Changing the size of your PowerPoint slides is an easy way to customize your presentations. The default slide size may not always fit your needs, especially if you plan to present on different devices. Follow this simple guide to resize your PowerPoint slides in just a few clicks.
Why Change Slide Size?
There are a few key reasons you may want to adjust your PowerPoint slide dimensions:
- Present on different devices – Laptops, projectors, tablets and more all have varying screen sizes and aspect ratios. Customizing your slides prevents awkward cropping or scaling issues.
- Emphasize key content – Adjusting slide dimensions can help focus attention on your most important visuals and text, especially in widescreen formats.
- Fit non-standard media – If you need to display a long vertical image or website screenshot, a custom slide size ensures it fits nicely without awkward scaling or cropping.
- Print slides – You may want slides sized for standard paper formats if you plan to provide printouts. Common sizes are for letter paper, A4 paper or even 35mm slides.
Access PowerPoint Slide Size Options
Accessing PowerPoint’s slide size settings is easy:
- Open your PowerPoint presentation and select the Design tab.
- Click Slide Size in the Customize section.
- Choose from common presets like Standard (4:3) or Widescreen (16:9).
- Alternatively, select Custom Slide Size to manually enter dimensions.
Slide Size settings in PowerPoint
The Slide Size dropdown menu provides quick access to PowerPoint’s most common slide dimensions. But custom options offer more precision.
Choose a Preset Size
PowerPoint’s preset sizes include formats for:
- On-screen presentations (4:3, 16:9, 16:10)
- Common paper sizes (letter, A4, etc.)
- 35mm slides
- Large widescreen formats
- Banners for websites
After selecting a preset size from the Slides sized for dropdown, click OK to apply it.
If content doesn’t fit correctly after applying the new size, choose to Scale or Maximize content to best fit.
Create a Custom Slide Size
For precise dimensions, use PowerPoint’s Custom Slide Size option:
- Enter your desired Width and Height in inches.
- Select Portrait or Landscape orientation.
- Adjust the number slide numbering starts from if desired.
- Click OK to apply the custom size.
Custom Slide Size dialog box
PowerPoint’s custom sizes allow pixels, centimeters or inches. This works great for presentations using specific video formats.
Scale or Maximize Content
When applying any new slide size, PowerPoint asks how to handle content:
- Maximize – Increase content size to fill the new slide dimensions. This may crop or hide outer edges of content.
- Ensure Fit – Decrease content size to completely fit on the new slide size without cropping. Content will appear smaller on larger slide sizes.
Maximize works best for infographics, images and visuals. Ensure Fit makes more sense for text-heavy slides to keep all content readable.
Adjusting Content
Changing the slide size can shift content positions and aspect ratios, especially on Maximize. Take time to:
- Realign misplaced content like text boxes and images.
- Adjust font sizes if text appears too small or too large.
- Scale visuals to regain their original shape if they become distorted.
The Align, Distribute and Group/Ungroup tools can help easily reorganize content.
Presentation Tips
A few final tips when working with slide sizes:
- Check the exact projector resolution if presenting externally. This ensures perfect sizing.
- Use widescreen formats (16:9 or 16:10) for a modern, cinematic feel.
- Print a few slides to test paper sizes come out correctly.
- Change slide size at the start of creating new presentations to avoid issues.
Conclusion
Learning how to change the size of slides in PowerPoint opens up new presentation possibilities. You can fine-tune dimensions for any screen or medium precisely. Just dive into the Slide Size settings and presets to find the perfect fit for your next PowerPoint presentation.
