what is the meaning of blank presentation

Creating a Blank Presentation

When you create a new, blank presentationby choosing Blank Presentation in the New Presentation pane or by clicking the New icon on the Standard toolbarPowerPoint generates a new presentation and displays the Slide Layout task pane (see Figure 4 ).

Figure 4. Use the Slide Layout pane to specify which placeholders will go on a slide and where they will sit.

When you begin with a blank presentation, PowerPoint starts with a single title slide. Although it's a tedious way to work, you can build your presentation from this view, one slide at a time. Aim your mouse pointer at the layout that matches the kind of slide you want to add, click the arrow to the right of the slide layout icon, and choose Insert New Slide from the menu.

In a blank PowerPoint presentation, each new slide you create is completely free of any design elements whatsoever. You get a white background, with text formatted in the Arial font (44-point for slide titles and 32-point for body text) and generic round bullets.

It is hard to imagine a layout more dull than this default design. To replace it with one that contains coordinated colors, fonts, and graphics, click the Design icon on the Formatting toolbar (or choose Slide Design from the drop-down list at the top of the task pane). The Slide Design pane (see Figure 5 ) appears.

Figure 5. Switch to this larger preview to get a better picture of what each design template looks like.

When you click the icon for a design template, PowerPoint immediately applies the design to all slides in your presentation. The icons offer a thumbnail-sized preview of the design, but there's no substitute for experimentation. Feel free to apply different designs to the current presentation and then flip through the slides to see what each design looks like; if your presentation includes important content, create a copy first so that you don't have to worry about inadvertently messing up the existing design.

If you regularly prepare presentations for an organization or company that has certain standards for all presentationslogo in a specific location, identification of title slides, and so onyou might want to customize PowerPoint's "blank" presentation so that it reflects those standards. That way, whenever you begin a new presentation you'll have the basic requirements out of the way before you type your first bullet point.

To replace the PowerPoint default blank presentation with one of your own design, follow these steps:

With a Blank Presentation file in the correct location, all "blank" presentations whether created via the New Presentation task pane or using the New icon on the Standard toolbarwill be based on that file.

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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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PowerPoint Templates: What They Are and Why You Need One

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• March 6, 2018

In this post you’ll learn everything you need to know about PowerPoint templates.

Properly built templates are a great way to make building and editing your PowerPoint presentations easy and effortless. That said, if your template is not built correctly, it can make working in PowerPoint extremely difficult.

Time Saving Tip: If you are building a template, you can save yourself a TON of time by first buying a professional template online, and then tweaking it to meet your needs. To see the 4 best places I recommend finding professional PowerPoint templates  (and why I like them), read my template guide here .

What are PowerPoint templates?

According to Microsoft Office, a PowerPoint template “is a pattern or blueprint of a slide or group of slides that you save as a .potx file. Templates can contain layouts, theme colors, theme fonts, theme effects, background styles, and even content.”

In simpler terms, it’s the formatting backbone of your PowerPoint presentation. It’s what ensures formatting consistency across your entire presentation as you build your slides.

The key is, making sure that your template is set up correctly, which a lot of templates don’t have. They are instead what we call fake PowerPoint template.

To learn more about what a template is and isn’t (and how to spot fake ones),  click here .

The benefits of PowerPoint templates

PowerPoint templates are a shortcut to more engaging, colorful, and creative presentations.

They are the very bedrock of your presentations – whether you use a custom one or generic one – and they influence absolutely EVERYTHING:

• How your fonts, colors, and branding displays…
• Whether the slides you copy and paste into your presentation convert properly…
• How your content displays on screen (and prints
• Can you edit content without detonating hidden landmines that derail your workflow

A well-designed template makes your slides and overall presentation look good. On top of that, it makes the process of building and editing your slides MUCH easier.

That’s because it pre-populates all your company information, corporate formatting, default slides, etc. This ensures that everything stays consistent in your presentation, regardless of how much stuff you add to your presentation.

Note:  If you use PowerPoint on a daily basis, and want to create your own PowerPoint template from scratch,  read my step-by-step guide here .

What can you use a template for?

You can use templates to jump-start your presentation and start building slides that are consistent in appearance and easy to replicate.

PowerPoint templates can be used by anyone, anywhere and for multiple purposes.

From the educator to the sales team, the project manager and the executive assistants, a PowerPoint template can be built to fit just about any scenario.

Here are a few situations you could use PowerPoint templates for:

• Board meetings
• Education settings and class lessons
• Creating a document for printing

Here is an example of a custom-built template that would be good for a webinar or a printed document:

Just keep in mind that while PowerPoint templates can be flexible, they still have limitations. You will never be able to please all people for all situations with your template (that’s just life).

Microsoft PowerPoint templates

As we just mentioned, Microsoft has a library of ready-made PowerPoint templates and PowerPoint themes you can choose from.

When you open PowerPoint, click ‘New’ and you’ll see the search bar, suggested search topics, plus a number of template options.

How to choose the right PowerPoint template

The first step is to know what you’re talking about and do brainstorm how you will need to put that into slides.

We recommend sketching out some slide layouts onto a piece of paper to get a sense of the overall design.

You should also consider brainstorming on the look & feel you want your presentation to have. That would include things like the fonts, colors and backgrounds.

The key things to consider are:

• Was the template built properly in the Slide Master (otherwise, it’s a ‘fake template’)?
• Is the template using the proper theme elements (fonts, colors, etc.)?
• Does it have suitable slides for your titles, content sections, a mix of image slides, text-only and mixed media slides?
• Is the branding, theme, or topic consistent with your company branding?

Whether you choose from ready-made ones or build your own, you’ll want to set the template’s theme up with your own company fonts and theme colors. You can learn more about PowerPoint themes  here .

Note: To see my 4 favorite places for finding professional PowerPoint templates online,  read my template guide here .

Here are a few of the default Microsoft PowerPoint templates we like:

And here are a few great professional PowerPoint template options from sites that we trust:

To see my full review of the Reem PowerPoint  template by SlideCow, read my review here .

To see my full review of the  Business Casual template  by SlideCow (and why I like it),  read my review here .

To see my full review of the  Corporate template by inspiradesign,  read my review here .

