Search Online Resources in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows

The new Smart Lookup feature in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows is an option that brings up definitions, images, and other results from various online resources about a word or phrase, right within PowerPoint. PowerPoint’s online documentation sometimes calls this feature Insights, and it looks like the terms Insights and Smart Lookup are the same features.

There are three ways to bring up the Smart Lookup Task Pane:

1. Select the word or phrase on the slide that you want to explore further, and click the Review tab on the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1. This brings up the Review tab options. Click the Smart Lookup button within the Insights group, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 1.
2. 
   Figure 1: Smart Lookup option within the Review tab
2. You can also type the required word within the Tell Me text box as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2. This brings up the Tell Me drop-down list. Within this list, select the Smart Lookup on option, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 2.
3. 
   Figure 2: Get Help on option within the Tell Me drop-down list
Want to learn more about the Tell Me text box? Explore our Tell Me in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows tutorial.
3. The simplest way though is to right-click the selected word or term, and from the contextual menu that appears, select the Smart Lookup option, as shown in Figure 3.
4. 
   Figure 3: Smart Lookup option within the right-click contextual menu

Whichever option you may choose from the three ways explained above, you will bringing up the Smart Lookup Task Pane, as you can see leftwards in the image shown in Figure 4, below. Do note that there are two tabs in this pane, and in Figure 4, the Explore tab is activated (highlighted in red).

Figure 4: Explore tab of the Smart Lookup Task Pane

Use the scroll bar on the right side of the Smart Lookup Task Pane (highlighted in blue within the same image) to scroll down and explore till the end, as seen rightwards in the image shown in Figure 4.

As you can see in Figure 4 above, the Explore tab includes various sections such as Explore Wikipedia, Bing image search, etc. A preview with information associated with the selected text is already visible and you can click the More option to see detailed content related to any section.

Clicking the More button will open further resources within the Smart Lookup Task Pane.

The Define tab (highlighted in red within Figure 5 below) of the Smart Lookup Task Pane can be seen leftwards. This tab contains definitions and pronunciation for the selected text. Use the scroll bar on the right side of the Smart Lookup Task Pane (highlighted in blue within the image shown leftwards in Figure 5, below) to scroll down and explore till the end, as shown rightwards in the screenshot illustrated in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Define tab of the Smart Lookup Task Pane

You can thus do some basic research about a word or a phrase right inside PowerPoint.