Learn how to add and rename Slide Masters in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows.
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 and higher
In your presentation, a Slide Master is the element that influences everything, be it the slide background or the fonts used for text. Despite having different layouts, all slides in a presentation share a common look, which is provided by the Slide Master. There will be at least one Slide Master in every presentation. However, while adding slides from other presentations, you may end up adding more Slide Masters inadvertently to your presentation. So how do you know how many Slide Masters your presentation contains? And how do you add another one? In fact, why do you need another Slide Master at all?
Those are great questions, and we shall explore all answers. First things first though, let us find out how many Slide Masters your presentation contains. To find out, access the Home tab of the Ribbon, and click the Layout button. This brings up the Layout drop-down gallery you see in Figure 1, below.
Figure 1: The Layout gallery
Notice that most new presentations you create in PowerPoint contain just one Slide Master based on the Office Theme. You can see the Theme name highlighted in red within Figure 1, above. Now that we have established the fact that most new presentations contain at least a single Slide Master, why would you need to add a new Slide Master? The reasons may differ but for most users that's because they want their slides to contain two or more different looks (backgrounds, colors, fonts, effects, etc.). For design purists, it is difficult to justify this as a reason. Most professional PowerPoint template designers will only add a second Slide Master for small and subtle differences. Whatever your opinion may be, it's actually quite easy to add a new Slide Master:
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You can also add a Slide Master from any of existing Themes within PowerPoint. This can be helpful if you want the new Slide Master to be based on a Theme that's not part of the current presentation. To learn how you can do so, follow these steps:
To rename the Slide Master follow these steps:
After adding and renaming the new Slide Master, click the Close Master View button (highlighted in blue within Figure 8). This will get you back to Normal View. Now access the Home tab of the Ribbon and click the Layout button to bring up the Layout drop-down gallery you see in Figure 10, below. Notice that now there are two Slide Masters within the Layout drop-down gallery (names highlighted in red within Figure 10, below). Compare Figures 10 and 1.
Figure 10: New Slide Master added within the Layout gallery
Keep on saving your presentation often.
See Also:
Slide Master and Slide Layouts: Add and Rename Slide Masters in PowerPoint (Index Page)
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