Where to download PowerPoint templates online

If you’re not creating your own templates or using the ready-made Office templates, you can always consider downloading some from the web.

When you download a template, make sure it’s in the .potx file format. If it is not a .potx file format, then it’s not really a template. It’s just similar looking slides.

There are several places where you can find and download templates online. Most of them are paid, but there are a few decent websites that offer free PowerPoint templates.

The Best PowerPoint Templates: To read more about my 4 favorite places for finding templates online (and why I like them so much), read my article here .

How to customize your template

If you use a ready-made PowerPoint template, there is a chance that it won’t be 100% exactly what you need. That means that even if you buy one, you’ll still need to customize it.

To customize your template, you’ll want to start by adjusting the theme, including the colors and fonts. You can change those easily under the Design tab and Variants .

If you want to create your own custom colors and font combinations (rather than choosing from the pre-built ones) you can learn about creating your own custom PowerPoint theme here .

Next, you’ll want to go into the Slide Master and make changes first to the Parent Layout, so that they reflect in all the Child Layouts. To open your slide master, simply:

• Click the View tab
• Select Slide Master

And once those are formatted, you’ll want to make sure you look at the Handout Master and the Notes Master too.

• View tab, select Handout Master
• View tab, select Notes Master

Customizing your template the right way is a lot trickier than it seems and requires the same amount of effort to build one.  So, make sure that you’re careful as just one or two mistakes can ruin your template for good.

To expand your knowledge and learn how to format and use the Notes Page view for your speaker notes in PowerPoint, read our guide here .

Practical tips for your templates

Whether you use a default Microsoft template, or buy one online, there are a few not so intuitive things you’ll want to nail down.

This is especially true if you get a template from a third party site as most of them are not real templates. That’s why it’s important to know what you’re looking for before you buy one.

Once you know what you are looking for, you can then download and work with the free templates you find online, or build your own from scratch ( details here if you need help ).

Keep in mind that when building your own custom template, not only is there a recommended order for building it, but there are also critical steps to take when sharing your template with others.

Make sure you don’t skip these steps and end up shooting yourself in the foot.

Common template problems and how to fix them

Now once you’ve got your template, you may find that it’s behaving strangely or that some things in your PowerPoint template aren’t working like they should.

There are a few key tricks to solving nagging issues that inevitably come up when working with templates in PowerPoint.

A few of these tricks include making your default titles All Caps and understanding why you should not delete the default layouts from your slide master ( click here to learn more ).

Another thing to note about working with templates is that they are often confused with the PowerPoint themes and PowerPoint slide masters.

These three elements of a presentation are connected, they are all different and were designed with slightly different purposes in mind.

A PowerPoint template is simply a set of guidelines for the design of your slides. Basically, where text, charts, and images should go on each slide.

On top of that, a properly built template includes a properly set up Slide Master and a PowerPoint theme (they are not one in the same thing).

Simply understanding this will put you light years ahead of most PowerPoint users.

To learn more about our training courses and other PowerPoint resources,  visit us here .

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What is the Difference between a Presentation and a Slide?

By: Author Shrot Katewa

People often use the terms “Presentation” and “Slide” interchangeably. But, do these terms mean one and the same thing? If not, what exactly is the difference between a Presentation and a Slide?

The main difference between a presentation and a slide is that a slide is just a single page of a presentation document whereas a presentation is an actual process of sharing and presenting the information present on the slides.

There are several other similar terms that are used when referring to presentations. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of these terms and clear the confusion around it!

Difference between a Presentation and a Slide?

Hopefully, you have already understood the main difference between a presentation and a slide. Let’s look at the two in further detail, and understand the nuances.

What is a Slide?

A slide, as we may have already understood, is a single page of a presentation.

In the above image, as you may notice, all the individual pages that we get within a presentation is referred to as “ Slides “. You may even notice the numbers on the top left corner of each slide in the normal view much like the page numbers on a word document.

These numbers indicate the slide number within a particular presentation file. Even though they indicate the slide number, these are not visible when giving the presentation in the slide show mode (we’ll talk about slide show a bit later in the article).

In order to create a presentation file, you’ll be required to work on each individual slides.

However, many people tend to make this one big mistake! That is, creating slides by writing content as though they would on a page of a word document. One needs to keep in mind that creating a slide is not just about putting a bunch of words together, rather sharing it in a visually appealing and engaging manner with the audience.

Creating a beautiful slide is an art in itself, and it takes skills and an eye for design to create an aesthetically pleasing slide.

What is a Presentation?

A presentation is a means of communication. It is the process of sharing the information present on the slides! A presentation can also take the form of a demonstration of a product, design, or ideas!

A presentation differs from a slide from the fact that the person giving a presentation ideally uses the slide as a base to build upon the points he/she wants to communicate with the audience.

It is quite common to use slides while giving a presentation in today’s modern world. That said, a presentation goes beyond even having any slides! What I mean is that a presentation can be given even without having any slides.

While a single slide can also be construed as a presentation in a scenario when while giving the presentation, the presenter uses just 1 slide. Although, this is an extremely rare occurrence!

It is important to note that some people are really good at creating an aesthetically pleasing slide, while others are great at presenting or sharing the information present on a slide!

Both of the aforementioned activities require a different set of skills. It is quite common to hire or outsource the activity of creating the slides in order to deliver a successful presentation.

Difference between Slide and Slideshow?

Now that we’ve understood the difference between a slide and a presentation, let’s compare another term that people often get confused with – slide vs. slideshow

While a slide is a single page of the presentation document, a slide show is when multiple slides are put together for the purpose of supplementing the presentation to be delivered.

In a nutshell, when a series of slides, usually comprising of images, are displayed using an electronic display device such as a projector screen, it is known as a slide show.

A slide show can also have some background music (an example would be a slide show given at a friend’s wedding). A slide show may either be controlled (for example when giving a presentation), or it may run in a loop (for example in a company booth at a business conference).

Difference between a Slide and Slide Deck?

Another term that you may hear a lot is a “Slide Deck”. It may also be used in combination with other words such as “Pitch Deck” or a “Presentation Deck”. So, let’s understand what it means.

A slide deck is basically a group of slides together used for giving a presentation.

While this may feel similar in meaning to a slide show, the only major difference is its history!

