Create a word cloud
The word cloud panel turns a term list or free-flowing text into a dense, overlap-free cloud — either as native PowerPoint text boxes (one shape per word, individually movable, recolourable and animatable) or as an image. Shape, density, sizing logic, colours and filters are all configurable.
Free/Trial: max. 10 words
From the Standard licence onwards the full feature set is available with no word limit. In Free and Trial each cloud uses the 10 most frequent terms — every other option (shapes, density, palettes, import) is fully available. A note below the button tells you when the limit has kicked in.
Opening
In the ribbon go to PPPTools → „Wordcloud" group and click Wordcloud. The panel opens on the right.
It has four tabs: Daten (main term, word list, import), Modus (ready-made layout variants as a starting point), Einstellungen (appearance, shape, colours, filters, exclusion lists) and Presets (save and apply your own configurations). The Create word cloud on slide and Rearrange buttons and the status line sit fixed at the bottom and are reachable from all tabs — so you can change something in the settings and regenerate straight away without switching tabs.
Entering data
Main term
The Main term field puts one word large and centred — independent of any counts. If the same term also appears in the list, the duplicate is removed. Ideal for title slides: the core topic dominates and the other terms arrange themselves around it.
For two or more lines use a vertical bar: Data|Feeling renders "Data" above "Feeling", centred. That is the stacked look of large word clouds. The font size is still derived from the target width, so a two-liner ends up larger than the same text on one line.
Platzierung (placement) controls how much it dominates:
| Mode | Effect |
|---|---|
| Eingebettet | As before: the main term is the largest word but is placed freely like all others |
| Gross in der Mitte | Fixed position in the centre, about 55 % width — the other words pack around it |
| Band über die volle Breite | Fixed position in the centre, about 92 % width — the main term becomes a banner. The whole strip at that height stays clear, so nothing sits beside or between the letters; the other words only fill above and below |
In the two fixed modes the font size is derived from the target width, not from the counts. A long term is therefore set smaller than a short one.
Combined with the frame mode
With outside the shape (words as a frame) active, the main term lands in the shape's free interior instead of the slide centre. That produces the "term in the middle, words framing it" look — with a selected shape, inside its outline.
Input field
The text field accepts three kinds of input — the panel detects them automatically:
| Input | Example | Behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Term + count | PowerPoint,120 |
The number drives the weighting |
| Terms only | one term per line | All weighted equally |
| Free text | full sentences/paragraphs | Counted word by word, filters apply |
Comma, semicolon and tab work as separators. The space is not a separator, so multi-part terms stay together: Trin Mulin,5 produces exactly one entry.
Taking text from the presentation
Pick a source and click Übernehmen (Apply):
| Source | What is read |
|---|---|
| Selected shapes | Only the text of the currently selected shapes |
| Current slide | All text frames on the slide |
| All slides | The entire presentation |
incl. notes additionally reads the notes pages.
Loading a file
Load file… supports txt, csv, docx, xlsx and pdf.
Import always produces a counted list
Whether from the presentation or from a file, the text is not taken over raw — it is turned into a sorted term,count list (most frequent first). That list then sits in the input field and can be edited freely before generating: delete lines, adjust numbers, merge terms.
Exporting words as CSV
Wörter als CSV exportieren… writes the processed list as term;count to a file — not the raw text. So free text is exported as the finished count, with filters and excluded words already applied. You get exactly the terms that would end up in the cloud.
| Detail | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Separator | semicolon | German Excel opens the file straight into columns, without the import wizard |
| Encoding | UTF-8 with BOM | Umlauts show correctly in Excel |
| Header row | none | So the file can be read back unchanged via Load file… |
Round trip via Excel
Export → sort, merge and adjust numbers in Excel → save as CSV → bring it back with Load file…. CSVs saved by Excel are usually ANSI-encoded; the panel detects this and still reads umlauts correctly.
