Do you have a PowerPoint presentation that looks outdated or that you want to freshen up with a new design? Updating the fonts, colors, effects, and overall appearance of every slide in your presentation is easy if you use PowerPoint’s Slide Master view.
In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to:
- Access the Slide Master view
- Select a new theme
- Customize theme elements like colors and fonts
- Add background graphics
- Apply updates to all slides at once
Step 1: Open the Presentation and Access Slide Master View
First, open the PowerPoint presentation you want to edit. To access the master layouts and backgrounds that control the design of all slides, click on the “View” tab and then select “Slide Master” in the Master Views group.
View tab with slide master option highlighted
This will open the slide master view, where you can edit the master slides that set the formatting for all layouts.
Step 2: Select a New Theme
In the Slide Master tab that appears, click on the Themes button to browse all of PowerPoint’s preset design options.
Browsing themes
Scroll through and select a theme that you like. Themes contain coordinated fonts, colors, and effects so it’s an easy way to quickly change the look of your presentation.
Step 3: Customize the Theme Elements
If you want your presentation to use the same theme but modify the fonts or colors, you can do that in Slide Master view too.
For example, to change the font scheme:
- Click on the top slide master thumbnail
- Click Fonts in the Edit Theme group
- Select the font family and sizes you want
Follow the same process using the Colors and Effects buttons to customize those elements of your selected theme.
Step 4: Add Background Graphics
In addition to overall themes, you can also add background graphics to your slides in Slide Master view. Just click the Background Styles button and select a premade background design, or click Format Background to insert your own image.
Formatting slide background
Use the transparency slider if you want the image to show through text and other slide content.
Step 5: Apply Updates to All Slides
Once you have fully customized the slide master with new themes, fonts, colors, backgrounds, and so on, you need to officially save the changes.
In the thumbnail pane, click once on the very top master slide thumbnail. Then click the “Close Master View” button in the Slide Master tab.
Closing slide master view
PowerPoint will apply all the formatting updates you made to the slide master to every layout and slide in your presentation.
The end result is a completely refreshed and redesigned set of slides with a brand new look! And you did it all quickly by leveraging the power of master views rather than editing each individual slide.
Recap of the Step-by-Step Process:
- Open your presentation
- Access Slide Master view
- Browse themes or customize current formatting
- Add background graphics if desired
- Save changes to Master Slide
- Close Slide Master view to apply updates
- Enjoy your newly designed presentation!
Now you have the skills to efficiently revamp the appearance of any old or outdated PowerPoint slide deck. Just use Slide Master to update the fonts, colors, graphics, and effects in one step.