The term slide deck evolved from the olden days when physical slides were used to give a presentation.

Each slide would have a particular piece of information (just as it does today), and all these slides were physically stacked together in the particular desired order to form a deck; much like a deck of cards.

This was done to ensure that the order of the slides doesn’t get changed. This made the term “Slide Deck” synonymous with a presentation.

Today, with the advent of technology, one cannot imaging using physical slides to give a presentation! Just like the technology for presentations, the terminology also changed from Slide Deck to Slide Show. However, the core principle remains the same.

Difference between PowerPoint and Presentation?

Another pair of terms that people highly used interchangeably is PowerPoint and Presentation. So far, we’ve already understood the terms slide, slide show, slide deck and presentation. So, how does the term PowerPoint fit in this?

PowerPoint is a presentation design software owned and provided by Microsoft to its customers as part of its Office Suite. There are several versions of Microsoft PowerPoint. The software is usually updated with new features in its newest release version.

PowerPoint was first launched by a software company “Forethought Inc.”. The software was initially designed to work only on Macintosh computers only. However, in it’s first major acquisition, Microsoft bought PowerPoint and was first brought to the market in 1990 for Windows.

The software became so popular with the users that a presentation is often referred to as “PowerPoint” or “PPT” (which is the file extension of the PowerPoint files).

So, the key difference between PowerPoint and Presentation is that PowerPoint is basically a tool or software to create digital presentations. A presentation can be given with or without a PowerPoint file.

By the way, the screenshot that you saw earlier in the article that showcases the meaning of slides is from a PowerPoint file.

PowerPoint is not the only presentation design software available to the users. In fact, there are literally hundreds of tools to design a presentation. But, PowerPoint by far is the most commonly used and most successful presentation design software.

How many Slides should a Presentation have?

This is a question that haunts most people who need to give a presentation and create the deck. Is there a good number that you should restrict your slides in a presentation to?

While there is no fixed “one size fits all” approach when it comes to creating presentations and limiting the number of slides in a presentation, ensuring that your presentation doesn’t go beyond 20 slides on average !

In a research published in the Marketing Education Review on the topic of Optimizing Learning by Examining the Use of Presentation Slides , it was cited that blank stares were visible amongst audience members when listeners were overwhelmed with too many slides are text-heavy slides.

Thus, it is important to restrict our presentation to no more than 20 slides. Consider the time available at hand when giving a presentation. A 20-slide presentation can be delivered in about 30 minutes.

According to Guy Kawasaki, an angel investor who reviewed several hundreds of pitch presentations every day, is a strong evangelist of the 10 slide rule (now popularly known as the 10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint)

However, a 10-slide PowerPoint presentation may work well for an investor pitch, it may not suffice for most of the other purposes.

How to Create an Attractive PowerPoint Presentation?

Everyone wants their presentation to look attractive. After all, we all understand the importance of a good first impression !

But, when you don’t necessarily have the required skills, how then can you create an attractive presentation?

Fortunately, we wrote a detailed post on how anyone could make their presentation attractive even if they are a complete beginner! Be sure to check out the article!

7 EASY tips that ALWAYS make your PPT presentation attractive (even for beginners)

The tips shared in that article are absolute GOLD! I’m not sure why people are not giving these such simple tips to others.

If you are not comfortable using even the tips mentioned in the article, and you feel like you need some time to gain the skills, then I would recommend hiring a good design agency who will ensure that your presentation turns out to be an attractive one!

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Difference between PowerPoint Templates, Themes, and Layouts?

• December 3, 2020

Wondering what is the difference between a PowerPoint theme and a PowerPoint template? Or what is the difference between templates and layouts in PowerPoint? You’re not alone!  When writing the feature overview for PPT Productivity's new PowerPoint Templates Manager feature , we found Microsoft’s information about each to be confusing.  We're have tried to summarize it in the following three points, plus some additional information on each in the overview guide below:

• PowerPoint Themes consist of colors, fonts, effects and background styles 
• PowerPoint Layouts are pre-designed formats which determine how information is displayed on a slide
• PowerPoint Templates bring together a PowerPoint theme and slide layouts, along with any additional customizations (e.g. your company logo saved as a background image etc) to create a foundation for your presentation 

In our experience working with large organizations, the marketing team typically own the creation of the company endorsed PowerPoint templates.  But Marketing focus on ensuring brand elements are appropriately covered (often including approved imagery and any endorsed fonts).  Quite often they haven’t given much consideration to the usability of the layouts.  The result?  Company templates often have marketing endorsed branding colors, logos and images, but they are frustrating to actually use.  The good news is that you can easily update your template to make it more efficient!

What is a Theme in PowerPoint?

A PowerPoint theme gives your template it’s 'personality'. The theme of your template determines:

• The color palette it will use for the text, shapes and background
• What type of font(s) are set as defaults
• What effects and bullet style are set as defaults

When you create a new presentation, you can either use one of the standard PowerPoint options or create your own PowerPoint theme design. To use a Microsoft pre-set theme, navigate to the ‘Design’ tab on the Standard PowerPoint ribbon.  If you’re working out of an existing PowerPoint template (e.g. if you’re working out of one of your existing company presentations that the marketing team created) then your existing template will already has a PowerPoint theme defined for it.  Using the colors designated by your presentation's theme will give your presentation a more consistent or cohesive look.

NOTE: Themes set default color, font and bullet styles. But they do not prevent users from adding other colors or fonts when using a template.

Learn how to create or customize your own color palette for a theme

On the PPT Productivity ribbon you can see the theme font of your template in the Text group

At the top of the PPT Productivity Color Toolbar you will see your theme's color palette (outlined in red below)

What are PowerPoint Layouts?

The Layout in PowerPoint determines the default placement for content on the slide and it also indicates the type of content each layout is intended for. PowerPoint layouts are the slide layouts within a PowerPoint template that contain the formatting, positioning and placeholders for the content that appears on the slide. PowerPoint has standard slide layouts, but you can also modify these layouts, or create new layouts according to your requirements.

The standard PowerPoint Template comes with several default layouts. You can change the layout used on any given slide by clicking the Layout dropdown menu from the PPT Productivity ribbon and selecting the desired layout for your slide. Or visit the ‘Home’ tab to find the Layout menu.

