a new presentation can be created from design template

Create and save a PowerPoint template

When you create a presentation and then save it as a PowerPoint template (.potx) file, you can share it with your colleagues and reuse it again. To create a template, you'll need to modify a slide master and a set of slide layouts.

  Choose from thousands of free templates to download at Microsoft templates

Select a topic to see detailed instructions:

Create a PowerPoint template

Open a blank presentation: File > New > Blank Presentation

On the Design tab, select Slide Size > Custom Slide Size and choose the page orientation and dimensions you want.

On the View tab, in the Master Views group, choose Slide Master .

The slide master is the largest slide image at the top of the slide thumbnail list, to the left of your slides. Associated slide layouts are positioned beneath the slide master.

To make changes to the slide master or slide layouts, on the Slide Master tab, do any of the following:

To add a colorful theme with special fonts and effects, select  Themes , and choose a theme from the gallery. Use the scrollbar on the right to see more themes.

To change the background, select  Background Styles , and choose a background.

To add a placeholder (to hold text, a picture, chart, video, sound, and other objects), in the thumbnail pane, select the slide layout that you want to hold the placeholder, and do the following:

Select  Insert Placeholder  and choose the type of placeholder you want to add.

On the slide master or slide layout, select and drag to draw the placeholder size.

Tip:    To resize a placeholder, drag the corner of one of its borders.

To move a placeholder around on a slide master or slide layout, select the edge and then drag it into a new position.

To remove an unwanted placeholder in a slide master or slide layout, select it in the slide thumbnail pane, and then select the border of the placeholder on the slide and press Delete.

To set the page orientation for all of the slides in your presentation, select  Slide Size > Custom Slide Size .

Under Orientation , choose Portrait or Landscape .

Save your presentation as a PowerPoint template (.potx)

On the File tab, select  Save As (or Save a Copy , if you are using Microsoft 365).

In the Save as type list, choose PowerPoint Template .

When you choose the "template" type, PowerPoint automatically switches the storage location to the appropriate folder, the Custom Office Templates folder.

In the Save As dialog box, in the File name box, type a file name for your template, or do nothing to accept the suggested file name.

Select Save .

To use your template for a new presentation, select  File > New . Then select  Custom > Custom Office Templates , and then double-click the template you saved.

Apply a template to a new presentation

See Apply a template to your presentation .

Create your own theme in PowerPoint

Save a slide design (theme) as a template

Edit, change, or delete a placeholder

What is a slide master?

What is a slide layout?

Create and use your own template in Microsoft 365 for Mac

How to make a branded PowerPoint presentation

You can't create a template in PowerPoint for the web. You have to use a desktop version of PowerPoint instead.

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PowerPoint  - Creating and Opening Presentations

Powerpoint  -, creating and opening presentations, powerpoint creating and opening presentations.

PowerPoint: Creating and Opening Presentations

Lesson 3: creating and opening presentations.

/en/powerpoint/understanding-onedrive/content/

Introduction

PowerPoint files are called presentations . Whenever you start a new project in PowerPoint, you'll need to create a new presentation , which can either be blank or from a template . You'll also need to know how to open an existing presentation .

Watch the video below to learn more about creating and opening presentations in PowerPoint.

To create a new presentation:

When beginning a new project in PowerPoint, you'll often want to start with a new blank presentation.

• A new presentation will appear.

To create a new presentation from a template:

A template is a predesigned presentation you can use to create a new slide show quickly. Templates often include custom formatting and designs , so they can save you a lot of time and effort when starting a new project.

• Click the File tab to access Backstage view , then select New .

• A preview of the template will appear, along with additional information on how the template can be used.

• A new presentation will appear with the selected template .

It's important to note that not all templates are created by Microsoft. Many are created by third-party providers and even individual users, so some templates may work better than others.

To open an existing presentation:

In addition to creating new presentations, you'll often need to open a presentation that was previously saved. To learn more about saving presentations, review our lesson on Saving Presentations .

Most features in Microsoft Office, including PowerPoint, are geared toward saving and sharing documents online . This is done with OneDrive , which is an online storage space for your documents and files. If you want to use OneDrive, make sure you’re signed in to PowerPoint with your Microsoft account. Review our lesson on Understanding OneDrive to learn more.

To pin a presentation:

If you frequently work with the same presentation , you can pin it to Backstage view for easy access.

• Select the File tab to go to Backstage view , then click Open . Your Recent Presentations will appear.

Compatibility Mode

Sometimes you may need to work with presentations that were created in earlier versions of PowerPoint, like PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint 2000. When you open these types of presentations, they will appear in Compatibility Mode .

Compatibility Mode disables certain features, so you'll only be able to access commands found in the program that was used to create the presentation. For example, if you open a presentation created in PowerPoint 2003, you can only use tabs and commands found in PowerPoint 2003.

In the image below, you can see at the top of the window that the presentation is in Compatibility Mode. This will disable some current PowerPoint features, including newer types of slide transitions.

To exit Compatibility Mode, you'll need to convert the presentation to the current version type. However, if you're collaborating with others who only have access to an earlier version of PowerPoint, it's best to leave the presentation in Compatibility Mode so the format will not change.

You can review this support page from Microsoft to learn more about which features are disabled in Compatibility Mode.

To convert a presentation:

If you want access to the newer features, you can convert the presentation to the current file format.

Note that converting a file may cause some changes to the original layout of the presentation.

• The presentation will be converted to the newest file type.
• Open our practice presentation .
• Notice that the presentation opens in Compatibility Mode . Convert it to the current file format. If a dialog box appears asking if you would like to close and reopen the file in order to see the new features, choose Yes .
• In Backstage view, pin a file or folder.

/en/powerpoint/saving-presentations/content/

Blog > How to create a PowerPoint Template

How to create a PowerPoint Template

08.27.21   •  #powerpointtips.

Today, we are getting into a powerful PowerPoint feature that can save you and your co-workers lots of time. Maybe you are already using them, but since almost 70% of PowerPoint users do not, and if you are one of them you are about to learn some important things. Whether you already know about templates or you’ve never heard of them – we are going to teach you everything you need to know and show you the steps to create your own one.

What is a template and why should I use it?

• A PowerPoint template is a kind of pattern that is predefined for a presentation. It gives a frame for the content and the design of your slides.
• Elements like background, colours, titles, etc. are set beforehand.
• You can save the template separately and reuse it for as many presentations as you need.
• As all the designs and slides have already been defined, you only need to add your custom text and pictures. That saves a lot of time.
• Templates are especially perfect for companies. Make one template that fits the corporate design and any employee can use them from now on, saving time and giving your business a consistent and professional appearance.

Now, learn how to create a template by watching our video or reading the steps below.

The slide master

The Slide Master is the most important tool for creating templates. You can find it by clicking View in the PowerPoint menu (and then clicking on Slide Master ).

In the window on the left you will find a couple of slides that do not (yet) have a design. Also, you will see one slide on top that is slightly larger and connected to the other slides with dashed lines. That one is your Slide Master, your “main slide”. Everything you change there will directly affect all the other slides. You can try it out by setting a different background colour for the Slide Master. The other slides will immediately change colours, too.

Edit slide masters more precisely

We use the main slide to pre-set all our important elements. Once we like how it looks, we can go ahead and adjust each individual slide-template. Here’s a list of things you can/should change:

• Colours: Go to Colours and choose either one of PowerPoint’s predefined palettes or create your own one.
• Fonts: Click Fonts and then Customise Fonts and choose styles for your titles and regular text.
• Background: Go as crazy-creative or minimalistic as you want. Change the background colour, maybe add some shapes, or look for a nice image online that works behind your text. (To do so, right click on your main slide and go to “Format Background”)
• Title: Change the size, style and placement of the title, simply by editing it as you would usually do.
• Text Style: Do the same for your regular text boxes. Define what the bullet points should look like.
• Footer: You can switch the footer elements around, replace them and change them like any regular text.

Using themes

While themes in PowerPoint are similar to templates, they are not the same thing. A theme in PowerPoint is a predefined selection of colors, fonts, effects and backgrounds. So if you are creating a template for your company we recommend you to add a custom theme with the company's brand colors and fonts. Now, if you want to know in more detail what a theme design is in PowerPoint and how to create one, you can read about it in more detail in our blog post, Theme Designs .

Use the right fonts

A very important point with PowerPoint presentations is to choose the right font, because it must be easy to read, but it should also not be boring. In our blog post on the best fonts for your presentations , we have picked some good fonts for you to use.

Advance image design in templates

Rename master slides

Individual Templates for each slide layout

Once you are finished with your main slide, you can go ahead and adjust the other slide layouts. You may find that some look perfect already – you can leave them as they are. For those who don’t, or if you would just like some different slide designs in your template, here are some useful tips on what you can change:

• Background: You may not want the same background on each slide layout. To turn off the background that has been given to the slide (by setting it in the main slide), just tick off the box Hide background graphics in the top Slide Master menu. You are then free to design the background from scratch.
• Footers: On some slides you might not want the footer to show. Disable the Footers checkbox in the task line to make it disappear.
• Title: The same thing works with the title (the checkbox is right there with the Footers )
• Placeholder: Click on Insert Placeholder . You can choose from a variety of placeholders. They can be very helpful because they predefine where a certain element (e.g. image, video,...) should be placed in the presentation.
• Other elements: Of course, you can move, remove and add any other element or object you might need.

