PowerPoint: slide master basics for consistent slides
The Slide Master is the control room of your presentation. Change a font, colour or logo there once and every slide follows. It saves you fixing slides one by one, and stops the deck looking like a patchwork.
Open the Slide Master
- Click the View tab.
- Click Slide Master.
On the left you will see a large slide at the top, which is the master, and smaller ones beneath it. The smaller ones are layouts, such as Title Slide, Title and Content, and Section Header. The layout names are what you see when you click New Slide or Layout on the Home tab.
Make a change for the whole deck
- Click the top master slide.
- Click the title text and change the font, size or colour on the Home tab.
- To add a logo, use Insert, Pictures, place it and resize it.
- Click Close Master View on the Slide Master tab.
Every slide that uses those layouts updates. If a layout does not change, it may have its own settings, so click it and adjust it.
Fonts and colours
On the Slide Master tab, use the Fonts and Colors buttons to choose a matching set. Using these means charts and shapes you add later will also fit in.
Change one layout only
Click the individual layout in the left list and edit it. This is useful for making the title slide look different.
If a slide ignores the master
You may have changed that slide by hand. On the Home tab, click Reset and it goes back to the layout's settings.
Tips
- Keep your fonts to two at most.
- Do your master edits before you build the slides, if you can.
- Your company may already have an approved template, so ask before creating your own.
Common problems
- Logo missing on some slides: check that the layout is set to show master graphics. Look for Hide Background Graphics in Format Background.
- Mac: the View menu has Slide Master.
When to get more help
If you have inherited a deck with a messy master, or you want a branded template made, contact us.