When creating or updating a template and selecting layouts, the layouts become ‘layout/ slide masters’.  The most important of these layout/ slide masters is the ‘Master Slide Layout’ or ‘Parent Slide’.  This is the first one that shows when you navigate to ‘View > Slide Master’.  This ‘Parent’ Slide cascades elements like page numbers or slide titles to the other layouts in its group. The subsequent layouts are known as the ‘Child Slides’. Any change you make to the first slide/ layout (‘Parent Slide’) will be replicated in the layouts below it (‘Child Masters’).

For example, if you add a logo to the ‘Parent’ master layout, it will appear on all the ‘Child’ layouts. To make unique changes to individual layouts, select that layout and adjust as needed. Changes made to Child layouts will only affect the individual layout.

Note – you do not need to create a layout for every slide format you intend to use.  Layouts are intended to save time by providing shortcuts for the more commonly used slide layouts (and enabling you to specify the layouts to be brand aligned). 

What is a PowerPoint Template?

A PowerPoint Template is the foundation of your presentation.  As part of creating a Template, you will need to include a theme and slide layouts (either by selecting default options or by customizing).

Templates are saved as .potx files.

If you are a PPT Productivity user, you can find all your Templates by clicking on the Template management icon in the File group on your top ribbon.

For a step-by-step guide to create your own Template see our post ‘Want to know how to create a custom template in PowerPoint?’

How to edit your PowerPoint Template

How do you open a powerpoint template to edit it.

To edit your .potx file, you need to find the file (in windows explorer), right click and select ‘Open’.  If you open the .potx file by double clicking or from within PowerPoint, it will trigger ‘using’ the template instead and will create a new blank document based on the template.

Once you have opened the template master you can make most updates in the same way that you would update a standard presentation. Our guide ‘Want to know how to create a custom template in PowerPoint?’ provides detailed steps on creating or editing the various elements of a template.

Hack your Template to Boost your Productivity

Templates are not always set up properly. If you address this by editing your .potx file, you can save yourself a lot of time.  Here are some of the typical problems we’ve seen and our suggestions to solve them:

• The creator of a template often includes a duplication of the layouts as actual slides in the pack.  This means that when you open the template you need to delete all the slides before you can get to work.  Our suggestion – edit the .potx file to delete these slides, so you can always open an empty deck ready for action.
• Templates are often set up to do annoying things like ‘shrink text size to fit’; or use a weird paragraph style format on indent.   Once again – open the .potx file, set the template to use the paragraph styles you prefer, and you’ll benefit every day you work on a deck!
• Use a layout quite frequently that isn’t in the default?  Our Shape Library offers layout options to make it easy, but you can also edit the .potx file to include your preferences
• Share the updated .potx with your team!  If you are frustrated that colleagues or team members are creating presentations with issues caused by the template, make the update to the .potx file and either arrange with IT for it to be updated in central deployment (if your template is centrally installed onto all machines) or simply email the updated .potx file to colleagues!

In summary, a Template is a preset of a theme, layouts and typically custom logo/ branding inserted into the layouts which provide a visual foundation for your presentation.  Slide layouts propose formats for how to layout different types of information on a slide.  The Theme determines default colors and fonts which will be used when a user adds wording or shapes to the slides.

Generally, when people refer to a PowerPoint Template, they will be referring to a combination of the layout and the theme as these are the elements that make up a PowerPoint Template as a whole.

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Slide Layouts in PowerPoint

Tips for setting up Slide Layouts

• Brock University
• Understanding the Opening Slide
• Add a New Slide

Work With the Title and Content Slide

• Change Slide Layouts
• Work With the Slides Tab
• Customize a Slide

PowerPoint's built-in slide layouts give you the versatility and creativity you need to create slideshows that communicate your message clearly and effectively. Here are a few tips to help you use slide layouts in your workflow and structure information that reaches your audience.

These instructions apply to PowerPoint 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010; PowerPoint for Microsoft 365, PowerPoint Online, PowerPoint for Mac, PowerPoint for iPhone, and PowerPoint for Android.

Understand the Opening PowerPoint Slide

When you first open PowerPoint, your screen resembles the image above and includes these areas:

• Slide Pane : Each page of a presentation is called a​ slide . New presentations open with a Title slide in Normal view. The Slide Pane is where you'll add the text, images, and other screen-show elements that are a part of your presentation.
• Slides Tab : This area toggles between Slides view and Outline view . Slides view shows a tiny picture of all the slides in your presentation. Outline view shows the hierarchy of the text in your slides.
• Menus : This part of the user interface (UI) is known as the Ribbon . The Ribbon gives you access to all of PowerPoint's features and commands.

When you open a new presentation in PowerPoint, the first slide is the Title slide and contains text placeholders. To customize this slide layout, select the placeholder text and enter a new title and subtitle.

Add a New PowerPoint Slide

To add a new slide to your presentation, select Home > New Slide . This adds the Title and Content slide layout. This is the default slide layout and it contains placeholders for a title, bullet text, images , and illustrations.

If you need a different type of slide, select the New Slide down arrow . This opens a menu that contains nine different slide layouts. Choose one of these slide layouts to add it to your presentation.

When you select Home > New Slide , a new slide is added using the current slide layout. For example, if the current slide on the screen uses the Picture With Caption slide layout, the new slide will also be of that type.

The Title and Content slide layout contains placeholders for a title, a bullet list, images, and illustrations.

To add bullet text to this slide, select the bullet placeholder and enter your new text. Each time you press Enter , a new bullet appears for the next line of text.

To add content other than text to the Title and Content slide layout, select an icon from the set of six content types. The different types of content that can be inserted in this slide layout include a table, chart , SmartArt graphic, pictures, online pictures, and video.

Change PowerPoint Slide Layouts

If you've created a slide and you don't like the layout, change it to one of the nine different slide layout choices in PowerPoint. Display the slide you want to change in the Slide Pane and select Home > Layout (in PowerPoint 2019, select Slide Layout ) to see the list of available slide layouts. The current slide layout is highlighted. Select a different slide layout and the current slide takes on this new slide layout.