Mode
The Modus tab is the quickest way in: one click on Übernehmen sets shape, free area and placement together. The cloud is not rebuilt — you see the result on the next generate, and can fine-tune in the settings tab first.
The active mode is highlighted. The marking is derived from the current settings rather than remembered: change something in the settings tab that no longer matches any mode and it disappears. So it never shows a mode that is not actually set.
| Sketch | Mode | Sets |
|---|---|---|
| Klassisch Dichte Wolke; ein Hauptbegriff wird zum grössten Wort, bleibt aber frei platziert |
Form Rechteck · Platzierung Eingebettet | |
| Banner Hauptbegriff über die volle Breite, Wörter oben und unten |
Form Rechteck · Platzierung Band über die volle Breite | |
| Dominant Hauptbegriff gross mittig, Wolke rundum |
Form Rechteck · Platzierung Gross in der Mitte | |
| Rahmen eckig Rechteckige Freifläche, Rahmenstärke in cm |
Form Rechteck · Freifläche Rahmen 4 cm · Platzierung Gross in der Mitte | |
| Rahmen rund Wie Rahmen eckig, aber mit runder Freifläche |
Form Kreis · Freifläche Rahmen 4 cm · Platzierung Gross in der Mitte | |
| Silhouette Die Wolke füllt eine Form |
Form Herz · Platzierung Eingebettet | |
| Ein Wort füllt die Form Ein Begriff wird wiederholt, bis die Form voll ist |
Form Herz · Platzierung Eingebettet · Wiederholen | |
| Umriss aussen Wörter ausserhalb einer markierten Form |
Form Ausgewählte Form · Platzierung Eingebettet · Außerhalb der Form | |
| Farben aus Bild Palette aus einem markierten Bild |
Form Rechteck · Platzierung Eingebettet · Farben Farben aus Bild |
Mode versus preset
A mode is a built-in starting point and only changes a few settings. A preset is your own fully saved configuration, optionally including the words. They combine well: pick a mode, fine-tune, save as a preset.
Setting the frame width
Rahmen eckig and Rahmen rund set the free area to eigene Rahmenstärke (cm) at 4 cm. You change the width of the word frame in the Einstellungen tab, field Rahmenstärke (cm) — the mode marking stays, because the width is fine-tuning within the mode.
Two modes need a selection on the slide
Umriss aussen requires a selected shape, Farben aus Bild a selected picture. Without a selection the panel reports a hint when generating.
Example data sets
Six ready-made data sets to try out — download and load them in the panel via Load file…. All in term;count format, sorted descending, UTF-8 with BOM, so they open in Excel directly too.
| Data set | Entries | Weighting | View |
|---|---|---|---|
| Largest capital cities | 100 | Agglomeration population in thousands | Open list |
| Largest countries | 100 | Area in km² | Open list |
| Financial and cultural metropolises | 50 | Metro population in thousands | Open list |
| Swiss cantons | 26 | Resident population | Open list |
| German federal states | 16 | Population in thousands | Open list |
| Analytics terms | 100 | Subject relevance, DataFeeling on top | Open list |
Reference values, not a source
The figures are rounded reference values and serve only as weights for the cloud — they are not evidence. For cities in particular the population depends heavily on whether the city proper, the agglomeration or the metro region is meant; agglomeration is used throughout here. For countries the weighting is area, not population. The selection of financial and cultural metropolises is inherently subjective. For the analytics terms the figures are not a measured frequency but an assigned subject weighting — DataFeeling sits well clear at the top and therefore works as the main term.
Good for experimenting
Cantons and federal states, with 26 and 16 entries, are ideal for testing shapes and density — few words, clear size differences. The countries span a ratio of roughly 150:1 from Russia to Bulgaria, so you immediately see what the font-size modes do. For Free and Trial the federal states work best, because the 10-word limit hurts least there.
Settings
Font and style
Font lists every font installed on your machine, alphabetically; Segoe UI is preselected. Bold is on by default — bold type packs noticeably tighter in a cloud and reads stronger. Italic can be combined with it.