TIP: You might need another predefined layout (e.g. for slides that give an overview, for “Contact us” slides, …) You can easily create a template for that as well by right clicking in the grey box on the left with all your layouts and then clicking Insert Layout . By right clicking on that new layout you can go to Rename Layout and call it some name that makes sense. You can treat it like the rest of the layouts and simply adjust it to your needs.

Save your masterpiece and use it for a presentation

When you are satisfied with the look of all your layouts, you can save the template by clicking File and then Save As . You can now choose any folder or use the folder provided by PowerPoint and then save it as a PowerPoint template (*.potx). Close and open PowerPoint again, click on New in the left orange sidebar and then change from Office to Personal or Custom . Your template should now be visible here. Click on it and you can create a new presentation with your predefined layouts. You can also set your template as the default option. To do this, you need to click on the pin at the bottom right of the template and pin it to your list . If for some reason your template was not shown in the start menu OR if you have already created a template-less presentation that should get the template, go to Design at the top of the open presentation, click on the small arrow by the designs and then select Search for designs . There, click on your created template (in the folder where you saved it) and open it. The presentation should now take on your template design.

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Pia Lehner-Mittermaier

Pia works in Marketing as a graphic designer and writer at SlideLizard. She uses her vivid imagination and creativity to produce good content.

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How to Make a PowerPoint Template

Last Updated: April 11, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA . Darlene Antonelli is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. Darlene has experience teaching college courses, writing technology-related articles, and working hands-on in the technology field. She earned an MA in Writing from Rowan University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on online communities and the personalities curated in such communities. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 583,314 times. Learn more...

If you want to maintain consistency throughout your organization's PowerPoint presentations, a template is what you'll want to use. This wikiHow teaches you how to create a custom PowerPoint template in Microsoft PowerPoint. You can do this on both Windows and Mac versions of PowerPoint.

Quick Steps to Creating a PowerPoint Template

To create a PowerPoint template, start by designing your presentation however you wish. In the Slide Master tab, you can use the Insert Placeholder button to add a placeholder for items that will be edited later, like images or text. Then, save your presentation as a standard PowerPoint file.

• On Mac, simply opening PowerPoint might open a new presentation depending on your settings. If it does, skip this step.

• On Mac, this option is on the top menu bar. [1] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source

• On Mac, first click Master , then click Slide Master .

• Once you select a slide, you can pick a theme from the "Themes" drop-down that's located above the slide master panel. You can also apply backgrounds by clicking Background styles. You can also click Format Background... in the drop-down menu to customize color options like base color, gradient, and brightness.

• Content - Inserts a written content outline. On a Mac, you have a "Vertical" option for Content as well.
• Text - Inserts a text box. On a Mac, you have a "Vertical" option for Text as well.
• Picture - Inserts a section for a picture.
• Chart - Inserts a section for a chart.
• Table - Inserts a section for a table.
• Smart Art - Inserts a section for smart art items.
• Media - Inserts a section for a video.
• Online Image - Inserts a section from which you can add an online image.

• You may have to perform additional steps before the item is added to your template. For example, clicking Online Image will prompt you to search for an image and click Insert .

• Windows: Click File > Save As , select a location and enter a name for your template. Click the Save as type drop-down box, click PowerPoint Template , and then click Save . [2] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
• Mac: Click File > Save as Template , enter a file name, and click Save .

Community Q&A

• You can upload your templates to Microsoft OneDrive if you want to store them in the cloud. You should be able to access them from the PowerPoint template menu. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-template-86a1d089-5ae2-4d53-9042-1191bce57deb#OfficeVersion=macOS
• ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-and-save-a-powerpoint-template-ee4429ad-2a74-4100-82f7-50f8169c8aca

About This Article

1. Open PowerPoint. 2. Click Blank Presentation . 3. Click the Design tab. 4. Click Slide Size , Custom Slide Size , and then choose the page orientation and dimensions. 5. Click the View tab. 6. Click Slide Master . 7. Select a slide format to edit. 8. Click Insert Placeholder . 9. Drag and drop a placeholder to a slide. 10. Select a template font. 11. Save your template. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to create a custom template in powerpoint.

If you can't find a PowerPoint template that fits your needs, just create your own. Here's how.

Quick Links

Create a custom powerpoint template, save your custom template.

PowerPoint provides extremely useful resources called templates that automatically construct the foundation and framework of your presentation. If you can’t quite find one that’s just right for you, you can create your own. Here’s how to do it.

To create a custom PowerPoint template, you’ll first need to open a blank presentation. You can do so by clicking the “File” tab and then selecting “New” in the left pane.

A large library of templates will appear, but since that’s not what we’re looking for, go ahead and select the “Blank Presentation” option.

Next, you need to choose the slide orientation and size . In the “Customize” group of the “Design” tab, select the “Slide Size” button. A small drop-down menu will appear. Here, click the “Customize Slide Size” option.

The “Slide Size” dialog box will appear. Here, you can (1) adjust the slide height and width or simply select a predefined option from the drop-down menu, and (2) select the slide orientation.

The rest of the template creation will be done in PowerPoint’s Slide Master . The Slide Master allows you to customize a presentation's fonts, headings, and colors in one place, applying the selections to all of your slides. This allows you to maintain consistency throughout the template, as well as eliminating the need to make changes to each individual slide.

Related: How to Change the Default Font in PowerPoint

To access the slide master, click on the "View" tab and then select “Slide Master” in the “Master Views” group.

The Slide Master will appear in the left pane. The Slide Master is the top thumbnail that appears in the pane. Each sub-thumbnail represents each slide layout available in your theme. Edits you make to the Slide Master will affect each slide layout.

This is where the magic happens. First, you can select a unique theme for what will be your PowerPoint template. To do so, select “Themes” in the “Edit Theme” group of the “Slide Master” tab.

A drop-down menu will appear, presenting a large library of themes to choose from. Each theme comes with its own fonts and effects. Browse through the collection and select the one you like.

You can also choose a background style for the theme you chose. Select “Background Styles” in the “Background” group and then select the style you like from the drop-down menu.

If you want to customize the placeholders in the slides, you can do so by selecting one of the options from the “Insert Placeholder” menu. You can find this option in the “Master Layout” group.

Once you’ve selected the slide where you want to insert a placeholder from the pane on left and the type of placeholder you want to insert from the menu, click and drag your cursor to draw the placeholder box.

Repeat this process until you’re happy with the placeholders in your template. Once you’re finished with this, all that’s left to do is save your custom template.

To save the PowerPoint presentation (.pptx) as a template (.potx), click the “File” tab and then the "Save As" button.

In the “Other Locations” group, select the “Browse" option.

The “Save As” dialog box will then appear. Select the box next to “Save as Type” and then choose “PowerPoint Template” from the list of options.

When you select the PowerPoint Template file type, PowerPoint redirects you to the “Custom Office Templates” folder. This is where you’ll want to save your template. Click the “Save” button.

Your template will now be saved and is ready to be used. To find your template next time you open PowerPoint, click the “File” tab and select the “New” button. Next, select the “Custom” tab and then select the “Custom Office Templates" option.

You’ll now see your custom template. Select it to start using your custom PowerPoint template.

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How to create a PowerPoint template (step-by-step)

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Presentation Design
• August 1, 2019

We pulled this EPIC blog post together to show you how to create a PowerPoint template. Right off the bat, creating a PowerPoint template for your company, or for your team is no small task. There are both a lot of design decisions to make, and a lot of things that need to be properly set up in PowerPoint.

If you stumbled upon this blog post by accident, you might be wondering what a PowerPoint template is, and why do you need one.

In short, a template is a set of pre-built slide layouts and defined formatting to help you quickly create brand consistent and professional PowerPoint presentations.

Below is an example of the properly built template you’ll learn how to create throughout these PowerPoint tutorials.

Time Saving Tip:  You can save yourself a bunch of time by first buying a professional PowerPoint template and then tweaking it to meet your needs.

To see the 4 best places I recommend finding professional PowerPoint templates online (and why I like them),  read my guide here .

If you and your team make lots of PowerPoint presentations, a properly built template can save you THOUSANDS of hours building and editing your slides (no joke).

On the flip side, if your template is broken (which many are), it can make working in PowerPoint a nightmare.

Chances are that if your current PowerPoint template is difficult to work with, you are using a broken template. This tutorial will help you fix it (fast).

[Watch] How to create a template in PowerPoint

This is the first of three parts for how to create a PowerPoint template. If you prefer to watch over my shoulder as I do this (and explain it to you), click play below.

If you are more of a reader or want to quickly jump around these different template topics, scroll beneath the video for step-by-step instructions.

Both options will help you achieve the same end results, and that is creating a template for your PowerPoint presentations.

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from Youtube . To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

Part #1. Creating Your PowerPoint Template Slide Backgrounds

In the first part of this tutorial, you’ll discover how to create your own slide backgrounds and how to:

• Build the overall frame for your template
• Use and navigate the PowerPoint Slide Master (and how the Parent and Child
• Slides work together)
• Use the different paste special options
• Add a pattern background to your slide
• Crop images to fit your entire slide background
• Add a radial gradient fill to a shape with transparency
• Add new guides and move them around on your Slide Master

1. Set the colors for your template

The first step when creating a template in PowerPoint is to select a color scheme for your template (preferably one that reflects your company’s brand image).