Here's a description of each of the built-in slide layouts:

• Title Slide : Use a title slide at the beginning of your presentation to introduce your topic.
• Title and Content : The default slide layout and the most commonly used slide layout.
• Section Header : Separates different sections of the same presentation.
• Two Content : Use this slide layout to show two columns of text and graphic content.
• Comparison : Similar to the Two Content slide layout, but this slide type also includes a heading text box over each type of content. Use this type of slide layout to compare two types of the same content type (for example, two different charts).
• Title Only : Use this slide layout if you want to place only a title on the page, rather than a title and subtitle. The area below the title is blank so that other content (such as clip art, WordArt , pictures, or charts) can be added as needed.
• Blank : A blank slide layout is often used when a picture or other graphic object needs no further information.
• Content With Caption : Contains two columns for text and content. The left column contains placeholders for text. The right column contains placeholders for images and illustrations.
• Picture With Caption : This slide layout is similar to the Content With Caption slide layout. The left side contains a placeholder for text and the right side contains a placeholder for a picture that is stored on your computer or cloud account.

Work With the PowerPoint Slides Tab

The Slides Tab is located on the left side of the PowerPoint screen. The default setting is Normal and shows thumbnail views of the slides in your presentation. If you'd rather see an outline of your presentation, select View > Outline View .

Each time you add a new slide, a miniature version of that slide appears in the Slides Tab on the left side of the screen. Select a thumbnail to place that slide in the Slides Pane for editing.

Customize a PowerPoint Slide

You're not limited to the layout of a slide as it first appears in PowerPoint. You may add, move, and remove text boxes and other objects at any time on any slide.

If no slide layout suits your specific needs, insert a Blank slide and add text boxes or other objects to fit the information you want to convey.

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PowerPoint 2016  - Slide Basics

Powerpoint 2016  -, slide basics, powerpoint 2016 slide basics.

PowerPoint 2016: Slide Basics

Lesson 5: slide basics.

/en/powerpoint2016/saving-presentations/content/

Introduction

Every PowerPoint presentation is composed of a series of slides . To begin creating a slide show, you'll need to know the basics of working with slides. You'll need to feel comfortable with tasks such as inserting a new slide, changing the layout of a slide, arranging existing slides, changing the slide view , and adding notes to a slide.

Optional: Download our practice presentation .

Watch the video below to learn more about slide basics in PowerPoint.

Understanding slides and slide layouts

When you insert a new slide , it will usually have placeholders to show you where content will be placed. Slides have different layouts for placeholders, depending on the type of information you want to include. Whenever you create a new slide, you'll need to choose a slide layout that fits your content.

Placeholders can contain different types of content, including text, images, and videos. Many placeholders have thumbnail icons you can click to add specific types of content. In the example below, the slide has placeholders for the title and content .

To insert a new slide:

Whenever you start a new presentation, it will contain one slide with the Title Slide layout. You can insert as many slides as you need from a variety of layouts.

To change the layout of an existing slide, click the Layout command, then choose the desired layout.

To quickly add a slide that uses the same layout as the selected slide, click the top half of the New Slide command.

Organizing slides

PowerPoint presentations can contain as many slides as you need. The Slide Navigation pane on the left side of the screen makes it easy to organize your slides. From there, you can duplicate , rearrange , and delete slides in your presentation.

Working with slides

• Delete slides: If you want to remove a slide from your presentation, you can delete it. Simply select the slide you want to delete, then press the Delete or Backspace key on your keyboard.

To copy and paste slides:

If you want to create several slides with the same layout, you may find it easier to copy and paste a slide you've already created instead of starting with an empty slide.

Customizing slide layouts

Sometimes you may find that a slide layout doesn't exactly fit your needs. For example, a layout might have too many—or too few—placeholders. You might also want to change how the placeholders are arranged on the slide. Fortunately, PowerPoint makes it easy to adjust slide layouts as needed.

Adjusting placeholders

• To delete a placeholder: Select the placeholder you want to delete, then press the Delete or Backspace key on your keyboard.

To add a text box:

Text can be inserted into both placeholders and text boxes . Inserting text boxes allows you to add to the slide layout. Unlike placeholders, text boxes always stay in the same place, even if you change the theme.

Using blank slides

If you want even more control over your content, you may prefer to use a blank slide , which contains no placeholders. Blank slides can be customized by adding your own text boxes, pictures, charts, and more.

While blank slides offer more flexibility, keep in mind that you won't be able to take advantage of the predesigned layouts included in each theme.

To play the presentation:

Once you've arranged your slides, you may want to play your presentation. This is how you will present your slide show to an audience.

• The presentation will appear in full-screen mode.
• You can advance to the next slide by clicking your mouse or pressing the spacebar on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move forward or backward through the presentation.
• Press the Esc key to exit presentation mode.

You can also press the F5 key at the top of your keyboard to start a presentation.

Customizing slides

To change the slide size:.

By default, all slides in PowerPoint 2013 use a 16 - by-9 —or widescreen —aspect ratio. You might know that widescreen TVs also use the 16-by-9 aspect ratio. Widescreen slides will work best with widescreen monitors and projectors. However, if you need your presentation to fit a 4-by-3 screen, it's easy to change the slide size to fit.

To format the slide background:

By default, all slides in your presentation use a white background . It's easy to change the background style for some or all of your slides. Backgrounds can have a solid , gradient , pattern , or picture fill.

• The background style of the selected slide will update.

To apply a theme:

A theme is a predefined combination of colors, fonts, and effects that can quickly change the look and feel of your entire slide show. Different themes also use different slide layouts , which can change the arrangement of your existing placeholders. We'll talk more about themes later in our Applying Themes lesson.

Try applying a few different themes to your presentation. Some themes will work better than others, depending on your content.

• Open our practice presentation .
• Change the theme of the presentation.
• Delete slide 7. This slide should be blank.
• Add a new slide with the Title and Content layout to the end of the presentation.
• In the Title placeholder, type Adoption Event Dates .
• Select the Content placeholder and delete it.
• Insert a text box and type July 17, 2017 , inside it.
• Change the slide size to Standard (4:3) . A dialog box will appear asking if you want to maximize or ensure fit. Choose Ensure Fit .

