Slide Master View is a special feature that lets you edit multiple slides using only one
slide—also known as the Slide Master.
This is a great time-saving feature because you can make changes to your entire presentation
without having to edit each slide individually.
Right now, I'm working on a presentation for a small business, and I'd like to add their
logo to the corner each slide.
Doing this manually would not only be time consuming, but also relatively difficult,
since I want the image to be in the exact same place every time.
Thankfully, Slide Master View can help.
To get started, go to the View tab... then click the Slide Master command.
The Slide Master View may look a little unfamiliar, but don't worry, it's easy to use.
Just scroll to the top of the left pane.
Here we have the main Slide Master, which controls all the basics of your presentation,
including colors and fonts… and below that, additional slides that control each unique
slide layout.
To add our logo, we're going to select the main Slide Master.
From here, you can insert a shape or picture just like you normally would.
First, go to the Insert tab... click the Pictures command... then choose the image you want.
When you're ready, click the Insert button... and the picture will appear.
You can move and resize it any way you need to, depending on what fits your design.
Now the logo will appear on every slide in the exact same position.
While we're here, we're also going to change the master font styles so they're a better
fit for the company's brand.
Remember, any changes you make here will affect the entire presentation.
All you have to do is select the text or text box... then change the formatting as usual.
We're going to choose a new main font... and also a different one for the title.
Let's go ahead and close Slide Master View, so we can see the changes in the actual presentation.
Well, it sort of worked, but it looks like we might have a problem.
The logo is showing up on some of our slide layouts, but if we navigate to the next one…
we can see that the picture is unfortunately covering it up.
The logo is also missing from the Title slide, but for a completely different reason.
Luckily, we can fix both of these issues back in Slide Master View.
Remember the Layout Slides beneath the main Slide Master?
Each of these represents one of the possible layouts we can use in this presentation.
The first one is the Title Slide Layout—hovering over it, we can see it's currently being used
by slide 1.
If we select it… any changes we make will be applied to the title slide only.
So why is the logo missing from this slide?
Well, in some layouts, PowerPoint automatically hides any background graphics as part of the
design.
To show the graphics, all we have to do is uncheck the box that says Hide Background
Graphics.
However, this can introduce other graphics that you may not want—so in this case, I'm
going to re-check the box.
Now let's fix the slide with the overlapping image.
Sometimes it can be difficult just telling these layouts apart, but if we mouse over
the Picture with Caption thumbnail... we can see that several of our slides are using it,
so this is the one we want.
I really like having the logo in the bottom right corner, but I also like the extra large
image.
As a reminder, this is what the actual slide looks like.
If we just swapped the picture and the text, that would solve the problem pretty quickly.
Let's go through the process one step at a time.
Changing a layout in Slide Master View is a great way to make it work better for your
content.
All you have to do select a placeholder... then you can move or resize it any way you
want.
We're going to select the title and caption… and this little black bar… then drag and
drop them over to the right.
Next, I think I like this cream color in the background—it makes the text much easier
to read.
So instead of moving it over, I'm just going to delete the dark gray shape that used to
serve as the background.
Finally, all we have to do is select the picture placeholder... then drag it over to the left…
and I think that should do it.
Let's exit Slide Master View, so we can see how these changes look.
Now the logo can be seen in the correct position in the bottom right corner, and we didn't
have to sacrifice the large image.
This gives the presentation a nice professional feel as we move from slide to slide.
There's one more thing you can do with Slide Master View that can really come in handy.
You can create your own custom slide layouts if, say, the theme you're using doesn't have
something you want.
In this example, I'd like to create a layout that has a large picture at the top with the
text positioned below.
Let's go back to Slide Master View so I can show you how it works.
To create your own custom layout, click the Insert Layout command on the Slide Master
tab.
You'll be given a mostly blank slide with some placeholders—and maybe even some background
graphics depending on the theme.
Now, you can move or edit these any way you want—you can even delete them—it's completely
up to you.
In this case, I'm just going change the text alignment… and then move the box to the
bottom right.
To make room for more content, all you have to do is add an appropriate placeholder.
We know we want a picture to be part of this layout… so we're going to go all the way
up to Insert Placeholder… and then choose the Picture option from the menu.
Notice the cursor turns into a little crosshair.
That means we need to draw the placeholder.
Just click and drag wherever you want it to go.
I want mine to be pretty big, so I'm going to be covering most of the slide.
OK.
Now we have our own custom layout that we can apply to any slide in the presentation.
To make it easier to identify, I'm going to go back to the Slide Master tab… click the
Rename command… and then give it a simple, easy-to-remember name.
To use your new layout, all you have to do is go back to your actual presentation.
Go ahead and click the Layout command… then choose your new design from the menu.
There, I think that came out pretty good.
We can do the exact same thing for the other product slide.
Once you've gotten everything set up just right, you may want to use these layouts again
in other presentations.
To do this, you'll actually need to save the design as a theme.
First, navigate to the Design tab… then click the drop-down arrow in the Themes group.
Next, click the option that says Save Current Theme… and give your theme a name.
When you're ready, click the Save button… and that's all it takes.
Now you can select this theme any time you want to re-use it.
Slide Master View gives you an amazing amount of control over your presentation.
Keep it in mind the next time you want to customize your layouts or add branding to
your slides.