How Do I Send Shirt Artwork From Google Slides, Word, or PowerPoint?

Yes, you can send shirt artwork you made in Google Slides, Microsoft Word, or PowerPoint, but you need to export it first. Export the design as a high-quality PDF or PNG, make sure the page or slide background isn't showing up as a box around your design, check that the fonts and photos look sharp when you zoom in, and then upload that file. LuxPort's custom T-shirt page takes PNG, JPG, or PDF files up to 25MB each, so a native .pptx, .docx, or Slides link isn't the file to upload.

A lot of great shirt ideas start in the app people already know. A teacher mocks up a field day shirt in Google Slides. An office manager lays out a company logo and slogan in PowerPoint. A family puts together a reunion design in Word with a photo and a few lines of text. None of that is wrong. These apps are just built for screens and paper pages, not for printing on fabric, so a few details need attention before the file is ready.

This guide walks through exactly what to check in each app, the common problems we see with office-app artwork, and how to send it so the print matches what you designed. If you built your design in Canva instead, our guide to exporting a Canva design for T-shirt printing covers that app.

Why Office Apps Need an Extra Step

Slides, Word, and PowerPoint all build your design on top of a page. That page has a size, a background, and margins, and those things don't exist on a shirt. When you export, the app usually captures the whole page, not just your design. That causes most of the problems people run into:

• The background prints as a box. A white slide becomes a white rectangle on a black shirt, and a colored theme background becomes a colored block.
• The design is tiny inside a big page. If your logo sits in the middle of a wide slide, most of the exported image is empty space.
• Photos get compressed. These apps often shrink pictures to keep files small, which can make a photo look soft when it is printed large.
• Fonts swap. A native file opened on another computer may replace a font it doesn't have.
• Theme effects don't translate. Shadows, glows, and see-through effects can look different, or show unexpected edges, once printed.

None of these are hard to fix. They just need to be handled before you upload, not after.

Before You Export: Set Up the Design

Make the page match the print shape

A standard slide is wide and short. Most shirt fronts are closer to a square or a tall rectangle. You'll get a much cleaner file if you change the page or slide size to roughly the shape of your print before you design, or at least before you export. In Google Slides this is under page setup; in PowerPoint it is the slide size setting; in Word it is the page size and margins. Menu names move around between versions, so look for "page setup" or "slide size" if you don't see it right away.

Not sure what shape or size to aim for? Our guide on what size a T-shirt design should be covers common front, back, and left-chest print sizes.

Fill the page with the design

Once the page is the right shape, scale your text and graphics up so they fill most of it. Empty space around the edges is wasted resolution. If the design is a small left-chest logo, still make it large on the page; it will be sized down for printing, and starting big keeps edges crisp.

Turn off or remove the background

Set the slide or page background to none, or to plain white with the plan to remove it, and delete any theme graphics, borders, or footer text. Slide numbers, date fields, and watermark text are easy to forget and will print if they are in the file. If the background can't be removed in the app, tell us when you order so it can be handled, and read why a white box shows up around a design on a black shirt so you know what to look for.

Keep effects simple

Soft shadows, glows, gradients that fade to clear, and partly see-through shapes are the effects most likely to look different on fabric. Solid colors and clean edges print most predictably. If you love a gradient, keep it solid from end to end rather than fading into nothing.

How to Export From Google Slides

Google Slides lets you download the current slide or the whole presentation from the File menu. For shirt artwork, these are the useful choices:

• PDF document: usually the best pick for designs that are mostly text and shapes, because text and simple shapes stay sharp. Delete every slide except your design first, or you'll send a multi-page PDF.
• PNG image: fine for a simple graphic. It captures the current slide, including its background, so double-check for a box around the design. Zoom in on the downloaded file to make sure edges aren't fuzzy.
• JPEG image: works for a photo-heavy design, but it can't be transparent, so the background will always come along.

If your Slides file uses a photo, insert the original photo from your phone or computer rather than a screenshot or a copy pulled from a web page. A screenshot is only as sharp as your screen was.

How to Export From PowerPoint

PowerPoint gives you two handy ways to get shirt artwork out:

• Export the slide: use Save As or Export and choose PDF or PNG. Like Slides, this captures the whole slide, background included.
• Save just the design as a picture: select every piece of your design, group it, then right-click the group and look for the option to save it as a picture, choosing PNG. On many versions this saves only the grouped objects, not the slide, which can give you a design without the slide background. Open the result and check it before you upload.

PowerPoint may also compress pictures to keep the file small. In many versions there is a setting in the options to turn off picture compression for the file, and a "compress pictures" tool where you can choose the highest quality. If your design includes a photo, check those settings before you export.

How to Export From Microsoft Word

Word is the trickiest of the three, because it's built around text flowing on a page. A few tips make it work:

• Save as PDF. This is the most reliable export from Word. Remove headers, footers, and page numbers first, and keep the design on a single page.
• Watch text wrapping. Pictures set to move with text can shift when the file is opened elsewhere. Exporting to PDF on your own computer locks the layout as you see it.
• Check the margins. If your design runs right to the edge, Word's margins may cut it off or push it onto a second page.

If your design is a single logo or photo with a few words, it is often easier to rebuild it in Slides or PowerPoint, where you can move pieces freely, and export from there.

PNG, JPG, or PDF: Which Should You Upload?

LuxPort's custom T-shirt page accepts artwork as PNG, JPG, or PDF files up to 25MB each. Here's how to choose:

• PDF is a strong choice for text-heavy designs, logos built from shapes, and anything from Word.
• PNG is good for graphics and can support a transparent background, which avoids the box problem when the export allows it.
• JPG is best saved for photos. It can't be transparent, so plan on a background unless it is removed.