/en/powerpoint2016/text-basics/content/

• Getting Started
• Best Practices

PowerPoint Slide Layouts Explained

April 18, 2022

This video will explain the nine common slide layouts available in PowerPoint. In this YouTube channel, I highlight ways to improve your presentation skills and slide design by covering both basic and advanced presentation strategies such as highlighting animation techniques PowerPoint and Apple Keynote and doing reviews of software, books, and trends.

What are Slide Layouts?

Slide layouts are preset content layouts for displaying different types of content like text or images in different ways. Slide layouts are placeholders for text, pictures, charts, icons, SmartArt, tables, or video. When you click the small down arrow next to the new slide button, there are several slide layouts available.

Explain of Each Layout Type

• 1 The Title Slide is the default slide layout when you start creating a slide deck. The larger text is for the main title and smaller text if for a subtitle.
• 2 The Title and Content slide layout is the second most common layout used in traditional slide decks. The smaller placeholder at the top is a title and underneath it the placeholder allows you to insert different types of content like text, pictures, charts, icons, SmartArt, tables, or video.
• 3 The Section Header layout is often used to indicate a change in content or focus. It looks similar to the Title slide layout, but the default dimensions of the placeholder are wider.
• 4 The Two Content layout is like the Title and Content slide. It allows for two pieces of content to reside next to each other. The content in both placeholders can be similar like a bulleted list or different like a list and picture.
• 5 The Comparison layout is the same as the Two Content layout with the addition of two placeholders for subtitles or labels.
• 6 The Title Only layout has just a title placeholder at the top of the slide. This is good is you prefer to use background images as your content.
• 7 The Blank layout is what the name implies. There are no placeholders for content on the slide. Use this option if you have content different from the options available in the other layouts.
• 8 The Content with Caption provides a slightly different layout for displaying text and other content like a table or video.
• 9 The Picture with Caption layout is the same layout as Content with Caption except the placeholder is only for an image. If hope you got value from this video.

And as always, I am curious to hear about your experiences.  What slide layouts do you use most commonly when you are creating a PowerPoint slide deck? Let me know in the comments.

About the Author

Jennifer Sharkey is known as the Virtual Presentation Specialist. Being passionate about seeing people shine and be heard, she leans into her 20+ years of public speaking experience and uses what she has learned from presenting, both in-person and virtually, to small groups all the way up to 5000 people. Jennifer draws from her experience as an associate professor, academic librarian, and coach to help holistic coaches master virtual presentations to grow their business. Her unique immersive program provides practical strategies and methods to build confidence, engage audiences, and generate authenticity and authority.

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An Introduction To MS PowerPoint

MS PowerPoint is a program that is included in the Microsoft Office suite. It is used to make presentations for personal and professional purposes.

In this article, we shall discuss in detail the functions and features of a PowerPoint presentation, followed by some sample questions based on this topic for the upcoming competitive exams. 

To learn more about the different programs under Microsoft Office , visit the linked article. 

Given below are a few important things that one must know about the development and introduction of Microsoft PowerPoint:

• The program was created in a software company named Forethought, Inc. by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin. 
• It was released on April 20, 1987, and after 3 months of its creation, it was acquired by Microsoft.
• The first version of this program, when introduced by Microsoft was MS PowerPoint 2.0 (1990).
• It is a presentation-based program that uses graphics, videos, etc. to make a presentation more interactive and interesting.
• The file extension of a saved Powerpoint presentation is “.ppt”.
• A PowerPoint presentation comprising slides and other features is also known as PPT.

Gradually, with each version, the program was more creative and more interactive. Various other features were added in PowerPoint which massively increased the requirement and use of this MS Office program.

From the examination point of view, MS PowerPoint happens to be a very important topic. Candidates who are preparing for the various Government exams can visit the Computer Knowledge page and get a list of topics included in the syllabus and prepare themselves accordingly. 

Basics of MS PowerPoint

Discussed below are a few questions that one must be aware of while discussing the basics of MS PowerPoint. Once this is understood, using the program and analysing how to use it more creatively shall become easier.

Question: What is MS PowerPoint?

Answer: PowerPoint (PPT) is a powerful, easy-to-use presentation graphics software  program that allows you to create professional-looking electronic slide  shows. 

The image given below shows the main page of MS PowerPoint, where a person lands when the program is opened on a computer system:

Question: How to open MS PowerPoint on a personal computer?

Answer: Follow the steps below to open MS PowerPoint on a personal computer:

• Click on the start button
• Then choose “All Programs”
• Next step is to select “MS Office”
• Under MS Office, click on the “MS PowerPoint” 

A blank presentation is open on the screen. According to the requirement, a person can modify the template for a presentation and start using the program.

Question: What is a PowerPoint presentation or PPT?

Answer: A combination of various slides depicting a graphical and visual interpretation of data, to present information in a more creative and interactive manner is called a PowerPoint presentation or PPT.

Question: What is a slide show in a PowerPoint presentation?

Answer: When all the slides of a PowerPoint presentation are set in series and then presented to a group of people, where each slide appears one after the other, is a set pattern, this is known as a PowerPoint slide show. 

Question: What all elements can be added to a slide?

Answer: The following elements can be added to a Powerpoint slide:

• Photographs
• Media Clips

All these elements are mainly used to enhance presentation skills and make the slide more interactive.

To learn more about the Fundamentals of Computer , visit the linked article. 

For a better understanding of the Microsoft PowerPoint and its operations, functions and usage, refer to the video given below:

Features of MS PowerPoint

There are multiple features that are available in MS PowerPoint which can customise and optimise a presentation. The same have been discussed below.

• Slide Layout

Multiple options and layouts are available based on which a presentation can be created. This option is available under the “Home” section and one can select from the multiple layout options provided.

The image below shows the different slide layout options which are available for use:

• Insert – Clipart, Video, Audio, etc.

Under the “Insert” category, multiple options are available where one can choose what feature they want to insert in their presentation. This may include images, audio, video, header, footer, symbols, shapes, etc. 

The image below shows the features which can be inserted:

• Slide Design

MS PowerPoint has various themes using which background colour and designs or textures can be added to a slide. This makes the presentation more colourful and attracts the attention of the people looking at it.

