How to Create a PowerPoint Template to Use or Share

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Creating a custom PowerPoint template allows you to save time and effort while ensuring brand consistency across presentations. With some planning and PowerPoint know-how, you can build a template tailored to your needs.

This step-by-step guide will teach you how to make a professional PowerPoint template to use for your own presentations or share across teams and organizations.

Step 1: Plan Your Template

Before diving into PowerPoint, take a moment to think about the purpose of your custom template. Ask yourself:

  • Who will use this template? Individuals, teams, company executives?
  • What content will it include? Brand elements, slide layouts, color schemes?
  • How can it showcase my brand? Logos, fonts, images?

Outline the essential elements to include in your template. For example:

  • Company logo
  • Brand fonts and colors
  • Basic slide layouts like title slides, agenda slides, content slides
  • Image placeholders
  • Shape and graphic elements

Planning ahead of time will make the design process much smoother.

Step 2: Set Up Your Slide Size

Launch PowerPoint and open a new blank presentation. This will serve as the foundation for your template.

Next, set up your slide size to match your brand guidelines or intended use:

  1. Go to the Design tab
  2. Click Slide Size
  3. Select Custom Slide Size
  4. Enter slide width, height, and orientation

Common sizes are 800×600 pixels (4:3 ratio) or 1920×1080 pixels (16:9 widescreen).

Step 3: Add Branding Elements

Make your template recognizable by adding visual branding:

  • Insert your logo on the master slide using the Pictures button.
  • Change default fonts to brand fonts on the Design tab.
  • Modify theme colors by clicking Colors and choosing brand colors.
  • Add graphical elements like lines, shapes, icons, and illustrations that represent your brand identity.

Step 4: Create Slide Layouts

Decide what slide layouts you need. Common options include:

  • Title slide
  • Agenda
  • Bulleted list
  • 2 Content
  • Comparison
  • Title and Content
  • Blank

To add and edit slide layouts:

  1. Go to the View tab and click Slide Master
  2. Click the Insert Layout dropdown
  3. Choose layouts to add
  4. Edit layout placeholders as needed

Customize layouts further by adding placeholder boxes, rearranging elements, inserting icons, etc.

Step 5: Add Sample Content

Populate your template with sample text, images, icons and graphs as examples:

  • Insert sample text into title slides and content placeholder boxes
  • Add sample charts or graphs to demonstrate data visualization options
  • Use placeholder images to show ideal photo sizes and layouts

This gives users a better vision of what a finished presentation can look like.

Step 6: Save as a Template

The final step is to save your design as a custom PowerPoint template:

  1. Go to File > Save As
  2. Select PowerPoint Template (.potx) as the save as type
  3. Give your template a descriptive name
  4. Select a save location like Documents > Custom Office Templates

The file extension .potx designates your file as an editable template.

After saving, your custom template will be available alongside built-in options whenever you create new PowerPoint files.

Share Your Template with Others

To share your template across an organization:

  • Upload it to a shared network drive
  • Send by email
  • Sync it using cloud storage like OneDrive or Google Drive
  • Add it to a presentation management platform

With some strategic planning and PowerPoint know-how, you can create custom templates that unify branding and streamline your presentation design workflow.

What tips do you have for building professional PowerPoint templates? Share in the comments below!

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