To select a color scheme for your template, inside of PowerPoint, navigate to the Design tab, and open the Variant options .

To choose a color scheme for your PowerPoint template, simply:

• Navigate to the Design tab
• Open the More variants options
• Click on Colors to open the dropdown
• Select the color scheme you want to use

If you want to use a color scheme that isn’t listed here, you can create your own.

Selecting a new PowerPoint theme changes all the default colors you have to work with inside your presentation (allowing you to maintain consistent formatting throughout).

Your theme colors will be reflected in all of your color dropdowns as pictured below (with pre-populated variants for those colors).

2. Set the fonts for your template

To navigate to your PowerPoint Slide Master, simply:

• Navigate to the View tab
• Select the Slide Master command

The next step is to select a font pairing for your template, which you can also do in the Design tab, under Variants.

NOTE:  This is one of my top PowerPoint template tips, and is one you don’t want to mess up. To see my 9 other top tricks for your PowerPoint templates,  read my guide here .

• Click on Fonts
• Select the font combination you want to use

The ability to make this kind of macro level formatting is one of the major benefits of creating a PowerPoint template. You set your formatting in one place, and it updates throughout your entire presentation (amazing!).

Once you have your colors and fonts selected, you are ready to create the framework. This includes your slide backgrounds and other common design elements you will want in your presentation.

3. Navigate to the Slide Master View

In order to properly create the slide backgrounds for your template, you’ll need to create a presentation framework on the Slide Master.

To choose a new font combination for your PowerPoint template, simply:

Inside the Slide Master , you’ll see two sets of slides on the left as pictured below:

#1. The Parent Slide (the bigger slide) is where you want to make the macro-level edits that you want to see reflected on the majority of your slides. For example, this is likely where you will want to see things like your company logo or any corporate branding design element.

#2. The Child Slides (the smaller slides) are where you want to customize the individual layouts. For example, your title slides and divider slides may look quite different from the rest of your slides, which is why they’ll have their own Child Slides.

Warning : Although you can delete the Child Slide layouts within a presentation, I don’t recommend it.

As Julie Terberg and Echo Swinford point out in their book on templates, “Building PowerPoint Templates Step by Step with the Experts”, if you delete these Child Slide layouts, you are likely to encounter formatting issues and errors when copying and pasting between your templates down the road.

So unless you are 300% sure you are never going to use these layouts (and nobody on the planet is ever going to send you a slide deck with one of these layouts), I don’t recommend deleting them.

4. Customize your Parent Slide background

Now that you are on your Slide Master, you’ll want to start by formatting your Parent Slide.

That’s because the formatting that you set on your Parent Slide will affect all of the other slide backgrounds within your template.

A. Choose your PowerPoint template's background

Next, you are going to format your slide background with the various design elements you want for all your slides.

In the example below, I’ve chosen a pattern for my template that is minimalist and modern. You can download and insert any picture or pattern you want to use as your slide background image.

B. Crop to Aspect Ratio

If you are using a picture for your slide background, the fastest way to make it fit on your slide is to crop it using the Aspect Ratio Crop tool. To do that, simply:

• Select the background image you have pasted on the slide
• Navigate to the Format tab
• Open the Crop dropdown
• Open the Aspect Ratio options
• Choose your aspect ratio. In the picture above I chose 16:9 for widescreen to match my slide dimensions (another common aspect ratio is 4:3 for printed slides).
• Adjust your photo within the frame
• Hit the Crop command again or hit Esc on your keyboard

This makes resizing the image to fit your template easier without having to worry about any warping.

Picture Cropping: Want to expand your knowledge and learn more about how to crop pictures in PowerPoint? Read our cropping guide here

C. Fill out your slide background

To make the image fit your entire slide space, there are two options.

Option #1. You can simply drag the handlebars to expand the image. Just make sure you hold the Shift key while you enlarge your image, so you don’t accidentally warp it.

Option #2. You can resize your image more precisely:

• In the Shape Width box, enter 13.33 and hit Enter on your keyboard
• Drag the image in the center to fit the entire slide

NOTE: In my example in the video above, I wanted a smaller pattern. That’s why I duplicated the background image so that I have two smaller images next to each other.

And then I made sure to group the two images together so that they function as a unit.

The final example of the background shown below is the result of that. And because the image is set on the Parent Slide like this, by default it will show up as all the slides in my PowerPoint template.

After resizing your background image, you will want to send it back behind all other elements.

To send the image backward, simply:

• Select your background image
• Navigate to the Picture Tools Format tab
• Click on the Send Backward dropdown
• From the dropdown menu, select Send to Back

This sends the background behind the text as shown in the picture below. This makes all the Parent Slide content placeholders visible again on your slide.

D. Create a semi-transparent gradient layer

With the slide background set for my PowerPoint template, I’m additionally going to make the slide background less visible by adding a semi-transparent layer.

That’s because as you can see in the picture below, the text is not clear against the background image I used. This will make it hard for people to read my slides during a presentation.

In the steps below, I will use the old method (non-Office 365 subscription) for creating a transparent background in PowerPoint. If you have an Office 365 subscription and want to see the brand-new way to create a transparent image, see our guide here .

Step #1. Insert and format a rectangle

To insert and format a rectangle in PowerPoint, simply:

• From the Insert Tab, click on the Shapes gallery, and select a rectangle (mine is on my QAT).
• Draw in the rectangle so that it covers your entire background image (for this to work, your rectangle needs to be the same exact size as the image you want to make transparent).
• Remove its outline by going to the Shape Outline dropdown and selecting No Outline .

Step #2. Add a gradient fill

With the rectangle still selected, make the following adjustments:

• Select your rectangle and click Format Shape to open the Format Shape dialog box. This gives you a wide variety of formatting options you can use to format your shape backgrounds for your template.
• Select the Gradient fill.
• In the Type dropdown, select Radial .
• For the Direction , select the “from center” option (in the middle).
• In the Gradient stops bar, select the first gradient stop, and from the fill Color dropdown, select white. Under Transparency , enter 5 %. So that it almost looks 100% white in the middle.
• Next, select the second gradient bar and drag it to the right. From the fill Color dropdown, select white. For Transparency , enter 10%.
• Then, select the third gradient bar and drag it to the right. From the fill Color dropdown, select white. For Transparency , enter 10%.
• Finally, select the last gradient bar and drag it to the right. From the fill Color dropdown, select white. For Transparency , enter 60%.

Using the gradient fill options described above, your rectangle should look like mine, with some of your text bleeding through it.

Close the Format Shape pane and you’re all set with your gradient formatting.

As a final step, right-click your gradient rectangle and select Send to Back and then Send Forward so that it sits behind your placeholders but on top of your pattern background.

5. Add a slide background design element

As a next step, I’m going to add a bright bar down the right-side of my slide as a nice design element. To do that, simply:

• Navigate to the  Insert tab and select the  Shapes dropdown.
• Select a  Rectangle and draw it on the right-hand side of your slide. Make sure to place it on the edge of your slide.
• Select No Outline

Note:  Make sure you are adding this to your Parent Slide and not a Child Slide. This automatically populates the design element on all the Child Slides.

That’s the power of creating a PowerPoint template – you add a design element in one place, and it shows up throughout your presentation.

6. Add and edit your guides

In PowerPoint, guides help with formatting, positioning, and slide-to-slide consistency.

Consider guides as the anchors on your slide that help you to consistently align your objects. It’ s an optional step, but I recommend adding them to your template.

To add guides to your PowerPoint template, simply:

• Click on the View tab
• Select Guides . Notice that there are two guides: one vertical and one horizontal. 
• To move a guide, place your mouse over it , and when your cursor becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the guide to where you want it on your slide.

For now, I will simply place my guides on the edges of the slide, to create a “bleed area” in case part of the presentation gets cut off in print.

We will look at adding more guides in part #2 of this series.  To add a new guide, simply start dragging an existing one, and then hit the Ctrl key on your keyboard before you let go.

Depending on how you set up your guides, they tell users where they should and shouldn’t be placing content on your slides.

Part #2. Setting up your template placeholders and footers

With your slide background now set up, let’s nail down the following three placeholders on the  Parent Slide :

• Title placeholder
• Content placeholder
• Date and time, Footer, and Slide Number placeholders

And even if you don’t want to use these placeholders on all of your slides, it’s still important to set and format them on your Parent Slide.

Why? Because if you don’t, you run the risk of letting default formatting slip through the cracks and ruin an otherwise perfect template.

Later in this tutorial, you’ll learn how to tweak your slide layouts away from the Parent Slide if that’s what you want to do.

1. Format the Title placeholder

There are a number of ways in which you can format your placeholders and there is no right or wrong formatting.

But before we dive into that, let’s talk about what placeholders are.  Placeholders are blank spaces that are designated for certain types of content.

You set these on your Slide Master so that they are locked when people fill them in when building their PowerPoint slides using your template.

Three keys to remember about your content placeholders are:

• They can only be set and edited (for real) on your Slide Master.
• Only text typed into your placeholders will show in the Outline View of your presentation.
• Only text that has been typed into your placeholders will change fonts automatically when you change your theme’s fonts.

You can change the font size, alignment, size, position, etc. of your placeholders to meet your requirements. Below I’ll run you through the most common formatting elements.

A. Change the font size

Before you start formatting your placeholders, make sure you are on your Parent Slide. We will focus on formatting your Child Slide layouts later.