This feature can be added using the “Design” category mentioned on the homepage of MS PowerPoint. Although there are existing design templates available, in case someone wants to add some new texture or colour, the option to customise the design is also available. Apart from this, slide designs can also be downloaded online.

Refer to the below for slide design:

During the slide show, the slides appear on the screen one after the other. In case, one wants to add some animations to the way in which a slide presents itself, they can refer to the “Animations” category. 

The different animation styles available on PowerPoint are:

Apart from all these options; font size, font style, font colour, word art, date and time, etc. can also be added to a PPT.

Also, there are various other subjects that are included in the exam syllabus for various competitive exams. Candidates can check the detailed section-wise syllabus in the links given below:

Uses of PowerPoint Presentation

PowerPoint presentations are useful for both personal and professional usage. Given below are a few of the major fields where PPT is extremely useful:

• Education – With e-learning and smart classes being chosen as a common mode of education today, PowerPoint presentations can help in making education more interactive and attract students towards the modified version of studying
• Marketing – In the field of marketing, PowerPoint presentations can be extremely important. Using graphs and charts, numbers can be shown more evidently and clearly which may be ignored by the viewer if being read
• Business – To invite investors or to show the increase or decrease in profits, MS PowerPoint can be used
• Creating Resumes – Digital resumes can be formed using MS PowerPoint. Different patterns, photograph, etc. can be added to the resume
• Depicting Growth – Since both graphics and text can be added in a presentation, depicting the growth of a company, business, student’s marks, etc. is easier using PPT

Government exam aspirants can upgrade their preparation with the help of the links given below:

Sample MS PowerPoint Questions and Answers

As discussed earlier in this article, Computer Awareness is included in the syllabus for many competitive exams. Thus, to understand the program from the examination point of view is also a must. 

Given below are a few sample questions based on MS PowerPoint.

Q 1. How many maximum slides can be added to a PowerPoint presentation?

• No fixed number

Answer: (3) No fixed number

Q 2. Slide Sorter view can be selected under which of the following categories?

Answer: (4) View

Q 3. The combination of which keyboard keys can be used as a shortcut to add a new slide in MS PowerPoint?

Answer: (3) ctrl+M

Q 4. Header and Footer option is available under which of the following categories?

Answer: (1) Insert

Q 5. Which of the following is not included in the “Insert” category in MS PowerPoint?

Answer: (4) Animation

Similar types of MS PowerPoint Questions may be asked based on the features or usage of the program. Thus, one must carefully go through the elements and aspects of PPT. 

For any further assistance related to the upcoming Government exams, candidates can check the Preparation Strategy for Competitive Exams page. 

Get the latest exam information, study material and other information related to the major Government exams conducted in the country, at BYJU’S.

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• Storytelling

How To Use The Black Slide: Wow and Influence Your Audience

Chances are, you are not using the Black Slide in your presentations. Or you aren’t using it enough. Because of that, you are missing out on a big opportunity.

In this article, I want to bring your attention to this underutilized presentation technique that will boost your influence, clarity, and command of the room every time you speak.

What is a Black Slide?

The term “ Black slide ” applies when you temporarily switch to a black display in PowerPoint , Keynote , or your presentation software. (Going forward, I will use PowerPoint to refer to all of them).

Most presenters don’t use the black slide because it’s scary. The moment you do it, all of your audience’s attention goes from the screen to you; Suddenly you are the focus of the room, and the audience gives you their undivided attention.

Now you have an opportunity to connect with your audience, relate to them, and explain your point of view.

Using Black Slides is not for the faint of heart. You are reading this blog article because you don’t want to be an average speaker. You want to stand out, to shine, and to lead. You know that being a good presenter will give you visibility, recognition, and respect within your organization.

Black Slides are not for the faint of hear

How To Use The Black Slide Option

Here are four ways to display a black screen in PowerPoint:

Every modern presentation remote or clicker has the Black Out Screen option on it. Look for the Stop sign on your remote or the empty screen button.

Using the remote is by far my favorite way of activating the black screen. The remote gives you flexibility, and you can switch in and out of the black screen any time you want.

If you don’t have a wireless remote for your presentation, here are two PowerPoint clickers that I recommend:

It is simple, to the point, and easy to use. The blackout option on this remote is the stop button. The Kensington wireless presenter with laser pointer is my number one choice. My next choice is the Logitech clicker.

Also a very simple to use remote, which is what you need when presenting. The last thing you want to worry about is a complicated remote. The blackout function on this is the empty screen button.

Option #2 Quick PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts:

If you are not using a clicker for your presentation, you can use the keyboard board to switch from a black screen to a display screen. The shortcuts are the same for both PowerPoint and Keynote.

You can go into black screen mode by pressing the Letter B (for black) on your keyboard while in slideshow mode. Then push the letter B again to go back to presentation mode.

I like to use the clicker instead of the keyboard shortcuts. The reason I am not a fan of using your keyboard is that it forces you to stand by your laptop rather than use the full range of the stage during your presentation.  Also, it will force you to keep leaning over and looking at the keyboard, instead of connecting with your audience. However, the laptop approach would work if you were presenting to a table of people sitting around you.

There might be another advantage to using the keyboard shortcut: You can press the letter W instead of B, and the screen can be white instead of black. I have not figured out a scenario where a white screen is better than black. If you can think of one, please share it in the comments below, I would love to hear it.

Option #3 Insert a black slide anywhere you like

Sometimes it’s a very smart idea to strategically add black slides to your presentation deck ahead of time. This will force you to use this technique as part of your narrative and storyline.

In one of my presentations, I placed a black slide right after my first slide. I used the black slide to talk about myself which forced my audience to look at me when I was talking. I believe that the purpose of your story is to connect with your audience, and because I wanted the audience to look at me while I connected with them, I strategically embedded a black slide in my deck.

One advantage of integrating the black slide in the deck instead of using the clicker/remote to shut down the powerpoint is that you can still showcase your company logo for extra branding.

What to say when the slides go black

There are two things you can talk about when you come to a black slide in your presentation.

1. Have a heart-to-heart with your audience. This is when you look your audience in the eyes and connect with them about an issue. This is the place to appeal to their emotions.