Fonts and sharing
If a font has no bold or italic cut, the next best one is used automatically instead of aborting. Symbol fonts such as Wingdings are in the list too — they produce gibberish rather than text.
With native text boxes the font name travels with the presentation: if someone opens it without that font, PowerPoint substitutes. In image mode the font is baked in and looks the same everywhere.
Case normalises the terms: as entered (original spelling preserved), UPPERCASE, lowercase or First letter capitalised.
Colours
Besides Template colours (active design) a whole range of fixed palettes is available. The full list with colour swatches is on the shared page Colour palettes — the same palettes also apply in the puzzle and the colour swatch tool.
Monochrome palettes are distributed differently
Blau einfarbig, Weinrot and Graustufen hold one colour in brightness steps, so they are assigned by rank — the darkest step goes to the largest word, the lightest to the smallest. Colourful palettes still cycle through the list as before.
Colours from image (selection) pulls the palette from the currently selected picture, so the cloud automatically adopts the colour world of a photo or logo.
Two entries are not a fixed colour list but derive from the active slide design:
| Entry | Effect |
|---|---|
Template-Akzent einfarbig |
Takes the design's first accent colour and builds six brightness steps from it. The darkest step goes to the largest word, the lightest to the smallest. The chips show an example using #D6442D — you will see your own template's accent |
Akzentfarbe + Grau (Top hervorheben) |
The strongest terms in the accent colour, all others in greys. Only the first chip depends on the design |
Eine Farbe (frei wählbar) — all words in exactly one colour. The Farbe field below takes a hex value; the … button opens the colour dialog, where the accent colours of the active design are preloaded as custom colours.
Gradients across the whole cloud — each word stays a solid colour, which is derived from its position. The direction is set next to it under Verlaufsrichtung (horizontal · vertical · diagonal · radial).
| Gradient | Colours |
|---|---|
Verlauf: Blau → Türkis |
#1F6FD0 → #31C7C0 |
Verlauf: Violett → Pink |
#5B2A86 → #E75A9B |
Verlauf: Orange → Gelb |
#D6442D → #F2A007 |
Verlauf: Anthrazit → Mint |
#1F2933 → #0FB99E |
Verlauf: Template-Akzente |
accent 1 → accent 2 of the active design |
When monochrome works better
With colourful palettes the colour competes with font size as a carrier of meaning — the eye looks for an order that isn't there. A monochrome ramp instead reinforces frequency. For business and consulting slides that is usually the calmer and more brand-compliant choice than "template colours", which puts all accents side by side.
How many words get highlighted in Akzentfarbe + Grau follows the font-size mode: with Top 3 / 5 / 10 large it is the same 3, 5 or 10 terms, otherwise just the largest. So colour and size always agree.
Layout
Layout controls word orientation: horizontal only, mostly horizontal (default), mixed, mostly vertical, with diagonals and diagonal only (±45°).
Diagonal words
Common word cloud libraries only handle 0° and 90°. PPPTools additionally places words at ±45°, which loosens up the picture and fills corners that would otherwise stay empty.
Shape
Shape bounds the cloud: rectangle, ellipse, circle, triangle, heart, cloud or selected shape. With the latter the currently selected PowerPoint shape is used as a silhouette — any AutoShape, freeform object or cut-out image.
- Outside the shape (words as a frame) inverts the logic: the shape stays clear and the words form a frame around it. Only useful with a selected shape of your own, because the built-in shapes fill the whole area.
- Draw shape contour additionally places the outline on the slide.
Free area in the centre
Keeps an area in the selected shape clear in the middle — none, small (25 %), medium (40 %), large (55 %) or very large (70 %) of the area size. The words form a frame around it.
The free area follows the Shape setting: rectangle gives a rectangular hole, circle a round one, heart a heart-shaped one. With selected shape the free area is rectangular — there the silhouette is needed for the outer boundary, not for the hole.
