Request for Clarification Regarding Use of Microsoft PowerPoint Icons in Open Educational Resources

Hello, 

Good day to you! 

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Community! 

As a moderator, I appreciate your thoughtful and responsible approach to ensuring compliance with licensing terms before publishing educational materials. While your inquiry falls slightly outside my typical scope, I’ve taken the time to research and provide a detailed response to your questions: 

1. Is it permissible to publish educational materials that include Microsoft’s integrated PowerPoint icons under the CC BY-SA license? 

Microsoft’s integrated icon library in Office applications (such as PowerPoint) is provided for use within documents created using Microsoft Office. These icons are licensed as part of the Office software and are intended for personal or internal business/educational use, not for redistribution under open licenses like Creative Commons. 

Therefore, publishing materials that include these icons under a CC BY-SA license is not permitted, as it would involve redistributing Microsoft-owned content under a license that allows modification and reuse, which conflicts with Microsoft’s terms. 

2. Would such a publication violate any copyright or licensing terms associated with Microsoft Office content? 

Including Microsoft’s proprietary icons in materials distributed under Creative Commons licenses would violate Microsoft’s copyright and licensing terms, as these icons are not licensed for open redistribution or modification. Even though the materials are educational, the icons themselves remain copyrighted assets. 

To remain fully compliant, I recommend the following: 

• Remove or replace Microsoft icons with icons from open-source libraries (e.g., Font Awesome, The Noun Project, or Material Icons) that are compatible with Creative Commons licensing.
• Alternatively, you may keep the icons only in internal-use versions of the materials and publish a public version without them.

Additionally, you can infer Use of Microsoft Copyrighted Content | Microsoft Legal or What am I allowed to use premium creative content for? - Microsoft Support 

Once again, thank you again for raising this issue; it’s helped broaden my understanding. I hope you understand that I want to help as much as I can within the scope of this forum.  

If my answer is helpful, please mark it as an answer by Yes, which will definitely help others in the community who have similar queries to find solutions to their problems faster.   

Feel free to reach out anytime if you need further assistance — we're always here to help. 

Best Regards,         

Tina L - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Thank you for responding.  

For your concern, I will explain detail and please take note of the following four key points when using PowerPoint for OER creation: 

• Content Ownership: You may freely use PowerPoint to create educational materials and publish them as Open Educational Resources (OER), as long as the content is original or properly licensed (e.g., under Creative Commons). Avoid using copyrighted images, icons, audio, or templates without clear permission.
• Microsoft Licensing: Microsoft allows the use of PowerPoint to create content but does not permit redistribution of the software itself or proprietary assets such as commercial templates, exclusive fonts, or media not licensed for open use. The content you create is yours and can be shared as OER if it complies with these terms.
• Format Conversion: To improve accessibility and distribution, consider converting your presentation to PDF, video, or HTML formats. This allows learners to access the material without needing PowerPoint.
• Open Licensing: Attach a Creative Commons license to your presentation to clearly indicate how others may use, adapt, and share your work.

In summary, I recommend: 

• Using only content, you have rights to share.
• Including a clear license (e.g., CC BY) on your presentations.
• Avoiding redistribution of any Microsoft-owned assets not explicitly licensed for open use.

If you find this information helpful, please consider clicking "Yes" to mark it as an answer. Once marked, it will automatically pin to top. As other users will also search information in this community, your valuable marked answer will definitely also help other users who have similar queries easily to find the correct channel and useful information more quickly. 

Best regards,

Tina L - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Hello,

Thank you for your fast reply. Your answer helped me very much.

Regarding the use of PowerPoint presentations themselves. May PowerPoint presentations themselves be used to create and publish educational content as Open Educational Resources (OERs)? Would this use potentially conflict with Microsoft's terms of use if PowerPoint is used as a platform for creating OERs and the resulting presentations are then published?

Thank you in advance for your support.

Best regards,

Ragavan Shanmugasingam

University of Bielefeld

It's been a while since I last heard from you – I just wanted to check in and see if you needed any further help. Please let me know if there is anything I can help with.

If my answer is helpful, please mark it as an answer, which will definitely help others in the community who have similar questions find solutions to their problems faster.  

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We look forward to hearing from you!

Kind regards,
Tina L - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist