Microsoft PowerPoint 2008: Working with a Slide Master

PowerPoint offers a Slide Master feature that gives your presentation a consistent,
professional look. Slide masters determine the basic design for every slide in your
presentation, and are helpful if you want every slide in your show to be the same color, to
have the same header or footer, or to carry a particular logo.

The background color, title, and images on the slide master appear on every slide of your
presentation. You can set the appearance of bullets, place holding for images, and the
font for each section of your slides. Universal style changes can be made to every slide in
your presentation by formatting the slide master, leaving the content of each slide
unchanged. Each slide master allows you to format a variety of different layout slides,
each of which can have slightly different formatting and be applied to slides with
different purposes. For instance, you could use a slide master to set particular colors and
text formatting options, then create slides with a specific layout for title slides, slides with
text content, and slides with picture or video content. Topics covered in this tutorial.

 Formatting a Slide Master

 Creating Additional Slide Masters
 Creating a Slide that Differs from the Slide Master
 Customizing the Slide Master
 Viewing the Presentation Outline

Formatting a Slide Master

Keeping similar formats throughout your slide master layouts will help to give your
presentation continuity. To format a slide master you will be using Slide Master view.
The Slide Master view allows you to work on the slide master and all additional layouts
without having to go to a separate view.

NOTE: The slide masters control the text formatting (e.g., font style, size, and color),
background color, effects (e.g., shadowing and bullets), and placeholders for all
designated slides in your presentation. If you make changes to the slide master or a
particular layout after it has been applied to slides, only the slides in your presentation
based on that layout and slide master are affected.

1. From the View menu, select Master » Slide Master

The Master toolbar appears.
2. In the Layout Options pane, select the desired slide master
3. Format the slide master as you would design and format a normal slide
NOTE: Any formatting changes that you make to the first slide will be applied to
all master layouts in this slide master.
4. To format additional master layouts within this slide master,
a. In the Layout Options pane, select the desired slide master, select the
desired layout
b. Design the layout as you would design and format a normal slide

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 c. Continue steps a-b until all desired layouts have been formatted

5. From the Slide Master toolbar, click CLOSE MASTER

OR
In the lower left, on the Status toolbar, click NORMAL VIEW
The changes you made to the slide master are applied to all slides.

Creating Additional Slide Masters

Some formatting decisions must be the same throughout an entire slide master. For
instance, you are unable to apply two different themes or two different fonts for slide
titles within the same slide master. If you would like to change these aspects but still
want to use a slide master, you can create another slide master within the presentation.

The Slide Master view must be open to create additional slide masters.

1. Open the slide show to which you would like to add a slide master
2. From the View menu, select Master » Slide Master. The Master toolbar appears.
3. From the Slide Master toolbar, click INSERT NEW LAYOUT
A new slide master appears.
4. Design the slide master as desired

Applying a Slide Master

After you format your slide master and layouts, PowerPoint automatically applies them to
your slides. You can, however, select which slide master and layout you would like to
apply to an individual slide in your presentation. You can apply slide masters after adding
a slide's content without changing the content.

1. From the View menu, select Normal

2. From the Elements Gallery, select the Slide Layouts tab
The Slide Layouts pane appears.
3. Select the desired layout and slide master.

Creating a Slide that Differs from the Slide Master

When designing your slide show, you might need a different format from the slide master
for certain slides. For example, you might need to format the font, background color, or
bullet design to differ from the slide master. Or your layout slide might contain a large
image in the lower right corner, but for one slide you want text in that corner and do not
want the image to display. You need to alter the slide by removing the background
graphic.

Changes you make to the slide master after customizing an individual slide will not alter
changes you have already made to that slide. For example, if you removed a background
image or changed the background color of a particular slide, changing the slide master

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color will not change the color of this slide or reinsert the background graphic. It will,
however, change the background color of any slides that you have not individually
changed.

Customizing an Individual Slide

You can change the font, background color, or bullet design of individual slides to differ
from the slide master. To learn about formatting slides, refer to Customizing a Master
Slide, Customizing Slide Elements, and Customizing Slides: Using Color.

1. Select the slide you would like to alter

2. Make the appropriate changes to the open slide
WARNING: Any changes you make to the slide master after customizing an
individual slide will overwrite the design of that slide except for the already made
custom changes.

Removing Background Graphics

There are times when the background graphics from the slide master do not fit with the
content of a slide in your presentation. You can remove all background graphics from
individual slides.

1. Select the slide you would like to alter

2. From the Formatting Palette, in the Slide Background section, select Hide
Background Graphics
NOTE: The option is selected when a check mark appears.
All background graphics are hidden on the desired slide.

Customizing a Master Slide

Making changes to slide masters can be an efficient way of applying formatting and
design elements consistently to every slide in your presentation.

