How to Resize PowerPoint Templates

PowerPoint templates provide a quick way to create professional presentations by using pre-designed layouts, color schemes, fonts, and graphics. However, you may sometimes need to resize a template to fit your specific needs, like printing handouts or using a different slide aspect ratio.

Resizing PowerPoint templates is easy to do directly within PowerPoint. This article will walk you through the step-by-step process to resize templates for custom slide dimensions, standard vs widescreen formats, printing, and more.

Step 1: Open the PowerPoint Template File

First, open the PowerPoint template you want to resize. You can do this by:

  • Navigating to File > Open in PowerPoint and browsing to the .potx template file
  • Opening a presentation that already has the template applied

Once the file is open, you’ll resize the slides using the Design tab.

Step 2: Access the Slide Size Options

Go to the Design tab and click on “Slide Size” in the Customize group. This will open a drop-down menu with resize options.

Slide Size button

Step 3: Select a Standard Slide Size

For quick resizing, you can select one of the preset sizes:

  • Standard (4:3): Best for printed handouts. Fits a standard 8.5 x 11” sheet of paper.
  • Widescreen (16:9): Best for modern digital displays. Gives you more horizontal space.

PowerPoint will automatically scale down the contents to fit the new slide size.

Step 4 (Optional): Use a Custom Size

For precise control, select “Custom Slide Size” at the bottom. This opens the custom size window:

Custom Slide Size window

Here you can:

  • Enter exact dimensions for the width and height
  • Choose between landscape or portrait page orientation
  • Select the content scaling behavior when resizing

Tip: Make sure to have “Don’t scale” selected when reducing size to prevent content overlap.

Step 5: Resize Slide Master Elements

When you resize a template, you’ll likely need to proportionally resize elements in the Slide Master.

To do this:

  1. Go to View > Master Views > Slide Master
  2. Select and resize any placeholders or graphics that need adjustment
  3. Close Master View when finished

This will scale the Slide Master to match your new slide dimensions.

Step 6: Save as a Custom Template

If you want to save your resized template for reuse:

  1. Go to the Design tab and click on the arrow below the templates
  2. Choose “Save Current Theme” at the bottom
  3. Give your custom template a name
  4. Click Save

You can then apply your resized template to new presentations later on.

Recap and Tips

Resizing a PowerPoint template is straightforward:

  • Use preset sizes for quick 4:3 or 16:9 resizing
  • Enter custom dimensions for fully customizable slides
  • Adjust slide master elements like placeholders to match new size
  • Save resized templates to easily reuse

Pro Tip: Create multiple templates with different sizes tailored to specific needs, like printing vs presentations.

With just a few clicks, you can resize templates in PowerPoint to perfectly fit your presentation needs.