As a first step, let’s change the font size of the title placeholder:

• Select your title placeholder
• In the Font Size  dialog box, enter 40 (or whatever size you want)

B. Resize and position the placeholder

Next, adjust the size and position of your title placeholder. To do that, simply select the placeholder and:

• Use the four-headed arrow cursor to move the placeholder to where you want it on your slide.
• With the placeholder still selected, drag the resizing handles (the 8 little white circles) in or out to resize the placeholder.

There is no right size and position for your title. You’ll simply want to make sure that it fits your slide.

You’ll also want to think about how much text you’re expecting people to type into the placeholder for their slides. Make sure the placeholder is big enough to fit the typical scenario.

C. Set your vertical text alignment

Next, set the vertical text alignment for your title. To do that:

• From the Home tab, select the Align Text dropdown menu
• Choose your desired vertical text alignment (I’ll choose Bottom for mine)

Unless you have a specific reason to do otherwise, I recommend that you choose Bottom for your vertical text alignment. That way your title text will always stay perfectly aligned at the bottom, from slide to slide.

This helps avoid jumping titles for any slides that have more than one line of text. On the flip side, if you plan on having short titles for all your slides (no more than one line), I recommend using the Middle text alignment instead.

Regardless of what you decide, make sure you test different title lengths to see what will work best for your PowerPoint template.

D. Align the guides to the title

Since we added our guides in the first part of this series, now we’ll set them to align with our title.

• Drag your Horizontal Guides to match the top and the bottom of your title placeholder (add more guides if necessary)
• Drag your Vertical Guides  to match the left-hand and right-hand sides of the title placeholder (add more guides if necessary)

To add a new guide, simply start dragging an existing one, and then hit the Ctrl key on your keyboard before you let go.

Adjusting your guides like this will make aligning objects on your slides much easier as your Smart Guides will automatically snap them together.

Note: If your Guides are not visible, simply right-click on a blank part of your slide and select Grid & Guides, and then Guides. That will turn them on. Alternatively, you can go up to the View tab in the Ribbon and select Guides inside the Show area.

2. Format the Text placeholder

The Text placeholder on your Parent Slide is special in that it will dictate the default formatting of all the other content placeholders in your presentation (except for the Title placeholder and the Footer placeholders).

Setting the default here on the Parent Slide is important because it makes it a lot easier to make fast and consistent changes to swathes of content down the road.

Later in this template series, I will show you how to format away from this default behavior on the Child Slides. But first you want to set its default formatting.

A. Resize and position the Text placeholder

The first thing to do with your Text placeholder is change its position and/or size so that it’s exactly aligned with the Title and Footer placeholders. To do that:

• Select the Text placeholder and when the cursor becomes a four-headed arrow, drag the placeholder to the top and left side so that it is aligned with the Title placeholder.
• With the placeholder still selected, use its sizing handles to adjust its size until it is just right (factoring the amount of text that you predict you’ll type in, as well as the alignment with the other placeholders).

B. Align the guides

In this step, you need to align the horizontal and the vertical guides to that they align with the Text placeholder. To do that:

• Drag the horizontal guides to match the top and the bottom of the Text placeholder.
• Similarly, drag the vertical guides to match the left and right-hand sides of the Text placeholder.

C. Change the font size

The next step is to change the font size of the different levels of text inside the placeholder. To do that:

• Select the first level of text
• In the Font Size box, type in 20 and hit Enter

Repeat these steps for the second, third, fourth, and fifth levels of bulleted text, changing their font sizes to 18,16, 14, and 14 respectively.

D. Adjust and align the bullet points

Once you have set the font size, it is important to adjust the bullets.

• Select all the text styles in the content placeholder
• In the Paragraph group, click on the Bullets and Numbering dropdown
• Click on the square style bullets

Next, you want to adjust the indent of the bulleted lists so that it appears in all your slide layouts. To do that:

• Select the bulleted list you want to adjust
• Click, hold, and drag the desired indent marker. In our example, we’ll drag the hanging indent marker.
• Repeat this for each text level

You can adjust the bullets as per your personal preference. Based on your knowledge of how someone is going to be using this template, you might decide to add more or less space.

Note: My recommendation as per Julie Terberg and Echo Swinford’s book, “Building PowerPoint Templates Step by Step with the Experts,” is to always make sure that you format every single item you have available. That includes formatting each text list level.

You can see their book on templates here .

That way, you have everything set in case someone decides to break the rules or do their own thing. This inevitably happens with templates and you want to be prepared for it!

3. Formatting the footers of your template

The footer section of the Slide Master has three types of placeholders:

• Slide number
• Footer text
• Date and time

A. Set the font size for all your footers

The first step is to change the font size of the footer placeholders. To do that:

• Select all your footer placeholders holding the  Shift  key.
• In the  Font Size  dialog box, type 10 (of whatever your desired font size is) and hit Enter.

B. Resize and position the placeholders

The next thing to do with the footer placeholders is to change their position and/or size so that they’re aligned with the rest of the placeholders. To do that:

• Select each placeholder and when the cursor becomes a four-headed arrow, drag the placeholder to its desired location (use the guides for assistance).
• Repeat this for each placeholder.

If you want to be 100% certain that all the Footer placeholders are the same, select them one at a time and go to the Shape Format  tab in the Ribbon. In the Size section, verify that the height of the placeholders is the same.

In this example, note that I am swapping the positions of the Date & Time and Footer  placeholders.

Remember to also add new guides around these placeholders to help keep them in place. Here, I’m only going to add the top and bottom guides, so as to avoid confusion and overkill.

C. Format the Slide Number placeholder

Next, we’ll need to adjust the formatting of the text inside the slide number placeholder. To do that:

• Right-click the placeholder, click on  Format Shape  and select Text Options
• Open the Text box tab
• Type 0 for the Left margin and hit Tab or Enter on your keyboard

Note: For the slide number placeholder, you can also add symbols as I have here (such as a bar and two spaces), in order to create a visual break from the other placeholders.

D. Format the Date and Time placholder

The next thing is to format the date and time footer placeholder. You can choose any kind of format you like. Below you’ll find the steps that I took in the video tutorial at the top of this page.

First, select the placeholder and hit Ctrl+R on your keyboard to right-align the text to the right (so that it’s flush with the slide number to the right).

Then, you’ll want to choose what kind of date formatting you want. To do that, simply:

• Select the Date and time placeholder and hit Ctrl + R on your keyboard to align the text to the right.
• Go up to the Insert tab and in the Text group, select Header & Footer .
• Click on Date and time so that there is a checkmark next to it.
• Click on the Date dropdown and select the option as required. In this example, we are going to select December 30th, 2017.
• Click Apply to All to save the changes. You can see that the date and time text has changed accordingly.

E. Format the Footer text placeholder

The final default placeholder to format on the Parent Slide here is the Footer text placeholder. This placeholder is designed for a tagline, an author’s name, or cited sources. For helping citing sources in PowerPoint, read our guide here .

All you need to do here is to select the placeholder and hit  Ctrl+L  on your keyboard to left-align the text. This way, it is next to the logo and the text inserted will extend out towards the right.

F. (Optional) Add your logo

While all the default placeholders have now been set up and formatted correctly, there is still one element that you can add on the Parent Slide of your Slide Master; and that is a logo.

This is optional, so don’t feel obligated to add one. In fact, a common practice today is to display the logo more sparingly and only place it on certain Child Slide Layouts.

To add a logo, simply:

• Copy the logo and hit Ctrl+V to paste it on the slide. Make sure you paste it as a PNG because it won’t lose its quality over time, whereas a JPEG will.
• Resize and reposition the logo to make it fit nicely in its desired position. Alternatively, you can click on the Picture Format tab in the Ribbon and set the height to 0.35 to make it even with the other placeholders.

You can also use this same technique to add a watermark to your PowerPoint slides. To see how to add a watermark to your slides (like Draft or Confidential ), read our guide here .

Part #3. Creating Custom PowerPoint Template Slides

In the last part of this creating a PowerPoint template guide, you’ll finalize the slide layouts that you want to use in your PowerPoint presentation by formatting the Child Slides .

The  Child Slides  represent the blueprints for each type of slide included in your template. By default, your Child Slide layouts will inherit your Parent Slide formatting. But as you will see, you can tweak these layouts to meet your individual needs.

The key to designing good Child Slide layouts is to keep in mind how the end-user is likely going to insert content on each type of slide. You want to make it easy for everyone to quickly fill them in when using your template.

In this section you’ll learn how to:

• Remove background graphics so that they’re hidden on your Child Slide layouts,
• Make the slide background an existing picture,
• Rename your custom Child Slide,
• Add prompt text to help the template user properly fill in each layout,

1. Format the Title slide layout

The first step is to edit the Title slide layout. This layout is designed to be filled in with the title and general information about your presentation.

Typically, its looks slightly different than the rest of the layouts. It usually has less text and fewer images/objects, and it stands apart.

That being said, it still needs to match the other layouts overall and look like it’s a part of the same template.

The first thing we need to do when formatting our Title slide layout is to think about the background. Typically, a Title slide will have a slightly different background from the regular Content slides.

However, because the background has been set on the Parent Slide, this means that you will have to deviate from it. There are 2 ways to approach this – let’s go over each one.

A. Hide the background graphics on a Child Slide - Method #1

The first method for hiding anything in the background (graphics such as the logo, background patterns, design elements, etc.) is to insert a blank rectangle to cover it up.

