PowerPoint templates can be a great starting point for creating professional presentations quickly. However, you may want to customize the template to match your brand colors, fonts, and design style. In this article, we’ll walk through the step-by-step process for editing PowerPoint templates on both Mac and PC.
Benefits of Using and Editing Templates
Here are some of the benefits of using and editing PowerPoint templates:
- Saves time – Starting with a pre-designed template can cut down on the layout and formatting time. You can focus on the content.
- Looks professional – Templates often have modern, sleek designs that make your presentation look polished.
- Brand consistency – Edit the colors, fonts, logos to match your brand for consistent branding across presentations.
- Customization – While templates provide design elements you need, you can customize it further to meet specific needs.
- Variety – Microsoft includes many templates, and you can download more online suited for different purposes.
How to Edit PowerPoint Templates on PC
Follow these steps to edit a PowerPoint template on Windows:
1. Open the Template
Double click the PPTX template file to open it in PowerPoint. Alternatively, go to File > New and pick a template to start with.
2. Edit Master Slides
Click on “View” tab and select “Slide Master”. This will open the slide master view where you can edit the master slides.
3. Customize Design
Edit the theme colors, fonts (headings and body), effects, background style that’s applied to all slides.
4. Modify Layouts
You can edit the individual layout masters that serve as the base for different slide types in your presentation.
5. Save as a Template
Go to File > Save As and choose the “PowerPoint Template” option to save your edited design as a new template.
How to Edit PowerPoint Templates on Mac
The process is similar on a Mac as well. Here are the key things you need to do:
1. Open Template
Double click the template file from Finder to open it in PowerPoint. Alternatively, go to File > New from Template.
2. Edit Master Slides
Click on “View” menu and choose “Master Slides” to edit the slide master and layouts.
3. Customize Formatting
Change colors, fonts, theme variants, and background in the Master Slides view for template-wide changes.
4. Overwrite Layouts
Modify individual layout masters for different slide types like title, section header, content, image, etc.
5. Save as Template
Go to File > Save As and pick “PowerPoint Template” option to save as a new .potx template file.
Tips for Editing Templates
Here are some additional tips for editing PowerPoint templates effectively:
- Focus on slide masters and layouts for efficient template-wide changes.
- Try to maintain font consistency by using one sans-serif and one serif font family.
- Use high-quality logo images for best visual quality. Compress images to reduce file size.
- Remove unused layout masters to streamline template and avoid confusion.
- Use color palette with high contrast to maintain readability. Light text on dark backgrounds causes eye strain.
- Add design elements like shapes, icons, and visuals to layouts so they propagate to all slides.
- Use guides and alignments lines for positioning visual assets as you edit the layouts.
Conclusion
Editing PowerPoint templates helps in customizing the design while retaining professionally designed layouts, styles, and formatting. Whether you are on a Mac or PC, you can quickly modify templates to meet your business, personal or educational needs in just a few steps. Utilize the master slides and layouts editing to efficiently propagate the changes throughout the presentation.
So download a template that best matches your needs and apply the editing techniques outlined above to transform it into your own custom design. Your audiences will appreciate the polished, cohesive, and branded presentation.
