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Add-ins are supplemental programs that extend the capabilities of Microsoft PowerPoint by adding custom commands and specialized features. You can obtain add-ins from the Microsoft Office Web site or third-party vendors, or you can write your own custom add-in programs by using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA: A macro-language version of Microsoft Visual Basic that is used to program Windows applications and is included with several Microsoft applications.). PowerPoint add-ins have the file name extension .ppa.

To conserve memory and increase the speed of PowerPoint, it's a good idea to unload add-in programs you don't use often. When you unload an add-in, its features and commands are removed from PowerPoint, but the add-in file itself remains on your computer for easy reloading.

Developers can use Component Object Model (COM) add-ins (COM add-in: A supplemental program that extends the capabilities of a Microsoft Office program by adding custom commands and specialized features. COM add-ins can run in one or more Office programs. COM add-ins use the file name extension .dll or .exe.), which provide additional functionality in a variety of programming languages, including Visual Basic (Visual Basic: A high-level, visual-programming version of Basic. Visual Basic was developed by Microsoft for building Windows-based applications.), Visual C++, and Visual J++. As a developer, you'll find information about designing COM add-ins in Microsoft Visual Basic Help. While you are developing and testing, you can load or unload a COM add-in in PowerPoint before you have a working installation program for your add-in.