Duplicating slides in PowerPoint allows you to easily reuse content without having to build it from scratch every time. Copying slides saves time whether you want an exact duplicate or use it as a starting point to tweak the content. This guide will show you four quick methods to duplicate one or more slides in your PowerPoint presentations.

Why Duplicate Slides

There are a few key reasons you may want to copy slides:

Reuse visuals or content structure

Repeat sections like agenda or headings
Quickly build longer presentations
Create templates from your best slides

Develop iterations of concepts
Save time over rebuilding slides

Duplicating existing slides that contain artwork, images, charts, bullet points or any other elements allows you to reuse that work rather than rebuilding it from nothing.

Method 1: Copy and Paste

The most straightforward way to duplicate a slide is using copy/paste:

Open your PowerPoint presentation
Select the slide thumbnail you want to copy from the left pane

Right click and choose Copy from the menu
Right click on a slide thumbnail where you want to paste and choose Paste

This will insert an exact copy of the slide after the selected slide. You can copy/paste more than one slide at a time by selecting multiple thumbnails first.

Pro Tip: Use keyboard shortcuts CTRL+C to copy and CTRL+V to paste for efficiency.

Method 2: Duplicate Slide

You can also duplicate slides with a dedicated PowerPoint command:

Select the slide thumbnail(s) you want to duplicate

Go to the Home tab
Click the New Slide dropdown
Choose Duplicate Selected Slides

The duplicate version will be inserted immediately after your selection. This method is faster than copy/paste for single slides.

Method 3: Reuse Slides Tool

PowerPoint’s Reuse Slides tool lets you browse all slides and insert copies:

Go to the Home tab

Click the New Slide dropdown
Select Reuse Slides
A sidebar will open – browse all slides

Drag slides to insert them

This gives you a visual way to duplicate slides from anywhere in your deck. You can preview slides before reusing them.

Method 4: Save Slide as Template

If you want to duplicate an outstanding slide anytime, save it as a custom template:

Right click the slide thumbnail
Choose Save as Template
Name your template and save

When adding new slides, select your template from the dropdown menu

This lets you reuse exceptional slides across new presentations by loading that layout. Tweak the template slide each time rather than starting from scratch.

Tips for Managing Duplicate Slides

When copying slides, keep these tips in mind:

Rename duplicates to track versions and changes
Rearrange slide order as needed after pasting
Edit the duplicate slides content before presenting

Delete slides you don’t need rather than hiding them
Use keyboard shortcuts for efficiency
Save custom templates from your best slides

Duplicating slides makes it simple to develop your presentation faster. Follow the techniques in this article to copy slides in PowerPoint efficiently.