To cover up your slide background with a white rectangle, simply:

• Go to the Insert tab on the Ribbon, click on the Shapes dropdown, select a rectangle.
• Draw in the rectangle so that it fills out the entire slide.
• Change the rectangle’s fill color to White .
• Remove the rectangle’s outline .

Next, we’ll need to make sure the placeholders are visible on the slide, in front of the newly inserted rectangle.

To do that, with the rectangle still selected, go to the Shape Format tab on the Ribbon, click on the Send Backward dropdown and select Send to Back .

Note: Keep in mind that covering up the background elements like this means that the logo (and any other image you’ve pasted onto the Parent Slide) will be hidden. If you want that element to be visible on this Child Layout, you’ll have to copy/paste it in.

B. Hide the background graphics on a Child Slide - Method #2

The “technically better” way to do this is to use the default PowerPoint feature set up to do this for you. Simply:

• Go to the Slide Master tab in the Ribbon
• Click on Hide Background Graphics to add a checkmark next to it

This hides anything from the Parent Slide that isn’t a placeholder. This includes any background images or patterns, logos, and other design elements.

You can easily make them visible again by unchecking the Hide Background Graphics checkbox.

C. Add in a new background for this layout

Now that we’ve removed the background inherited from the Parent Slide layout, we’ll need to add in background elements we want on this particular Child Slide.

While the background image can be different, we want to keep it consistent. So let’s go back up and take some elements we can reuse.

First, navigate back to the Parent Slide and select the pattern image (without the gradient). Then hit Ctrl + C on your keyboard to copy it.

Then, go back to your Title slide layout and:

• Right-click a blank area on your slide and select Format Background .
• In the Format Background tab, select Picture or texture fill .
• Select Clipboard .

This pastes whatever is currently copied on your clipboard into your slide background.

Note: Pasting an object directly into your slide background like this means that it can no longer be edited in your PowerPoint template.

If instead you paste it directly onto the slide as an image, you can always go back in and make adjustments to the image, and therefore to the background too.

It’s up to you whether you want your template’s users to be able to edit the background image or not.

So if you’re putting the image directly into the slide background, I recommended that you only do so when you are sure that this is the final background image you want to use.

D. Add in an extra design element

The next step is to add in a design element that matches the general theme and style of the template. To do that:

• Go to the Insert tab on the Ribbon, click on the Shapes dropdown and select a rectangle.
• Draw in the rectangle (it should be filled with the first accent color of your theme) so that it fills about 80% of your slide.
• Make sure the rectangle is centered and in the middle of the slide.

Next, let’s send the rectangle behind the placeholders.

To do that, right-click the rectangle, open the Send Backward dropdown and select Send to Back .

E. Adjust the placeholders

First, adjust your Title and Subtitle placeholders. To do that, simply select the two placeholders and:

• Change their Font color to white.
• Adjust their position and size on the slide, keeping in mind how much room you need to leave for the text.

Next, let’s address the Footer placeholders.

Even if you don’t want footers visible on the Title slide of your template, I don’t recommend deleting them here in the Slide Master View.

Why? Because if someone decides to use them despite your instructions, you still want them to appear correctly and match the rest of the template.

F. Format and hide your Footer placeholders

To format and hide your footer placeholders, simply:

• Format the footer placeholders the way you’d like them to appear if they were used.
• Go up to the Slide Master tab in the Ribbon and deselect the Footers  checkbox.

Note:  Even if your footers stay selected on this Title slide layout in the Slide Master View, they typically don’t appear on that Title slide in the Normal View.

To turn them on, you have to go to the Insert tab in the Ribbon and select Header & Footer. There, you can turn them on.

So, unless you truly want someone to NEVER be able to add a page number, date and time, and footer text to the Title layout, then I recommend leaving them on the Child Slide, to keep that option open.

If you deselect the Footers checkbox in the Slide Master View as we did above, then when someone tries to insert footers in the Normal View, they will not appear.

To learn all about how to add slide numbers in PowerPoint (and troubleshoot ones that won’t show up), read our guide here .

One more thing you might notice is that the guides are not visible on the Title slide. Since this is a Child Slide, you can’t edit the guides here.

Unfortunately, the guides you set on the Parent Slide will likely not match the content you have on the Title slide (and any Child Slide whose content deviates from it). There is no way around this in PowerPoint at this point in time.

2. Format your Title and Content layout

The next step is to edit the most commonly used PowerPoint slide in any presentation, the Title and Content layout.

This specific slide layout will look almost identical to to the Parent Slide layout that we’ve already set up at this point. This means that there isn’t much we have to do to change it.

However, in this example, we are going to add one more design element to the layout, which is a straight line. To do that simply:

• In the Insert  tab on the Ribbon, click on the  Shapes dropdown and select the straight line. To make sure it’s 100% straight, hold the Shift key as you draw in the line.
• Drag the straight line and place it underneath the title. It should perfectly fit in thanks to the Smart Guides . Make sure that it’s long enough to go past the text in the Title placeholder .

The reason you don’t add this line to the Parent Slide is that the layout has to be formatted to work for the majority of the layouts in your template.

That means that the Parent Slide has to be relatively bare-bones. You can always add extra elements in the Child Slides.

3. Format the other Child Slides

From here onward, you will need to format each of the Child Slides to match the content that goes in them.

You will want to follow the same procedure as in Step #2 above, keeping in mind what each Child Slide is designed for and how the content should be placed.

Some layouts will require more custom formatting and design elements.  For example, for the Divider slide (the first slide in the examples below,) I have added a rectangle that matches the design elements on the Title Slide layout.

4. Optional step: Create your own Child Layouts

In addition to the default Child Slides that PowerPoint gives you, you have the option to create your own.

You can choose to create your own if you have a very specific type of slide that you’ll need to create over and over in your presentation.

If you make the slide under 10 times, it may not be worth clogging up your Slide Master area. But if you use it frequently, creating a layout template for that type of slide will save you countless hours.

Here are the kinds of slides you may want to create a custom layout for:

• Table of Contents / Agenda
• Team bios / Team headshots
• Case studies
• Thank you / Learn more
• Data dashboard

Keep in mind that the blank layout (and other blank variations) can always be used to create more one-off slides.

Creating a custom agenda slide

In this example, we’re going to add a custom Agenda Child Slide. To add this custom layout:

• Go to the Slide Master tab in the Ribbon and click Insert Layout . You’ll see that a new Child Slide gets added in with just a Title placeholder and the Footer placeholders.
• Add any additional placeholders you need (Slide Master tab > Insert Placeholder) and format them as per your requirements. In this example, I’ve added 20 text placeholders that I’ve resized and formatted.
• Adjust the prompt text in the placeholders to fit the respective content need. For example, in the image below you can write “Type in item” so that the user knows to type in the right text into each placeholder.

Note: You can change the shape of a placeholder, as well as adjust all other properties of a typical shape. That means that you can also add fill, outline, effects, etc.

This is how I was able to create the circular TOC numbers in this layout:

You can also rename the custom Child Layout by:

• Right-clicking it in the Thumbnail View on the left-hand side and selecting Rename Layout .
• Type in a helpful name and click Rename .

Note: You can perform these steps for all custom Child Slides. You can also create custom layouts for a lot of slides such as for products, case studies, contact us, etc.

However, try not to go overboard because you don’t want to have a layout area packed full of slides, which will confuse the user.

But for very frequently occurring slides, I highly recommend making a custom layout.

There are also other slides in the template such as the content slide with subtitles or a blank slide with a title. You can format them per your requirements.

5. Finalize your PowerPoint template

Although your PowerPoint template is almost finished, there are still a few critical steps I recommend taking. Take a deep breath, you are almost there.

A. Set your PowerPoint animations and transitions

The first thing is to set the animations and transitions for your slides. For all placeholders that you want to automatically animate in your template, simply select it and apply your animation.

Note: Keep in mind that animations should be used in your template VERY sparingly. That’s not only because animations can be overly distracting, but it’s also because the user of your template may not want to have animations set automatically for them.

In short, make sure you create the template in a way that makes your users’ life easier, rather than harder.

Once that’s done, let’s set the slide transitions. To do that, simply:

• Select all of the slides in your template (in the Slide Master View).
• Click into the Transitions tab in the Ribbon and select your preferred slide transition.

Next, let’s make sure we close the Slide Master View since we are done with it. From the Slide Master  tab in the Ribbon, click  Close Master View .

Note: There is also a Notes Master and Handout Master in PowerPoint that you can set up and format. These masters determine the look and feel of your PowerPoint handouts when you print them.

B. Stress test your template to make sure it works

It is highly recommended that you test your template before you distribute it. That way you catch any errors before your users do.

Here are some ways you can stress test your template:

• Try to use it in a variety of different ways to see if it breaks
• Type in all kinds of dummy text
• Delete things and turn them back on again
• Paste slides in from other templates to see what happens in your template

And that’s how to create a PowerPoint template that works the way it is supposed to.

You now have the foundational skills to start creating your own PowerPoint templates and building beautiful and tailor-made presentations. 

If you want to learn more about building and deploying your template in professional settings, I recommend checking out my step-by-step training course, see details here .