 Working with Master Slides & Modifying Master Slides

 Customizing Basic Slide Elements
 Working with Placeholders
 Inserting Date, Time, and Page Numbers & Resetting the Page Numbers

Working with Master Slides

Master slides are special slides that allow you to format basic information and apply it to
every slide in a presentation. By using the master slides, you can add consistency to a
presentation, therefore making it easier to understand. Master slides let you format
background, color, date, time, and page number.

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In PowerPoint 2008, the Slide Master controls formatting for all slides except the title
slide(s).

For specific instructions on how to change backgrounds, fonts, and bullets refer to
Customizing Slide Elements. Instructions on changing other options are included in
Modifying Master Slides.

Modifying Master Slides

Modifying Master Slides: Slide Master

To make changes that will affect all of a presentation's slides, use the Slide Master.

1. From the View menu, select Master » Slide Master

The Master toolbar appears.
2. From the Layout Options pane, select the desired Master style
3. Make the desired changes to the master slide
NOTE: For instructions on how to change the background, fonts, bullets, or
removing images, refer to Customizing Slide Elements.
4. On the Master toolbar, click CLOSE MASTER
OR
In the lower left, on the Status toolbar, click NORMAL VIEW
The changes will appear on all the slides.

Modifying Master Slides: Title Master

1. From the View menu, select Master » Slide Master

The Master Slide toolbar appears.
2. Select the desired Title Master style
NOTE: For instructions on how to change the background, fonts, bullets, or
removing images, refer to Customizing Slide Elements.
3. On the Master toolbar, click CLOSE MASTER
OR
In the lower left, on the Status toolbar, click NORMAL VIEW
The changes will appear on all the slides.

Customizing Basic Slide Elements

You can change the color, size, and style of fonts and bullets. You can also change the
background color or give it a shading effect or texture

Working with Placeholders

Placeholders are boxes with dotted outlines that appear when you create a new
slide. These boxes act as specified areas where you can add text or objects. Just
click within a placeholder to add text or double click to add an object.

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 Placeholders can be moved, resized, and reformatted on the master slide by
clicking and dragging them. When you format the placeholders on a master slide,
the placeholders throughout the slides appear in that format.

To shrink or stretch a placeholder:

1. Open the appropriate slide master

2. Select the placeholder you want to format by clicking the mouse within the text of
the placeholder
3. Place the mouse pointer over any of the handles (squares) that appear around the
outside of a selected placeholder
The mouse appears as a double arrow.
HINT: Select a corner handle to maintain the aspect ratio when resizing.
4. Click and hold the mouse
5. Move the mouse away or towards the placeholder until the placeholder is the
appropriate size
6. On the Master toolbar, click CLOSE MASTER
OR
In the lower left, on the Status toolbar, click NORMAL VIEW
The changes will appear on all the slides.

To move the placeholder:

1. Open the appropriate slide master

2. Select the placeholder you want to format by clicking the mouse within the text of
the placeholder
3. Place the mouse over the shaded border of the selected placeholder until the
pointer turns into four arrows
4. Click and hold the mouse
5. Drag the placeholder to where you want it located
6. On the Master toolbar, click CLOSE MASTER
OR
In the lower left, on the Status toolbar, click NORMAL VIEW
The changes will appear on all the slides

Inserting Date, Time, and Page Numbers

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Anytime during your creation process, you can go to the Slide Master to add the time,
date, and page/slide numbers. The time, date, and page numbers are shown on slide
shows, printed slides, handouts, and the notes pages. The time, date, and page numbers
are also shown throughout every view (e.g., Normal, Slide Sorter, Slide Show, Notes
Page, and the Slides and Outline tabs).

HINT: Date and time symbols are generally used to keep track of draft versions as the
presentation is developed. You might want to omit date and time symbols from the final
printed versions.

1. Open the appropriate slide master

2. From the View menu, select Header and Footer...
The Header and Footer dialog box appears.

3. Select the Slide tab

4. Under Include on slide, specify the desired options:

Option Function

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 Date and time Inserts the date and time on your slide(s)
Update Updates the date and time automatically each time you open your
automatically presentation.
Fixed Inserts the specified date and time and never updates it.
Slide number Displays the slide number on your slide(s).
Starts at Allows you to change the start number for your slide order. Refer to
Resetting the Page Numbers for more information.
Footer Inserts a specified footer on your slide(s). To specify a footer, select
the checkbox and type the desired footer in the corresponding text
box.
Don't show on Does not apply the options to the title slide.
title slide

6. To apply changes to all slides (including the masters, unless you specified
otherwise), click APPLY TO ALL
NOTES: If you are changing the header and footer from a master slide, you will
not be able to apply the changes to only one slide. You will be automatically
making the changes to all the slides based on that master slide.

Resetting the Page Numbers

If you do not want the numbers on your PowerPoint slides to start from the number one,
you can change this in the Header and Footer dialog box. The Header and Footer dialog
box allows you to specify the number you wish to start numbering the slides from.

1. From the View menu, select Header and Footer...

The Header and Footer dialog box appears.

2. Select the Slide tab

3. From the Include on slide section, select Slide number

NOTE: The option is selected when a check mark appears.

4. In the Starts at text box, type or scroll to the number of the slide you wish to
begin the presentation
OR
Use the nudge buttons to select the desired number

5. Click APPLY TO ALL

Viewing Your Presentation Outline

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PowerPoint 2008 has several ways to view a presentation for different purposes. This
document contains information on the Outline tab, which can be very helpful in seeing
the logical order of your whole presentation.

In the Outline tab, PowerPoint displays your presentation as an outline made up of the
titles and main text from each slide. The main text is indented under the slide title.

 Introduction to the Outline View & View Options in the Outline View
 Working with Text in the Outline View
 Moving Paragraphs in an Outline
 Moving Slides in an Outline & Printing in the Outline View

Introduction to the Outline View

Working in the Outline view allows you to see a textual outline of your entire
presentation. The Outline view also makes it easy to rearrange your points, move slides
from one position to another, and apply formatting changes. You can also print the
Outline view for use as notes.

NOTE: The Normal view contains an Outline pane. For more information, refer to The
PowerPoint Views.

To display the Outline view:

1. At the top of the left pane, select the Outline tab

View Options in the Outline View

In the Outline view, you can work with your text formatted as it would appear in the
presentation or in plain text. Working with plain text allows you to see more of your
presentation at once. You can also print with formatted text or plain text, depending on
your view.

To display the Outlining toolbar:

1. From the View menu, select Toolbars » Outlining

The Outlining toolbar will appear below the Standard toolbar.

Switching between Plain Text and Formatted Text

1. Open the Outline View

2. In the Outline pane, select one of your slides by clicking the box next to it
The text for that slide is highlighted.

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 NOTE: No matter which slide you select, formatting will be displayed for all
slides in your presentation.
3. From the Outlining toolbar, click SHOW FORMATTING
NOTE: The SHOW FORMATTING button toggles between showing and hiding
text formatting.

Displaying Only Titles for the Entire Presentation

1. Open the Outline View

2. In the Outline pane, select one of your slides by clicking the box next to it
The text for that slide is highlighted.
3. From the Outlining toolbar, click COLLAPSE ALL
NOTE: It is not necessary to select all slides when using the Collapse all option.

Displaying All of the Slides in the Outline When Some Are Collapsed

1. Open the Outline View

2. In the Outline pane, select one of your slides by clicking the box next to it
The text for that slide is highlighted.
3. From the Outlining toolbar, click EXPAND ALL
NOTES:
It is not necessary to select all slides when using the Expand all option.
If all of your slides are collapsed, you can double click one to expand it.

Working with Text in the Outline View

When you select the Outline tab, a textual outline of your presentation will appear in the
pane at the left side of the screen. If there are images in your presentation, they will not
appear in the outline.

Working with Text in the Outline View: Formatting Text

1. Open the Outline View

2. In the Outline pane, select the text you want to format

3. If the Formatting Palette is not visible, click TOOLBOX

The Formatting Palette appears.
4. Select the Font section. The Font section expands.

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 5. From the available options, make the desired changes

Working with Text in the Outline View: Adding Text

1. Open the Outline View

2. In the Outline pane, place the insertion point where you want to add text
3. Type the desired text

Working with Text in the Outline View: Deleting Text

1. Open the Outline View

2. In the Outline pane, select the text you wish to delete
3. Press [Delete]

Moving Paragraphs in an Outline

You can move a paragraph up or down a level in the outline. When you promote a
paragraph or line of text in your outline, it moves to the left; when you demote it, it
moves to the right. When you move a paragraph up, you exchange it with the one above;
when you move a paragraph down, you exchange it with the one below. In this way you
have control over the organization of text in your presentation without having to go to the
slides themselves.

Moving Paragraphs in an Outline: Promoting/Demoting

1. Open the Outline View

2. In the Outline pane, select the text you want to move
3. From the Outlining toolbar, click PROMOTE or DEMOTE

Moving Paragraphs in an Outline: Up/Down

1. Open the Outline View

2. In the Outline pane, select the text you want to move
3. From the Outlining toolbar, click MOVE UP or MOVE DOWN

Moving Slides in an Outline

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 1. Open the Outline View
2. In the Outline pane, click and drag the slide icon to the appropriate location
NOTE: While dragging the slide, a line will move with your cursor showing you
where the slide will be when you release the mouse.

Printing in the Outline View

When you print your outline, it prints with the options that are showing in the Outline
view (different formatting, collapsed, expanded). Therefore, adjust the text formatting to
ensure that your document will print correctly.

1. Open the Outline View

2. To print your outline with all text formatting shown, make sure to toggle on all
text formatting
3. To print all of your slides, make sure all of your slides are expanded
4. From the File menu, select Print...
The Print dialog box appears.
5. From the Print what pull-down menu, select Outline
6. Click PRINT. The document prints in the Outline view.

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