Setting the frame width directly
Instead of a percentage the selection can be set to eigene Rahmenstärke (cm). The Rahmenstärke (cm) field then defines the width of the word frame, and the free area follows from it.
For round shapes the narrowest point counts
The value is kept at top, bottom, left and right. Because the free area is round for circle, ellipse or heart, the frame is necessarily wider in the corners — there is simply more room between shape and area edge. With rectangle it is even all round.
Width and height are computed separately so the frame is equally thick on all sides even in a wide area (e.g. 28 × 15 cm). Once a free area is set, the cloud also always fills the whole configured area — it is then not cropped to the words actually placed, because that would shift the free area and make the frame uneven.
| Combination | Result |
|---|---|
| Free area + main term | The term is centred in the area and scaled to about 62 % of the free area, so it keeps clearance from the word frame |
| Free area without main term | The area stays empty — room for a picture, logo or chart |
Word size follows the frame width
Once a free area is set, the maximum font size is tied to the frame width rather than to the area size. Without that a single long word takes up much of the band — one edge ends up with two giant words and the opposite one with a dozen small ones, so the frame looks uneven even though it is geometrically the same width all round. Relative sizes are preserved; only the range is compressed to what fits the band.
The framed look
Shape rectangle, free area large (55 %), enter a main term, placement Gross in der Mitte. For the round variant use the same with shape circle or ellipse. The larger the free area, the narrower the frame — at very large there is little room left, so lower Max. words.
Density
Very dense, dense (default) and less dense control the minimum gap between words. Even at very dense there is always a pixel of air — words never touch or overlap.
Font size
| Mode | Effect |
|---|---|
| All the same size | Ignores counts — pure pattern |
| Use weighting | Size strictly proportional to the count |
| Automatic adjustment | Default: blends rank and value for more even gradation |
| Top 1 / 3 / 5 / 10 large, rest auto | The strongest terms deliberately emphasised, the rest finely graded |
Further options
- Repeat — word(s) fill the shape: terms are repeated cyclically until the shape is full. With a single word this produces a typographically filled silhouette.
- Info line below the cloud: places a line of text with word count, settings and date under the graphic — handy for reports and traceability.
- Max. words (default 120) and Area (cm) for the cloud's width × height.
- Group words together: groups all text boxes into one object — easier to move, but individual words are then only reachable through the group.
Filters
These filters only apply to free text — a ready-made term,count list is already curated.
| Filter | Effect |
|---|---|
| Remove common filler words | Strips German and English function words (und, oder, der, die, das, the, and, of …). On by default |
| Min. word length | Words shorter than this are dropped (default 3) — filters abbreviations and fragments |
| Include numbers | Off by default; pure numbers such as "2026" or "15" are otherwise ignored |
| Reproducible | Fixes the random seed: the same input yields exactly the same layout every time |
Presets
The Presets tab stores complete configurations under a name — kept in %AppData%\PPPTools\wordcloud_presets.xml.
Applying a preset
At the top you pick a saved preset. Below it a short summary shows what it contains: the key settings (font, colours, shape, density, size mode, layout, output, area, max. words) and whether words are included — for a preset with words you see the main term, the number of data lines and the number of excluded words.
Übernehmen (Apply) applies the preset, Löschen (Delete) removes it after a confirmation. If the preset contains words and your data field is not empty, you are asked first — your word list is never lost silently.
Saving a preset
At the bottom you enter a name and save with Preset speichern. An existing name is overwritten after a confirmation.
| Option | What gets stored |
|---|---|
| without "Inkl. Wörter" | Settings only: font, style, colours, layout, case, output, shape, outside/contour, density, font-size mode, repeat, info line, max. words, area and the filters. A pure style template, applicable to any data |
| with "Inkl. Wörter" | Additionally the main term, the word list and the excluded words — a complete, restorable cloud |
Which one when?
Without words for reusable styles: "Corporate cloud", "Heart colourful", "Report plain" — set up once, applied to any new data set. With words for recurring analyses that always use the same terms, such as a quarterly topic cloud.
