Napkin AI
Paste text. Get an infographic. No designer, no blank slide deck.
By Thiago Lourenço Martins
A text editor with a built-in designer
Napkin AI is a text editor that does one thing differently: when you select any passage of what you wrote and click a lightning bolt icon, it turns that passage into a diagram, infographic, or flowchart — automatically. Think of it as having a designer next to you who, after every paragraph, asks "want me to draw this?" You keep writing; it handles the visuals.
The report you write in 1 hour becomes a slide in 5 minutes
Consultants, managers, and teachers spend hours making PowerPoint "say" what the text already says. You write the diagnosis, the action plan, the process — then you have to redesign everything with boxes and arrows.
That is the average time to turn already-written text into a presentation-ready visual, with no design skills. Paste the text, pick from the generated options, and export in .png, .pdf, .svg, or .ppt — straight into your slide deck.
How different professionals get value from Napkin AI
-
Business consultant
Takes the diagnosis written in Word, pastes it into Napkin, and turns each step of the action plan into a process flowchart — without redesigning anything in PowerPoint. The client gets it on the first try.
-
Project manager
Converts a timeline described in an email into a visual roadmap with phases and milestones. Copies it into the kick-off presentation and saves an entire alignment meeting.
-
Teacher or educator
Turns a lesson outline — already written — into a mind map for students. Uses it as a support handout without building anything from scratch.
-
Analyst or researcher
Has a comparison of three scenarios written as bullet points. Pastes it into Napkin and gets a side-by-side comparison infographic. Ready for a report or executive presentation.
-
Entrepreneur or small business owner
Wants to show the company structure to partners or investors. Pastes the department descriptions and generates a professional org chart without hiring a designer.
From text to exported infographic
- Go to napkin.ai and create your account
Click "Get Napkin Free" (top right corner). You can sign in with Google or create an account with email. The free plan requires no credit card.
- Create a new project
On the home screen, click "New Napkin". A text editing screen opens.
think of it as a text document with visual superpowers - Paste your text
Choose "Blank Napkin" and paste the content you want to visualize — a report, a process outline, a numbered list of steps. You can also use "Generate text with AI" to let the tool draft the text for you.
- Select a passage and click the lightning bolt icon
Highlight the paragraph or bullet points you want to turn into a visual. A lightning bolt icon (⚡) appears to the left of the selected text — click it. The AI processes it and generates several visual options.
texts of 1 to 3 paragraphs produce cleaner results - Choose the visual type
To the left of the generated visual, you'll see available types: diagram, flowchart, infographic, timeline, comparison, and others. Scroll through and pick the one that best represents your idea.
- Customize if you want
Click any element to edit the text inside the visual, swap icons, or adjust colors. This step is optional — the visual is usable as-is.
- Export the result
Click the download button in the top right corner. Available formats: .png, .pdf, .svg, and .ppt (PowerPoint).
use .ppt to paste the visual directly into an existing presentation
A ready-made text to generate your first visual
List 5 steps in a consulting process, from diagnosis to delivery. For each step, write a title of up to 4 words and a short sentence describing what happens in it.
Paste this text into Napkin AI, select all of it, and click the lightning bolt icon. You'll get a process infographic ready to present to a client.
Tips & real limitations
Do this
- Use short, structured text (bullet points, numbered steps) — it produces cleaner visuals than long paragraphs.
- Try more than one visual type before customizing — the same text can become a timeline, flowchart, or comparison; each tells a different story.
- Export as .ppt to paste the visual directly into existing PowerPoint presentations without screenshotting anything.
Watch out
- The free plan has a weekly credit limit — you cannot generate unlimited visuals without upgrading to a paid plan.
- The interface is in English only — there is no Portuguese language option for the menus. The content you type can be in any language, but buttons are in English.
- The AI doesn't always pick the ideal diagram type on the first try — it's common to test 2 or 3 options before finding the right visual.
A Portuguese-language tutorial to go further
* Independent suggestion, chosen for content quality. We have no relationship or sponsorship with this channel.
Turn a text you already have into a visual
Grab any text from your work — an email with project steps, a paragraph from a report, or a process description. Paste it into Napkin, select the passage, click the lightning bolt, and pick a visual.
You've succeeded if you can export at least one visual as a .png in under 5 minutes, without touching any advanced settings.
Every day, a new tool explained.
Get it on WhatsApp