As a quick recap of everything we covered, you learned how to:

• Navigate the Slide Master View,
• Create and insert slide backgrounds, as well as hide background graphics,
• Format each of the elements on the Parent Slide layout,
• Format each Child Layout and create your own custom Child Slide layouts,
• Add and adjust the Guides on your Parent Slide layout,

If you enjoyed this in-depth tutorial, you’ll love our PowerPoint training courses and tutorials that you can learn more about here .

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This Post Has 2 Comments

Such a great GREAT walkthrough! I’ve learned so much. You shared so many little golden nuggets that are pricesless!

Very happy to hear you found this useful!

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Unit 1 Use a Theme Template and Slide Layouts to Create a Presentation

3 Create a Slide Presentation

Create a slide presentation, topics include:.

• Choose a Theme Template

Create Slide Content

Create a new slide, multi level bulleted lists.

A PowerPoint has two methods for creating a slide presentation:

• Choose a theme template
• Create a blank presentation (this method is covered in Unit 3)

PowerPoint software has built in and free online pre-designed templates that contain various color schemes and pre-arranged elements in a slide, eg. text and graphics. Select a template and PowerPoint will format the entire presentation according to that template.

Steps to choosing a theme template:

• Open PowerPoint.
• At the PowerPoint window, click the File tab, then click New.
• Once you have selected the desired template, it will be displayed in normal view. New slides can be added as needed.

Tips & Tricks

A theme template can be added to a presentation before, during or after you have added the presentation content.

To apply various templates to a presentation, click the Design tab, then click on the desired template in the themes group.

Whether you are using a pre-made theme template or working from your own design, it is very easy to insert a new slide.

• In the slide pane click on the slide where you would like the new slide to appear below.
• The new slide should appear below the selected slide. If you want to add a new slide between two, select the first of the two slides and click New Slide .

Entering text and images into your presentation slide is easy and fun. When using the theme template the first slide to appear in Normal view is called the Title Slide .

The title slide is the slide that is used to introduce the presentation to the audience. It has two text placeholders for text: title text placeholder and sub-title text placeholder. Placeholders are the building blocks for a PowerPoint slide.

To insert text in a placeholder, left click inside of the textbox and begin typing. Once you have entered text, click outside the text box to see how your text looks. The placeholder then becomes an object. An object is any item on a slide that can be manipulated. Objects are the building blocks that make up a slide. A text object can moved around and repositioned on a slide.

A object is selected when there is a gray, bold outline around the object, and when the cursor turns into a cross. Around the selected object are small white circles that are called sizing handles. You can drag the handles to position the object.

To apply formatting to text inside an object, select the text with your cursor, then click on the Home tab and in the Font group add text attributes such as bold, underline, and italics. The Paragraph group, located next to the Font group, contains commands that allow you to change the alignment of text, insert numbers or bullets to lists, and indent text.

You can also edit your text by accessing the Font dialogue box by clicking the Font group dialogue box launcher. (The dialogue box launcher is the small button containing a diagonal arrow that displays in the lower right corner of the group.) The Font dialogue box includes special effects such as: double strikethrough, superscript and subscript.

Another quick and easy way to format slides is by using a slide master. A Slide Master will reduce the steps needed to format all the slides in a presentation. Any changes made in the slide master will affect all slides in the presentation. This allows for consistency in any presentation.

When you choose a theme template PowerPoint automatically adds a Slide master. To format the slide master click the View tab and then choose Slide Master located in the Presentation View group.

A slide master appears in the slide pane and in the Outline/Slide pane. The largest thumbnail in the pane is the slide master and the other thumbnails represent associated layouts.Click on the master slide or a specific layout to apply formatting or themes. Once formatting changes have been made click on Close Master View to return to the normal view.

For more information on Slide Masters take this link to Microsoft Tips for using Slide Masters .

PowerPoint allows information to be displayed as multilevel bulleted lists. Bulleted lists are used in PowerPoint to display levels of importance within the presentation. Various slide layouts in the Slide Layout task pane contain bullets. To add multi levels to a bulleted list you need to choose the appropriate layout.

The first-level bullet will be displayed under the title placeholder. Once you have typed your text next to the first-level bullet press Enter on your keyboard. The new first-level bullet automatically appears. Press Tab on your keyboard and the first-level bullet becomes a second level bullet. Press Shift + Tab this will decrease the indent and bring the bullet back to first level.

Another method to add levels to your presentation is by clicking the decrease list level or increase list level buttons on the Paragraph group in the Home tab.

You can customize the bullets in your presentation by selecting the Bullets and Numbering dialogue box from Paragraph group located in the Home tab. Select the bullet text, click on the drop down arrow next to Bullets or Numbering, click on Bullets and Numbering , then choose the from the pre-designed bullets.

Now that you are able to create a presentation let us move on to view and save presentations.

Presentation Software Copyright © 2013 by bpayne is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Presentation design guide: tips, examples, and templates

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera January 09, 2023

Presentation design defines how your content will be received and remembered. It’s responsible for that crucial first impression and sets the tone for your presentation before you’ve even introduced the topic. It’s also what holds your presentation together and guides the viewer through it. That’s why visually appealing, easily understandable, and memorable presentation design is what you should be striving for. But how can you create a visually striking presentation without an eye for design? Creating a visually appealing presentation can be challenging without prior knowledge of design or helpful tools. 

With this presentation design guide accompanied by Prezi presentation examples and templates, you’ll have no problem creating stunning and impactful presentations that will wow your audience.

In this guide, we’ll start by looking at the basics of presentation design. We’ll provide a simple guide on creating a presentation from scratch, as well as offer helpful tips for different presentation types. In addition, you’ll discover how to organize information into a logical order and present it in a way that resonates with listeners. Finally, we’ll share tips and tricks to create an eye-catching presentation, and showcase some great presentation examples and templates you can get inspired by!

With our comprehensive introduction to designing presentations, you will be able to develop an engaging and professional presentation that gets results!

What is presentation design?

Presentation design encompasses a variety of elements that make up the overall feel and look of the presentation. It’s a combination of certain elements, like text, font, color, background, imagery, and animations. 

Presentation design focuses on finding ways to make the presentation more visually appealing and easy to process, as it is often an important tool for communicating a message. It involves using design principles like color, hierarchy, white space, contrast, and visual flow to create an effective communication piece.

Creating an effective presentation design is important for delivering your message efficiently and leaving a memorable impact on your audience. Most of all, you want your presentation design to support your topic and make it easier to understand and digest. A great presentation design guides the viewer through your presentation and highlights the most essential aspects of it. 

If you’re interested in learning more about presentation design and its best practices , watch the following video and get practical insights on designing your next presentation:

Types of presentations

When creating a presentation design, you have to keep in mind several types of presentations that shape the initial design you want to have. Depending on the type of presentation you have, you’ll want to match it with a fitting presentation design.

1. Informative

An informative presentation provides the audience with facts and data in order to educate them on a certain subject matter. This could be done through visual aids such as graphs, diagrams, and charts. In an informative presentation, you want to highlight data visualizations and make them more engaging with interactive features or animations. On Prezi Design, you can create different engaging data visualizations from line charts to interactive maps to showcase your data.

2. Instructive

Instructive presentations teach the audience something new. Whether it’s about science, business strategies, or culture, this type of presentation is meant to help people gain knowledge and understand a topic better. 

With a focus on transmitting knowledge, your presentation design should incorporate a variety of visuals and easy-to-understand data visualizations. Most people are visual learners, so you’ll benefit from swapping text-based slides for more visually rich content.

3. Motivational

Motivational presentations try to inspire the audience by giving examples of successful projects, stories, or experiences. This type of presentation is often used in marketing or promotional events because it seeks to get the audience inspired and engaged with a product or service. That’s why the presentation design needs to capture and hold the attention of your audience using a variety of animations and visuals. Go beyond plain images – include videos for a more immersive experience.

4. Persuasive

Persuasive presentations are designed to sway an audience with arguments that lead to an actionable decision (i.e., buy the product). Audiences learn facts and figures relevant to the point being made and explore possible solutions based on evidence provided during the speech or presentation.

In a persuasive presentation design, you need to capture your audience’s attention right away with compelling statistics wrapped up in interactive and engaging data visualizations. Also, the design needs to look and feel dynamic with smooth transitions and fitting visuals, like images, stickers, and GIFs.

How to design a presentation

When you first open a blank presentation page, you might need some inspiration to start creating your design. For this reason, we created a simple guide that’ll help you make your own presentation from scratch without headaches.

1. Opt for a motion-based presentation

You can make an outstanding presentation using Prezi Present, a software program that lets you create interactive presentations that capture your viewer’s attention. Prezi’s zooming feature allows you to add movement to your presentation and create smooth transitions. Prezi’s non-linear format allows you to jump between topics instead of flipping through slides, so your presentation feels more like a conversation than a speech. A motion-based presentation will elevate your content and ideas, and make it a much more engaging viewing experience for your audience.

Watch this video to learn how to make a Prezi presentation:

2. Create a structure & start writing content

Confidence is key in presenting. You can feel more confident going into your presentation if you structure your thoughts and plan what you will say. To do that, first, choose the purpose of your presentation before you structure it. There are four main types of presentations: informative, instructive, motivational, and persuasive. Think about the end goal of your presentation – what do you want your audience to do when you finish your presentation – and structure it accordingly.

Next, start writing the content of your presentation (script). We recommend using a storytelling framework, which will enable you to present a conflict and show what could be possible. In addition to creating compelling narratives for persuasive presentations, this framework is also effective for other types of presentations.

