Changing the orientation of your PowerPoint slides from landscape to portrait can optimize your presentation for different mediums and purposes. For example, a portrait orientation may work better for slides with tall charts or graphs, slides designed for mobile devices held vertically, or slides you want to print and hand out.
Follow this simple step-by-step guide to change your PowerPoint slides from landscape to portrait orientation.
Step 1: Open Your PowerPoint Presentation
First, open the PowerPoint presentation you want to edit in portrait orientation. This can be an existing presentation or a new blank presentation.
Open PowerPoint Presentation
Figure 1: Open the PowerPoint presentation you want to change to portrait layout.
Step 2: Click the Design Tab
At the top of the PowerPoint window, click the “Design” tab on the ribbon. This tab contains commands for changing the overall design and layout of your slides.
Click Design Tab
Figure 2: Click the Design tab on the PowerPoint ribbon.
Step 3: Select “Slide Size”
In the Customize group on the right side of the Design tab, click the “Slide Size” button. A drop-down menu will appear.
Slide Size Button
Figure 3: Click the Slide Size button on the Design tab.
Step 4: Choose “Custom Slide Size”
From the Slide Size drop-down menu, select “Custom Slide Size” at the bottom. This will open a dialog box for changing slide dimensions.
Choose Custom Slide Size
Figure 4: Select Custom Slide Size from the Slide Size menu.
Step 5: Switch to Portrait Orientation
In the Custom Slide Size dialog box, change the orientation from “Landscape” to “Portrait.” You can also adjust slide dimensions here if needed.
Change to Portrait
Figure 5: In the dialog box, change orientation from Landscape to Portrait.
Step 6: Click OK
Click the “OK” button to apply the portrait orientation change to your presentation slides.
Step 7: Choose Content Scaling Option
A window will pop up asking how you want to scale slide content to fit the new layout. Select either “Maximize” or “Ensure Fit.”
- Maximize – Scales content to fill the slide vertically. Some content may get cut off.
- Ensure Fit – Reduces content size so everything remains visible.
Maximize or Ensure Fit
Figure 6: Choose Maximize or Ensure Fit for content scaling.
Step 8: Review Slide Content
Review your slides to make sure content fits and looks as expected in portrait layout. Make any adjustments needed to text, images, or other slide elements.
And that’s it! By following these eight simple steps you can easily change your PowerPoint slides from landscape to portrait orientation. This opens up more presentation and printing options tailored to your unique needs.
Tips for Optimizing Portrait Slides
Here are some additional tips for making the most of portrait slide orientation in PowerPoint:
- Use slide masters – Create unique slide masters with portrait layouts and content placeholders to speed up editing.
- Adjust theme elements – Tweak theme colors, fonts, effects to complement the vertical flow.
- Rethink visuals – Use tall charts/graphs, mobile screenshots, other vertical images.
- Customize templates – Save custom templates with your preferred portrait settings.
- Print handouts – Print slides, notes, outlines in portrait mode for handouts.
- Check margins – Ensure content fits within printable area if printing slides.
- Present on mobile – Present on phones/tablets held vertically.
Common Questions About Portrait Slide Orientation
Here are answers to some common questions people have about using portrait slide orientation:
Can I mix portrait and landscape slides?
Unfortunately you cannot have both portrait and landscape slides in the same PowerPoint presentation. The orientation applies to all slides. If you need both, you can create two presentations and link between them.
What about PowerPoint for iPad or Android tablets?
The mobile PowerPoint apps allow switching between portrait and landscape presentation modes easily, optimizing the view for how you are holding the device.
How do I change orientation for just one slide?
PowerPoint doesn’t provide the option to have different orientations on individual slides. The change applies to all slides when you adjust the orientation.
What about changing orientation of notes and handouts?
In the Custom Slide Size dialog box, you can separately change the orientation of slides, notes pages, handouts, and outline prints by selecting the desired option in the settings.
Can I create custom size slides?
Yes, in the Custom Slide Size dialog box, you can enter specific dimensions in inches or centimeters if you need a unique slide size. Just be sure to choose “portrait” orientation.
What happens if I switch back and forth between orientations?
When you swap between portrait and landscape, PowerPoint does its best to scale and fit your content to the new layout. But it’s best to choose one orientation and customize it rather than flip-flopping.
Hopefully this gives you a better understanding of using portrait slide orientation in PowerPoint. Let me know if you have any other questions!