For a deeper look at formats and resolution, see what file format is best for T-shirt printing and the file format and resolution needed for DTF printing. If you have a list of upload questions, our 10 artwork upload questions post covers the most common ones.

A Five-Minute Check Before You Upload

Open the exported file, not the original slide or document, and look at it the way the printer will:

1. Zoom in to 100% or more. Text edges and photos should look clean, not blocky or blurry.
2. Look for a box. Is there a white or colored rectangle around the design that you don't want printed?
3. Look for stray items. Slide numbers, footers, placeholder text, and guide boxes sometimes sneak in.
4. Read every word. Spelling mistakes are the most common fix, and they are easiest to catch now.
5. Check the fonts. Make sure each font is the one you picked, not a default substitute.

Small text deserves a second look. Fine lines and tiny letters that read fine on a laptop can be hard to read on a shirt; see how small text can be printed on a T-shirt.

Photos Inside Your Slide or Document

Photos are where office-app artwork most often falls short. A picture pasted from a text message, a social media post, or a web page has usually been shrunk already. For the best result:

• Insert the original photo file from your phone or camera roll.
• Avoid cropping a tiny piece of a big photo and stretching it large.
• Turn off image compression in the app if that setting exists.
• If the background behind a person needs to go, read how to remove the background from a phone photo before you export.

Use Artwork You Have the Right to Print

Office apps make it easy to drop in clip art or an image from a web search. Many of those images, plus team logos, characters, and brand marks, belong to someone else. Use your own photos, your own drawings, and wording you wrote, or artwork you have permission to use. If you're printing a company logo for work shirts, our post on putting a team, school, or company logo on a shirt covers what to keep in mind.

When a Slide Is Really a Sketch

Sometimes the slide is more of an idea than finished art: a logo pieced together from shapes, a photo with words typed over it, or a layout you want cleaned up. That's fine. You can use Have LuxPort Design It or the design-your-own shirt and describe what you want, then attach your slide export as a reference. Our post on turning an idea, sketch, or photo into a print explains how that process works.

Every Order Gets a Design Check

Before printing, we confirm the design details with you so names, colors, placement, and wording are right. That's your chance to catch a stray box, a swapped font, or a typo that slipped through the export. Our proof checklist lists what to look at before you approve.

What It Costs

Prices below were checked on LuxPort's live product pages when this post was published. Shipping and applicable tax are shown separately at checkout.

• Custom T-shirt with your artwork: $24.99 with a front print, or $29.99 with front and back. Colors were White, Black, Gray, Navy, and Red in adult sizes S through 3XL.
• Design your own: $24.99 front only or $29.99 front and back.
• Work and crew shirts: if your PowerPoint logo is headed for a team, see our business crew shirt packages.

As an example, a class or office group of 10 with one exported design on the front would be 10 x $24.99 = $249.90 before shipping and tax. Local delivery is $12.99 within 10 miles of our San Antonio shop, and USPS, UPS, or FedEx shipping is calculated at checkout. Pickup is not offered. Details are on our shipping and delivery page.

If you'd rather press your own shirts, the same exported file can be used for a custom DTF transfer.

A San Antonio Note

We see a lot of office-app artwork from San Antonio schools, churches, small businesses, and family reunions, because that's where the design was already sitting. If you're local and stuck on an export, our San Antonio custom T-shirt printing page explains how ordering works, or you can send us a message with your file and what you want printed.

Quick Checklist

1. Change the page or slide size to roughly the shape of your print.
2. Scale the design up to fill the page.
3. Remove the background, theme graphics, footers, and slide numbers.
4. Use original photos and turn off image compression if you can.
5. Export as PDF or PNG (JPG for photos).
6. Open the export and zoom in to check edges, fonts, and spelling.
7. Upload the PNG, JPG, or PDF, up to 25MB.
8. Review the design check before printing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I upload a PowerPoint, Word, or Google Slides file directly?

Not as the native file. LuxPort's custom T-shirt page accepts artwork as PNG, JPG, or PDF files up to 25MB each. Export your slide or page to one of those formats first, then upload the exported file. If you can't get a clean export, send us a message with the file and what you want printed.

Which export is best from Google Slides?

For most shirt designs, export the slide as a PDF or PNG from the Download menu. A PDF keeps text and simple shapes crisp. A PNG is fine for a single graphic, but check that it is large enough and that the slide background isn't baked in as a solid box around your design.

Why does my design have a white or colored rectangle around it?

That rectangle is usually the slide or page background. Slides and documents are built on a page, and many exports include that page as part of the image. Our post on why there is a white box around a design on a black shirt explains how to spot and fix it.

Will my fonts look the same on the shirt?

Only if the exported file carries them. If you send a native file to someone who doesn't have the same font, it can swap to a default. Exporting to PDF or PNG on your own computer locks in what you see, so check the export before you upload.

Can I use a picture I found online in my slide?

Only if you have the rights to it. Logos, characters, and photos from a web search usually belong to someone else. Use your own photos and artwork, or images you have permission to print.

My photo looks blurry after export. What happened?

Office apps often shrink pictures to keep files small, and a photo that looks fine on a laptop screen can be too small for a shirt. Start from the original photo, turn off image compression if your app has that setting, and zoom in on the export to check for blur before uploading.

What if I just want LuxPort to rebuild it?

That's an option. If your slide is more of a sketch of the idea, use our Have LuxPort Design It page or the design-your-own shirt and describe what you want. Sending your slide as a reference still helps us see the layout you have in mind.

When your file is ready, upload it on our custom T-shirt page, start with design your own, or contact us if the export is giving you trouble.

LuxPort Print Co
10730 Potranco Rd Suite 122-507, San Antonio, TX 78251
team@luxportprint.co