment completed.

Frequently asked questions

How do I send a PowerPoint to a client without emailing the file?

Upload the PPTX to Fabric and publish it as a link. The client opens it in the browser, and you decide whether they can download it.

Can I see if a client looked at my presentation?

Yes, with engagement analytics on a Pro or Team plan. Each link shows visits, dates, location and device; send each person their own named link to see who opened it.

Can I share Google Slides with a client from Fabric?

Yes. Connect Google Drive and your Google Slides come through the two-way sync. Connections need a paid plan.

Can I stop a client downloading my deck?

Yes. Leave allow downloads off when you create the publish link, and they can view it without saving the file.

How do I update a presentation after I’ve sent the link?

Edit the source in Fabric. The published version updates, so the links you sent show the new deck.

Should I send a client the PowerPoint file or a PDF?

Send the PowerPoint when the client needs to edit or reuse the slides, and a PDF when the layout must look exactly as designed. In Fabric you can keep both in the client’s space and publish whichever suits, with downloads on or off.

Can I send the same deck to several people with different settings?

Yes. Create a publish link for each person; every link has its own name and settings.

Can I password protect a presentation?

Yes, on the Pro and Team plans. Right-click the deck, choose Add password protection, and keep the password in a password manager because there’s no reset.

Can I share presentations with clients on the free plan?

Yes. Publishing, with the download option, is on the free plan. Analytics, passwords and custom domains need a paid plan; see pricing.