Automatic remembering
Independently of presets, the panel remembers the last used settings including words — on generating and when you leave the exclusion field. So it opens the way you left it even if you never create a preset.
Included in the backup
Presets and exclusion lists are covered by the backup under Einstellungen and restored with it — together with app_config.xml and the export presets. So they survive a change of machine.
Excluded words
The Excluded words field holds terms that never end up in the cloud — comma-separated or one per line, case-insensitive.
Always applies, including to ready-made lists
Unlike the filters above, exclusion applies to every kind of input — including a term,count list. That is exactly where you need it: after an import the company name sits at the top by a wide margin and drowns out everything else. Add it to the field and it is simply not placed; the list in the input field stays unchanged.
The text last entered is remembered automatically and is back the next time you open the panel.
Saving lists
Below the field you can manage named exclusion lists:
| Button | Effect |
|---|---|
| Save list… | Asks for a name and stores the current field content under it. An existing name is overwritten after a confirmation |
| Load | Replaces the field content with the list selected in the dropdown |
| Delete | Removes the selected list after a confirmation |
So you can set up a "Company terms" list (company name, product names, department abbreviations) and a "Project jargon" list once, then switch between them per analysis. The lists apply per user across all presentations and live in %AppData%\PPPTools\wordcloud_excludes.xml.
Output: native text boxes or image
| Output | Advantages | Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|
| Native text boxes (editable) | One shape per word: move, recolour, rename, animate individually; scales losslessly | Slightly larger gaps needed, since PowerPoint lays out the text with its own metrics |
| Image – tightly interlocked | Maximum density, words interlock pixel-precisely | A single image object, not editable afterwards |
Which output when?
Image for maximum visual density when the cloud stays pure graphics. Native text boxes as soon as you still want to change something afterwards — highlight one term in a different colour, animate individual words flying in, fix a typo.
While generating, a progress bar shows the status; large clouds with many words take a few seconds. Rearrange regenerates the same cloud with a new random layout — click until you like the arrangement.
Examples
Topic cloud from an existing presentation
- Choose the source All slides, optionally incl. notes, and click Apply.
- Review the resulting
term,countlist and delete unwanted terms or add them to Excluded words (and save that list for next time). - Set Min. word length 4 and leave filler word removal on.
- Shape ellipse, density dense, font size Top 3 large, rest auto.
- Output native text boxes, then Create word cloud on slide.
Key message as a title slide
- Enter or import the term list.
- Main term = the central topic, e.g.
Sustainability. - Layout with diagonals, colours earth tones, density very dense.
- Output image – tightly interlocked for a rich, closed picture.
Logo in the centre, terms as a frame
- Select the cut-out logo on the slide.
- Shape selected shape, enable outside the shape (words as a frame).
- Colours colours from image (selection) — the cloud adopts the logo colours.
- Generate; the logo stays clear and the terms frame it.
One word fills a silhouette
- Leave a single term in the input field.
- Choose shape heart (or a selected shape of your own).
- Enable Repeat — word(s) fill the shape, font size automatic adjustment.
- Generate — the word fills the silhouette in varying sizes and angles.
Notes
- The cloud is always placed on the current slide, centred within the configured area.
- Words never overlap — if a term no longer fits it is scaled down, and if that is not enough it is left out. A word may shrink to about 8 % of the largest font size before being dropped.
- The status line reports the number placed and, if terms were missing, the total as well — e.g. "62 von 100 Wörter". If more than 5 % are missing, a hint is added. Scaling the finished cloud down does not help: the missing words were never placed, and uniform scaling does not change the space ratios. What works is a larger area (cm), fewer max. words, or the font-size mode all the same size.
- With selected shape only the silhouette counts, not the fill colour — an image with a transparent background works too.
- Very delicate shapes (thin lines, fine lettering as a mask) offer little area. Lower Max. words or raise the density in that case.
- Native text boxes behave like any other shape afterwards — including with the align and order tools.