Introduction
Printing your PowerPoint presentations is an important part of sharing your work with others. Whether you need handouts for your audience or printouts of your slides and notes for yourself, PowerPoint offers several options to meet your needs.
In this article, we’ll cover the key things you need to know about printing from PowerPoint 2016, including:
- Print layout options
- Customizing your printouts
- Troubleshooting common printing issues
Follow along to learn how to create professional, polished printouts of your presentations.
Print Layout Options
PowerPoint provides four main print layouts to choose from:
Full Page Slides
This option prints one full slide per page. It’s useful if you want people to be able to view your slides individually and refer to them easily.
Notes Pages
The notes pages option prints one slide per page along with any speaker notes entered in normal view. This creates a useful reference for the presenter.
Outline View
Outline view prints just the titles and main text from your slides in outline format. It summarizes the key points without graphics or multimedia.
Handouts
The handouts option prints multiple slides per page, ranging from 1 to 9 slides per sheet. Handouts often include lines for taking notes and slide numbers for easy reference.
Tip: Use the print preview pane to see what each layout will look like before printing.
Customizing Printouts
You can customize your PowerPoint printouts in several ways:
Print Range
Specify exactly which slides you want to print using the print range option. For example, you may want to print only slides 5-12.
Page Setup
Adjust options like paper size, orientation (portrait vs landscape), and margins in page setup.
Headers and Footers
Add useful details like slide numbers, date, and title by enabling headers and footers in the print settings.
Pure Black and White
Switch to pure black and white mode if your slides have dark backgrounds that don’t print well. This can save ink too.
Pro Tip: When printing handouts, use the Handout Master to customize the layout, background, headers/footers, etc.
Troubleshooting Printing Issues
Here are some common PowerPoint printing problems and how to fix them:
Slides print too small with big margins
- Adjust printer margins in the advanced settings to minimize white space
Speaker notes don’t print correctly
- Go to View > Master > Notes Master and reset the layout
Part of slide image gets cut off
- Check that paper size matches your slides’ aspect ratio
Printout looks fuzzy or low quality
- Export as PDF and print from Acrobat for better image quality
Large print job fails or crashes
- Try printing smaller sections at a time instead of 100+ slides
Can’t get handouts layout correct
- Make sure correct Handout Master is applied to all note pages
Following the tips in this article will help you breeze through printing your PowerPoint decks. With a well-designed printout, your audience can better retain and reference your presentation content long after the projector turns off!
Conclusion
- PowerPoint offers several print layouts to showcase your slides, notes, or handouts
- Customize printouts using options like print range, page setup tools, and pure black and white mode
- Troubleshoot issues by checking margins, master layouts, paper size, and exporting as PDF
- Well-designed handouts and printouts extend the life and impact of your presentation
I hope this overview gives you the knowledge to create professional PowerPoint printouts tailored to your needs. Refer back to the tips here next time you’re ready to send your presentation to the printer!
