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a 2-minute guide

How to add icons to Keynote

Short answer

Download a PNG at 1024 px in the colour you want and drag it onto your slide.

Time
2 min
Download
PNG
Size
1024 px
Cost
Free

Which file should I download?

PNG · 1024 px

A big transparent PNG works in every version of Keynote, on Mac and iPad. Newer versions of Keynote can also place SVG files, which stay sharp at any size, so try the SVG first if you’re up to date.

Step by step

  1. Pick your icon and download it

    Open the icon library and search for what you need, for example “trophy”. Click the icon, choose a colour, then click Download PNG and pick 1024 px. Pick the colour now: changing the colour of a PNG inside Keynote is fiddly.

  2. Drag it onto the slide

    Drag the file from Finder (or the Downloads stack in your Dock) onto your slide.

  3. Or use the menu

    On a Mac you can also use InsertChoose… in the menu bar and pick the file.

  4. Resize and place it

    Drag a corner handle. For an exact size, open the Format sidebar, go to Arrange and type a width; keep Constrain proportions ticked.

  5. Present!

    Keynote’s yellow guides help you centre it. Add a Build In animation if you want the icon to pop in.

How to change the colour

Pick the colour on with icons before downloading; it’s the quickest and cleanest way. Need a new colour later? Just download the icon again in that colour and drag it over the old one.

How to resize it

Drag a corner handle, or set the width in FormatArrange. A 1024 px PNG stays crisp even when it fills the slide.

Something not working?

The icon has a white background.

Make sure you downloaded the PNG, not a screenshot. Our PNGs are see-through.

It looks a little soft on a big screen.

Download it again at 1024 px, or try the SVG if your Keynote accepts it.

I need a white icon for a dark theme.

Choose white in the library’s colour picker before you download.

Related guides

PowerPointGoogle SlidesCanva All guides

a shortcut

Stuck? Let your AI help in Keynote

Click Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Grok. We copy a ready brief (“help me add an icon to my Keynote project”) that points it to our skill file and this guide, and open it for you. Tell it what the icon is for: it finds the right one, then walks you through adding, recolouring and sizing it.

Ready? Find your icon.

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