Tip: Keep your audience in mind. If you’re presenting a data-driven report to someone new to the field or from a different department, don’t use a lot of technical jargon if you don’t know their knowledge base and/or point of view.

3. Research & analyze 

Knowing your topic inside and out will make you feel more confident going into your presentation. That’s why it’s important to take the time to understand your topic fully. In return, you’ll be able to answer questions on the fly and get yourself back on track even if you forget what you were going to say when presenting. In case you have extra time at the end of your presentation, you can also provide more information for your audience and really showcase your expertise. For comprehensive research, turn to the internet, and library, and reach out to experts if possible.

4. Get to design

Keeping your audience engaged and interested in your topic depends on the design of your presentation.

Now that you’ve done your research and have a proper presentation structure in place, it’s time to visualize it.

4.1. Presentation design layout

What you want to do is use your presentation structure as a presentation design layout. Apply the structure to how you want to tell your story, and think about how each point will lead to the next one. Now you can either choose to use one of Prezi’s pre-designed templates that resemble your presentation structure the most or start to add topics on your canvas as you go. 

Tip: When adding content, visualize the relation between topics by using visual hierarchy – hide smaller topics within larger themes or use the zooming feature to zoom in and out of supplementary topics or details that connect to the larger story you’re telling.

4.2. Color scheme

Now it’s time to choose your color scheme to give a certain look and feel to your presentation. Make sure to use contrasting colors to clearly separate text from the background, and use a maximum of 2 to 3 dominating colors to avoid an overwhelming design.

4.2. Content (visuals + text)

Add content that you want to highlight in your presentation. Select from a wide range of images, stickers, GIFs, videos, data visualizations, and more from the content library, or upload your own. To provide more context, add short-format text, like bullet points or headlines that spotlight the major themes, topics, and ideas in your presentation. 

Also, here you’ll want to have a final decision on your font choice. Select a font that’s easy to read and goes well with your brand and topic.

Tip: Be careful not to turn your presentation into a script. Only display text that holds significant value – expand on the ideas when presenting. 

4.3. Transitions

Last but not least, bring your presentation design to life by adding smooth, attractive, and engaging transitions that take the viewer from one topic to another without disrupting the narrative. 

On Prezi, you can choose from a range of transitions that take you into the story world and provide an immersive presentation experience for your audience. 

For more practical tips read our article on how to make a presentation . 

Presentation design tips

When it comes to presentations, design is key. A well-designed presentation can communicate your ideas clearly and engage your audience, while a poorly designed one can do the opposite.

To ensure your presentation is designed for success, note the following presentation design tips that’ll help you design better presentations that wow your audience.

1. Keep it simple

Too many elements on a slide can be overwhelming and distract from your message. While you want your content to be visually compelling, don’t let the design of the presentation get in the way of communicating your ideas. Design elements need to elevate your message instead of overshadowing it. 

2. Use contrasting text colors

Draw attention to important points with contrasted text colors. Instead of using bold or italics, use a contrasting color in your chosen palette to emphasize the text.

3. Be clear and concise. 

Avoid writing long paragraphs that are difficult to read. Limit paragraphs and sections of text for optimum readability.

4. Make sure your slide deck is visually appealing

Use high-quality images and graphics, and limit the use of text to only the most important information. For engaging and diverse visuals, go to Prezi’s content library and discover a wide range of stock images, GIFs, stickers, and more.

5. Pay attention to detail

Small details like font choice and alignments can make a big difference in how professional and polished your presentation looks. Make sure to pay attention to image and text size, image alignment with text, font choice, background color, and more details that create the overall look of your presentation.

6. Use templates sparingly

While templates can be helpful in creating a consistent look for your slides, overusing them can make your presentation look generic and boring. Use them for inspiration but don’t be afraid to mix things up with some custom designs as well. 

7. Design for clarity

Create a presentation layout that is easy to use and navigate, with clear labels and instructions. This is important for ensuring people can find the information they need quickly and easily if you end up sharing your presentation with others.

8. Opt for a conversational presentation design

Conversational presenting allows you to adjust your presentation on the fly to make it more relevant and engaging. Create a map-like arrangement that’ll encourage you to move through your presentation at your own pace. With a map-like design, each presentation will be customized to match different audiences’ needs. This can be helpful for people who have different levels of expertise or knowledge about the subject matter.

9. Be consistent 

Design consistency holds your presentation together and makes it easy to read and navigate. Create consistency by repeating colors, fonts, and design elements that clearly distinguish your presentation from others.

10. Have context in mind

A great presentation design is always dependent on the context. Your audience and objective influence everything from color scheme to fonts and use of imagery. Make sure to always have your audience in mind when designing your presentations.

For more presentation tips, read the Q&A with presentation design experts and get valuable insights on visual storytelling.

Presentation templates

Creating a presentation from scratch isn’t easy. Sometimes, it’s better to start with a template and dedicate your time to the presentation’s content. To make your life easier, here are 10 useful and stunning presentation templates that score in design and engagement. If you want to start creating with any of the following templates, simply go to our Prezi presentation template gallery , select your template, and start creating! Also, you can get inspired by the top Prezi presentations , curated by our editors. There you can discover presentation examples for a wide range of topics, and get motivated to create your own. 

Business meeting presentation

The work desk presentation templates have a simple and clean design, perfectly made for a team or business meeting. With all the topics visible from start, everyone will be on the same page about what you’re going to cover in the presentation. If you want, you can add or remove topics as well as edit the visuals and color scheme to match your needs.

Small business presentation

This template is great for an introductory meeting or pitch, where you have to summarize what you or your business does in a few, highly engaging slides. The interactive layout allows you to choose what topic bubble you’re going to select next, so instead of a one-way interaction, you can have a conversation and ask your audience what exactly they’re interested in knowing about your company.

Mindfulness at work presentation

How can you capture employees’ attention to explain important company values or practices? This engaging presentation template will help you do just that. With a wide range of impactful visuals, this presentation design helps you communicate your ideas more effectively. 

Business review template

Make your next quarterly business review memorable with this vibrant business presentation template. With eye-capturing visuals and an engaging layout, you’ll communicate important stats and hold everyone’s attention until the end.

History timeline template

With black-and-white sketches of the Colosseum in the background, this timeline template makes history come alive. The displayed time periods provide an overview that’ll help your audience to grasp the bigger picture. After, you can go into detail about each time frame and event.

Storytelling presentation template

Share stories about your business that make a lasting impact with this stunning, customizable presentation template. To showcase each story, use the zooming feature and choose to tell your stories in whatever order you want.

Design concept exploration template

Not all meetings happen in person nowadays. To keep that face-to-face interaction even when presenting online, choose from a variety of Prezi Video templates or simply import your already-existing Prezi template into Prezi Video for remote meetings. This professional-looking Prezi Video template helps you set the tone for your meeting, making your designs stand out. 

Employee perks and benefits video template

You can use the employee benefits video template to pitch potential job candidates the perks of working in your company. The Prezi Video template allows you to keep a face-to-face connection with potential job candidates while interviewing them remotely.

Sales plan presentation template

Using a clear metaphor that everyone can relate to, this football-inspired sales plan presentation template communicates a sense of team unity and strategy. You can customize this Prezi business presentation template with your brand colors and content.

Flashcard template

How can you engage students in an online classroom? This and many other Prezi Video templates will help you create interactive and highly engaging lessons. Using the flashcard template, you can quiz your students, review vocabulary, and gamify learning.

Great presentation design examples

If you’re still looking for more inspiration, check out the following Prezi presentations made by our creative users.

Social media presentation

This presentation is a great example of visual storytelling. The use of visual hierarchy and spatial relationships creates a unique viewing experience and makes it easier to understand how one topic or point is related to another. Also, images provide an engaging and visually appealing experience.

Leadership books presentation

Do you want to share your learnings? This interactive presentation offers great insights in an entertaining and visually compelling way. Instead of compiling leadership books in a slide-based presentation, the creator has illustrated each book and added a zooming feature that allows you to peek inside of each book’s content.

Remote workforce presentation

This is a visually rich and engaging presentation example that offers an interactive experience for the viewer. A noteworthy aspect of this presentation design is its color consistency and matching visual elements.

A presentation about the teenage brain 

Another great presentation design example that stands out with an engaging viewing experience. The zooming feature allows the user to dive into each topic and choose what subject to view first. It’s a great example of an educational presentation that holds the students’ attention with impactful visuals and compelling transitions.

Remote work policy presentation

This presentation design stands out with its visually rich content. It depicts exactly what the presentation is about and uses the illustrated window frames in the background image as topic placements. This type of presentation design simplifies complex concepts and makes it easier for the viewer to understand and digest the information.

Everyone can create visually-appealing presentations with the right tools and knowledge. With the presentation design tips, templates, and examples, you’re equipped to make your next presentation a success. If you’re new to Prezi, we encourage you to discover everything it has to offer. With this presentation design guide and Prezi, we hope you’ll get inspired to create meaningful, engaging, and memorable content for your audience!  

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A new presentation can be created from

Correct option is d. all of above.

A new presentation can be created from

A. Blank Presentation

B. From Existing Presentation

C. From Design Template

D. All of above

Answer: Option D

This Question Belongs to Computer Fundamentals >> Power Point

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Online pictures cannot be added from insert ribbon Select one: a. True b. False

Related Questions on Power Point

Which tab is not available on left panel when you open a presentation?

