PowerPoint - Working with your template

Working with slides

In the Ribbon under Home, you will find the Slides section.

The New Slide button (1) has an overview of all the layouts available in the Template.

If you ruin a slide you can Reset (2) the slide and it will return to the original layout design. Note: A cropped picture will return to full picture.

Change layout by clicking the Layout dropdown (3) or by right clicking the slide, click Layout and choose a similar layout to use instead.

Click the slide you want to duplicate, and press Enter for new slide with the same layout. You can move the slide to any location in the presentation.

Text levels

PowerPoint allows us to preset nine text levels defined as text styles within your template. By implementing all nine text levels, it will allow you to tabulate through them to change the font style of the text.

• Insert or write a text and press ENTER then TAB on your keyboard for next text level.
• If you want to change the text format into another level, place the cursor in front of the text and press TAB. 
• If you want to go back in levels, then place the cursor in front of the text and press SHIFT+TAB.
• You can also use the buttons Decrease or Increase (1) in Ribbon Home under Paragraph.

Our suggestions for the nine levels: 

Why is this our best practice?

By implementing a bullet on Level 1, bullet is set for Bullet list.
If a user deletes the bullet, the Bullets button can be used to again set the correct bullet.

All non-bullet text has a hidden bullet, to have shortcut ENTER then TAB and SHIFT + TAB for advancing through text levels.

Header and footer

Note: Do this at the very end to apply the changes on all slides

When implementing we define date and slide number in the appropriate design. They should always be defined as their visibility is easily adjusted through Header and footer options.  
 
Go to the Ribbon Insert tab (1) click Header and Footer (2).

You can change date format and make it update automatically, or by clicking Fixed you can place a date which will not change/update. Through these options you can turn off Date, Slide or Footer by unchecking checkboxes next to these footer elements. See (3) the image below. 

Click Apply to All or Apply to selected slide.

Why is this our best practice?

We always preset the design and placement of the footer and header elements in the template. The process ensures that the footer and header comply with the brand design in case users activate them.

Guides

Guides can be used to view the margin and easily position a placeholder correctly. We apply guides to support the design principles.

Click the View tab (1) and set the tick mark next to Guides (2).

Shortcut:  
Alt + F9 for quick view of guides 
Mac: ⌘ + option + ctrl + G 

Why is this our best practice?

As a result of using guides, you get:
• Margins, column-system and placement of placeholders aligned to the guides
• Added elements easily snap to guides
• Productivity increase
• Ensured precise placement of elements across all layouts and slides.

Copy and Paste content

When copying content or slides from another presentation

Create a slide in your new presentation and copy one piece of content at a time (e.g., copy all text from one text placeholder). When copying text from a document/presentation, it is important, that you insert with the button "Keep text only". 

This function inserts the text in the template's format and removes the previous formatting of the text. 

This icon will appear under the inserted text (1).

Click and choose “Keep Text Only” (2).

Shortcut: Hold Ctrl+Shift for pasting Keep Text Only

Or copy an entire slide into your new presentation and then choose a fitting layout.  
Remember to delete the copied unbranded layout afterwards, before sharing (go to View > Slide Master).
 
To indicate which layouts are not on brand or old/outdated layouts we place a black layout as the last one. All slides which appear after the black one are to be deleted. 

Note: Switch off and on if necessary for date, footer if extras have appeared in the presentation or there are different footers.

Why is this our best practice?

When copying/pasting a slide from a previous branded or external presentation, the layout that this slide was based on, is often pasted into the Slide Master. As this layout is not part of the corporate template it should not be used.

Selection pane

In the Selection pane, you have the option to lock a layer. Click on the Padlock (2) or hide the layer by clicking on the Eye (1).

You can rename the layers to a recognizable name.

Customize the Quick Access Toolbar

Right click on the commands you like to add to the Toolbar, choose Click to add Quick Access Toolbar

Organize the commands

Right click on the Quick Access Toolbar (1)

Select Customize Quick Access Toolbar (2).

Click on the arrows to the right to move the commands up or down to change the order (3).

You can also find the commands in the left pane and add or remove them from the Quick Access Toolbar (4).

Image cropping

Click on the image, choose Picture Format from the Ribbon, click Crop.

Once clicked, you have the following options:  
 
Crop - changes the size and cropping. 

Crop to Shape - changes the cropping of the image.

Aspect Ratio - changes the cropping size. 

Fill - Resizes the image to fill placeholder and crops outside area (default of Picture placeholder). 

Fit - Resizes the image to fit in placeholder while maintaining the original aspect ratio of image (default of Content placeholder). 

Learn more tips and tricks from our PowerPoint Playbook., to ensure more efficient work flow, staying on brand, and expressing yourself dynamically in your next presentation.