PowerPoint Masters
The Masters determine the layout and design of the slides in your presentation. The Masters now give us more control than ever over how our design is used in our presentation. There are separate masters for each layout and, maybe coolest of all, we can design our own layouts in Master view.
Stuff to set on the Master:
- Placeholder size and position
- Text alignment in a placeholder
- Text effects
- Custom bullet settings
- Custom animation settings
- Graphic elements for a custom design
Click the View tab on the Ribbon and Slide Master in the Presentation Views group to switch to Master View. The large layout at the top is the presentation master. Make any changes you want to apply to all of the slides in your presentation on this one. Below it are the layouts associated with that master. Changes made to these will apply only to slides based on that specific layout. The layouts that are available will depend on the template used to create the presentation. Unused layouts can be deleted if desired.
Download masters.pptx to see samples and more information.
To change text alignment in a title placeholder:
In Master View, click on the presentation master (large one at the top) to make it the active layout. Click in the title placeholder. Click the Home tab on the Ribbon and select the desired alignment in the paragraph group.
To apply text effects to a placeholder:
In Master View, click the layout to which you would like to add text effects. Click on the border of the placeholder you want to edit. If you have clicked the border properly, the placeholder should have a solid outline and no insertion point (blinking vertical line) should be visible. Clicking the border of a placeholder applies any changes you make to all of the text in the placeholder. To apply Bold, Italic, Underline, or Shadow effects, click the Home tab and make your selection from the Font Group. For additional Underline and formatting choices, click the Dialog box launcher for the Font Group. If you want to go a little above and beyond these choices, (because in 2007 - you can!) click the Format tab under Drawing tools and click Text Effects in the WordArt Styles group. These effects and the WordArt styles can be applied to any text placeholder.
To customize the bullets in a presentation:
In Master View, click on the presentation master (large one at the top) to make it the active layout. If you want to use the same bullets for all levels of your outline, click the border of the bulleted text placeholder. Click the Home tab on the Ribbon and in the Paragraph group, click the list arrow on the Bullets button. Click Bullets and Numbering to open the Bullets and Numbering dialog box. On the Bullets tab, click the Picture button to choose a graphic to be used as a bullet or Customize to select a font symbol to be used as a bullet.
If you click the Picture button, the Picture bullet dialog box will open displaying only graphics that are appropriate for use as bullets. Click the bullet you want to use and click OK to return to the Bullets and Numbering dialog box. If you have a graphic you have designed or saved to your computer that you would like to use as a bullet, in the Picture bullet dialog box click the Import button at the bottom left. Locate and select the graphic and click Add and then OK to return to the Bullets and Numbering dialog box. Change the size to 75% of text. Click OK to see your new bullets!
If you click the Customize button, the Symbol dialog box will open. To select a bullet from one of the graphic fonts (wingdings, webdings, etc.), click the list arrow after Font and choose the name of the font you want to use. Click the character in that font that you want to use as a bullet and click OK to return to the Bullets and Numbering dialog box. Change the size to 75% of text. You can also change the color of the bullets, instead of leaving them the same color as the text. If you do, choose a complimentary color from the design color scheme. For example, making the bullet color the same as the title color usually looks pretty good. Click OK when done to see your new bullets.
If you want to have different bullets for each level, instead of clicking the border of the placeholder to set bullets, click in the text for the bullet level you want to change and follow one of the above steps. Repeat for each level.
To set custom animations on the master:
Download masters.pptx for instructions and samples.
To add graphic elements for a custom design:
To add a graphic to all slides in your presentation, in Master View, click on the presentation master (large one at the top) to make it the active layout. To add a picture file, like your company logo, click the Insert tab on the Ribbon and choose Picture in the Illustrations group. Navigate to the location of your picture file, click it to select it, and choose Insert. Size and position as desired. You will see that it appears on each of the layouts with the same size and position. You will not be able to select or adjust it on any of the layouts.
If you want different pictures or a different appearance for your picture on two or more of the layouts, select the layout you want to work with and choose Insert > Illustrations > Picture from the Ribbon. Navigate to the location of your picture file, click it to select it, and choose Insert. Size and position as desired. You will see that it appears only on the selected layout. If you want the same picture in the same location on any of the other layouts, with the picture selected, click Copy in the Copy group of the Home tab, select the other layout and click Paste in the Copy group of the Home tab. It will copy to the same location with the same size as the original. If you want the same graphic, but in a different location or size, copy and paste as above and then reposition and size as desired.
If you want a different picture on one of the layouts, select that layout and repeat the above steps with the other picture.
If you want to add other graphic elements such as shapes or ClipArt, follow the above steps replacing Insert > Picture with the appropriate object type.
For an example of a logo added to every slide, download masters.pptx.
To create custom layouts:
In Master View, on the Slide Master tab, in the Edit Master group, click Insert Layout to create a new layout based on the current presentation master. The new layout will contain a Title Placeholder and the three footer fields: Date, Footer, and Slide Number. Add additional placeholders by clicking Insert Placeholder in the Master Layout group of the Slide Master tab. To add a text placeholder for example, click the bottom half of the Insert Placeholder button to activate the list. Click Text. Your mouse pointer will change to the cross hairs mouse pointer used for drawing objects. Point to the upper left corner of the desired location for your new placeholder and drag over and down to the right to draw and place your new placeholder.
The default layouts contain mostly Content layouts. Content layouts can contain text or objects, depending on what is entered into that placeholder. Custom layouts can contain specific placeholders such as Text, Picture, Chart, Table, SmartArt, Media, or ClipArt allowing you to set up layouts for different types of content.
For examples of custom layouts, many of which duplicate the ones in PowerPoint 2003, download layouts.potx.
To close Master View:
To exit Master View and return to your presentation, click the Close Master View button in the Close group of the Slide Master tab. You can also exit Master View by clicking the Normal View button in the View shortcut buttons on the Status bar. When in Normal View, holding down the Shift key and clicking the Normal View button will switch you to Master View.