D. All of above are available

Which of the following statements is not true?

A. You can type text directly into a PowerPoint slide but typing in text box is more convenient.

B. From Insert menu choose Picture and then File to insert your images into slides.

C. You can view a PowerPoint presentation in Normal, Slide Sorter or Slide Show view.

D. You can show or hide task pane from View >> Toolbars.

To start Microsoft PowerPoint application

A. Click on Start > Programs > All Programs > Microsoft PowerPoint

B. Hit Ctrl + R then type ppoint.exe and Enter

C. Click Start > Run then type powerpnt then press Enter

Which of the following section does not exist in a slide layout?

D. Animations

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Once your poster is exactly as you envisioned, it’s time to save and share your work. Export in various formats like JPG, PNG, or PDF, catering to both digital platforms and print materials.

AI-Powered Visualization for Any Topic

What kinds of posters can be generated using this AI tool?

Navigating design elements and finding the right visual style can be daunting. With Piktochart AI, it’s easy to transform data into high-quality posters . Excellence made simple, just for you.

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Spark emotions that incite action – whether it is to make a purchase, improve brand opinion, donate to a cause, or make a lifestyle change. With Piktochart AI, it’s achievable at the click of a button.

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What’s the limit on poster creation, how do i enhance the quality of my posters, is signing up mandatory to use piktochart, poster resources.

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What else can you create with piktochart ai.

• Announcements
• Copilot Studio

Microsoft Copilot Studio: Building copilots with agent capabilities

Omar Aftab , Vice President, Conversational AI , Tuesday, May 21, 2024

At Microsoft Build 2024 , we’re excited to announce a host of new powerful capabilities in   Microsoft Copilot Studio —t he single conversational AI tool you can use to create your very own custom copilots or extend Microsoft C opilot experiences with your own enterprise data and scenarios.

The first of these are c opilots that can now act as independent agents— ones that can be triggered by events— not just conversation— and can automa te and orchestrate complex, long-running business processes with more autonomy and less human intervention.

For instance, consider the potential of a copilot that can react when an email arrives, look up the sender’s details, see their previous communications, and use generative AI to trigger the appropriate chain of actions in their response. From understanding the intent of the email, to look ing up the sender’s details and account , see ing their previous communications, checking inventory,   responding to the sender asking for their preferences, and then taking the appropriate actions to close a ticket — orchestrating and shepherding an entire process over days.  

With such capabilities, copilots are evolving from those that work with you to those that work for you. They can be designed to handle specific roles or functions, such as IT, marketing, sales, customer success, and finance across various industries, including travel, retail, and financial services.  

With these new capabilities, here are some examples of the kinds of copilots our customers can build:  

• IT help desk .  IT support is complex, involving tickets, order numbers, approvals, and stock levels . O pening and closing a ticket can be a long-running task that spans days. A copilot can now handle this process, interfacing with IT service management applications, resolving IT tickets with context and memory, creating purchase orders for device refresh, and reaching out and getting managers approvals — all independently .
• Employee onboarding . Onboarding new employees is often expensive and slow. Now, imagine you’re a new hire. A copilot greets you, reasons over HR data, and answers your questions. It introduces you to your buddy, provides training and deadlines, assists with forms, and sets up your first week of meetings. Throughout all of this, the copilot is in touch, guiding you through the weeks -long onboarding and account set up processes.  
• Personal concierge for sales and service . Balancing exceptional customer experience while meeting ambitious revenue goals can be challenging. When a copilot serves guests, i t can use the memory of previous conversations with guests to remember their preferences, make reservations, handle complaints, and answer questions related to the products and services on offer. The copilot learns from its interactions and proposes new ways of handling customer scenarios. By doing so, copilots can increase upsell and attachment rates, driving revenue for the resort while simultaneously enhancing guest experience, satisfaction rates, and repeat business.

Let’s dig deeper into a few of the underlying capabilities that make all this possible:

• Asynchronous orchestration of complex tasks . The first is the ability to use generative AI- powered   planning and reasoning to manage complex, multi step, long-running tasks. For example, reacting to a new order means determining the need to verify inventory, trigger ing the right payment processes, pinging a supervisor for approval if the amount is above a certain threshold, and replying with a confirmation. Many of these events can take hours—or even days— to complete, but the copilot will run through them , maintaining the necessary state and context to do so.
• Memory and context . One of the frustrating things about support has traditionally been having to repeat information: who you are, what your policy number is, what your address is. There is no continuity of conversation. Copilots will now learn from previous conversations from the users and utilize this knowledge to continually personalize interactions . A copilot may not need to ask you for your laptop model or your address when you call again for the same issue. Conversations will thus become long-running, contextual, and deeply personalized.
• Monitor, learn, and improve . Copilots can now learn and adapt, offering monitoring and teaching capabilities to make their interactions better. Each copilot records a comprehensive history of its activities, providing transparency into its performance, including user interactions, actions taken, and feedback received, and you can see what decisions it made — and correct and teach them — with just a few clicks.

• Delegation with confidence and guardrails . When developing copilots with agent capabilities, establishing clear boundaries is paramount. Copilots operate strictly within the confines of the maker-defined instructions, knowledge, and actions. The data sources linked to the copilot adhere to stringent security measures and controls, managed through the unified admin center of Copilot Studio. This includes data loss prevention, robust authentication protocols, and more.

The se advanced new capabilities in Copilot Studio are currently accessible to customers participating in a limited private preview  where organizations such as Centro de la Familia are excited to explore agent capabilities that support teachers and case workers, allowing them to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time working with children, ultimately leading to better child outcomes . Based on feedback from program participants, we will continue to iterate and refine these capabilities for broader access in a preview planned for later this year .  

Additional innovations with Copilot Studio

There’s a lot more to share at Microsoft Build with Copilot Studio, and we’ll touch on just a few of our new capabilities here. To learn more — just sign up and try it out for yourself here .

It’s easier than ever to create c opilots .  With Copilot Studio, creating and testing copilots is now incredibly simple. You can create your copilot with our brand new conversationally driven experience — simply describe what you want it to do, and what knowledge you want it to have, and Copilot Studio will create your very own c opilot. You can then immediately test it out, add additional capabilities, such as your own actions, APIs, and enterprise knowledge — and then publish it live with a few clicks.

Connect all your enterprise data with Copilot c onnectors .   Customers want copilots connected with data from their own enterprises business systems and apps. Copilot connectors enable anyone to ground their copilot in business and collaboration data. This makes it possible for copilots to use various data sources, including public websites, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Dataverse tables, Microsoft Fabric OneLake (coming this calendar year), Microsoft Graph, as well as leading third-party apps. You can even create your own custom generative prompts to configure how a copilot handles a response from an API or connector.

Here are a few examples of how Copilot connectors can transform copilot experiences for specific personas or functions:

• Legal and Compliance . Navigate complex legal landscapes with a Copilot extension that queries specific legal datasets, ensuring controlled and compliant responses without overwhelming users with extraneous information.
• HR Helper . Assist employees with accessing essential resources for benefits and PTO policies, and even book time off directly through Copilot.
• Incident Report Coordinator . Workers can locate the right documentation, report incidents, and track them efficiently, all within the context of the chat.

Starting in June 2024, developers can access the preview for Copilot connectors and stay informed on updates here .

Conversational analytics (private preview) : One of the most common asks from customers has been the need for deeper insight into what their copilot is doing, how generative AI is responding, when it was unable to give the right answers and why — and recommendations on what to do to improve it.

Templates : If simply describing your copilot to build it wasn’t easy enough, Copilot Studio will now also include a variety of pre-built copilot samples for departments and industries. Some templates — such as Safe Travels for comprehensive travel support, Organization Navigator for organizational clarity, Kudos Copilot for fostering recognition, Wellness for employee health insights — are available now, with many more releasing in the coming months.

Enhanced security and controls (public preview ) : Administrators can now configure advanced settings beyond the default security measures and controls. With Microsoft Purview , Copilot Studio administrators gain access to more detailed governance tools, including audit logs, inventory capabilities, and sensitivity labels. They will be able to review comprehensive audit logs that cover tenant-wide usage, inventory (with API support), and tenant hygiene (such as data loss prevention violations and inactive copilots), enabling them to effectively monitor business impact. Both creators and end-users will be able to view sensitivity labels when responses are generated using AI-powered answers based on SharePoint documents.

With all the amazing innovations, numerous organizations are using Copilot Studio to build transformative generative AI-powered solutions. Check out this story from Nsure on how they are using Copilot Studio:

Get started today with Copilot Studio

This is just a glimpse of all the exciting innovation around copilots and Copilot Studio — we have a host of exciting new capabilities to share in our sessions at Build. So, join us in watching the sessions below, and try out Copilot Studio yourself and build and share your very own copilot in minutes.

Watch the sessions at Microsoft Build:

• “ Microsoft Build opening keynote ”
• “ Next generation AI for developers with the Microsoft Cloud ”
• “ Shaping next-gen development: the future of Copilot in Power Platform ”

Deeper dives:

• Breakout: “ What’s new with Microsoft Copilot Studio ”
• Breakout with demos: “ Build your own copilot with Microsoft Copilot Studio ”
• Breakout with demos: “ Build Microsoft Copilot extensions with Copilot Studio ”
• Demo (live only): “ Build your own Copilot extension with Microsoft Copilot Studio ”