Printing your PowerPoint slides as handouts is a great way to provide your audience with a copy of your presentation for note-taking or future reference. With PowerPoint 2010, you can easily print up to 6 slides per page, allowing you to conserve paper while still providing the key content.
Steps to Print 6 Slides Per Page
Printing 6 slides per page in PowerPoint 2010 only takes a few simple steps:
- Open your PowerPoint presentation and select “File” > “Print”
- Under the “Settings” section, click on the dropdown menu currently set to “Full Page Slides”
- Select “Handouts” from the dropdown menu
- In the preview, select the 6 slides per page layout (it will arrange the slides 2×3 vertically)
- Click “Print”
That’s it! PowerPoint will now send your slides to print 6 to a page.
Customizing Your Handout Layout
In addition to selecting 6 slides per page, you can further customize the layout and formatting of your handouts:
Orientation
Under the “Handout Orientation” section, choose either portrait or landscape. Landscape orientation works well for the 6 slides per page since it keeps the slide size from becoming too small.
Slide Size
You can also adjust the “Slide Size” to make the slides on the page slightly bigger or smaller. Play around with what looks best for your particular presentation.
Add Lines for Notes
Check the box next to “Print lines for notes” if you want PowerPoint to add ruled lines to the right side of each slide. This makes it convenient for your audience to take notes!
Additional Handout Tips
Here are some extra tips when printing your presentation handouts:
- Print on both sides: Double-sided printing can help limit paper use. Just make sure to set your printer to duplex!
- Add slide numbers: Check this option to put a small slide number at the bottom corner of every slide. This helps your audience refer back to certain slides.
- Print in color: While color ink is more expensive, printing in color allows your slides to retain any images, charts, logos, or other color elements.
- Include notes pages: You can choose to print your speaker notes along with the slides. This may be helpful for some presentations.
Conclusion
With just a few clicks, you can easily set PowerPoint 2010 to print 6 slides per handout page. Adjust the layout settings to your preference to create a handout that’s perfect for your audience. Making use of options like slide numbers, ruled lines, and duplex printing can produce professional, polished handouts.
So the next time you need to print a PowerPoint presentation for your audience, take advantage of the handy handout feature to print 6 slides per page. This allows you to conveniently provide the key contents of your presentation in an easy-to-use format for your listeners.