For me, this is when I say things like: “I know what you are going through, I suffered from public speaking anxiety before,” “I avoided  presentations before,” “I used to procrastinate before I started working on my presentations …”

2. Have mind-to-mind with your audience. This is an opportunity to explain your ideas logically and appeal to their brains and logic. This is the moment when you want your audience to focus on you and your logic instead of being distracted by your slides.

Here is an example from one of my talks: “Think about this, public speaking is not that complicated: You can break it into four parts: 1. Confidence , 2. delivery skills , 3.  p resentation structure skills , and 4.  storytelling skills . If you work on each piece individually, you will improve your skills without being overwhelmed by the whole process…”

Most likely, you aren’t using black slides when presenting, or you aren’t using them enough.

You should use this technique because the black slide will eliminate distractions and help connect you with your audience. It’s a tool that will make you stand out, shine and gain the visibility you deserve

Black slides eliminate distractions and help connect you to your audience

Most speakers avoid using black slides because they are intimidated by them. I hope this article demystifies this powerful tool and motivates you to try it and stand out from the crowd.

P.S. What do you think? Did you like this article? Please let me know in the comments below:

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Where is PowerPoint's equivalent of Word's normal.dotm?

Where PowerPoint stores default presentation file, opened each time program is started, a Word's normal.dotm equivalent (if it exists)?

Or how can I change some elements of file, that is always created, when opening PowerPoint?

• microsoft-powerpoint

• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\ –  DavidPostill ♦ Commented Mar 20, 2015 at 23:18
• @DavidPostill I'm pretty sure, that this folder holds only standard templates, which you can access by hiting File > New in each Office program. I'm asking for a default template, which 99.99% is stored in %APPDATA% I have default Word's normal.dot template in %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Templates . I don't know, where PowerPoint stores its own default template and that's the reason, why I asked this question. –  trejder Commented Mar 21, 2015 at 7:47

2 Answers 2

In PowerPoint 2016:

• Set up a blank ppt to your desired specifications (slide size, font, color, theme, etc).
• Save the ppt as "Blank.potx" in folder "C:\Users\insert-username-here\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates".

Note: Powerpoint will want to save this in a default template folder once you change the file type to .potx so make sure you set the file type first then change the folder location.

The next time you open Powerpoint the very first template will be "Default Theme" (your personalized default). Next to that will be the original "Blank Presentation" and all the other standard themes.

Where does PowerPoint store default presentation files?

The exact locations and names are different for each version of PowerPoint.

See the link below for more information about each version..

Normally when you start PowerPoint you can create a new blank presentation or start a presentation based on one of the included templates. But what if you want PowerPoint to base all new presentations on your own template? You can, and it's easy. You just need to open your template or a presentation based on it, save it in the correct location and give it the right name. The exact locations and names are a different for each version of PowerPoint.

Source Create your own default presentation

• This is not quite the same thing, and should be explained in your answer. Wor'd Normal.dot / Normal.dotm is the default formatting for every new file, and this answer, and all the rest on The Internet like it, simple give you a way to have a new template IFF you select the new template. I think this is a shortcoming of Microsoft, but no one makes it clear anywhere. –  YetAnotherRandomUser Commented Aug 9, 2016 at 13:27

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Create or change a presentation’s handout

You can use the Handout Master tab to edit the appearance of presentation handouts, including the layout, headers and footers, and background. Changes made to the handout master appear on all pages of the printed handout.

To see the handout options, click the View tab, and then click Handout Master in the Master Views group.

This opens the Handout Master view.

Change the layout

In the Page Setup group, you can specify the number and layout of slides to print on each page, change the orientation of handouts, and set the slide size. You can use settings on all three menus— Handout Orientation , Slide Size , and Slides Per Page —to customize your layout exactly how you want it.

Set the slides per page

Click Slides Per Page .

Choose a layout option from the thumbnail images.

Tip:  The 3 Slides option includes lines that your audience can use to take notes.

Set the orientation

Click Handout Orientation , and then choose Portrait or Landscape .

Set the slide size

Click Slide Size , and then choose one of the options.

When PowerPoint is unable to automatically scale your content, it will prompt you with a message. Select Maximize to increase the size of your slide content when you are scaling to a larger slide size. (Choosing this option could result in your content not fitting on the slide. ) Select Ensure Fit to decrease the size of your content. (This could make your content appear smaller, but you’ll be able to see all content on your slide.)

To set a custom size, including width, height, slide numbering, and orientation of slides and notes, click Custom Slide Size on the Slide Size menu.

To make sure your slides will print the way you want, preview your handouts before printing.

Change headers and footers

You can adjust headers and footers in the Placeholders group. By default, the placeholders appear in the top and bottom corners of the Handout Master page.

Click in a text placeholder (Header, Footer, Date, or Page Number) to make changes to it. You can do things like:

Edit or add content in the text placeholders : In addition to text changes, you can use commands on the Insert tab to add graphics or other content types.

Format text shape and appearance : Select the text and use the options on the Format tab to make changes.

Change text placeholders : Drag a text placeholder to move it, and use the text box sizing handles to change its size.

Turn placeholders on or off : Clear the check box of the placeholder (Header, Date, Footer, or Page Number) that you want to turn off.

Change the background

You can change the background of your handouts (but not the background of your slides) in the Background group. You can also quickly change the font for all for your handout text at once, and you can apply special borders and visual effects.

Colors : Choose a color theme for your handout background. You may have to click Background Styles and choose an option to see it applied.

Background Styles : Choose a style option from the list. The colors displayed depend on your choice in the Colors list.

Tip:  Click Format Background at the bottom of the Background Styles list to open the Format pane and choose from more background options, such as advanced fill settings, artistic effects, and color and image settings.

Fonts : Choose a font from the list to quickly apply it to all headers and footers.

Effects : Choose an effect from the list to apply a theme effects, with features including shadows, reflections, lines, fills, and more.

Preview your handouts

To preview the way your handout will look when printed:

Click File > Print .

Go to Settings > Full Page Slides , and then under Handouts , select the layout you want and look at the preview pane. Click the File tab again to return to your previous view.

For more information about working with PowerPoint handouts, see:

Work with handout masters

Print your handouts, notes, or slides

Create your own theme in PowerPoint

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