Creating templates and slide masters in PowerPoint 2003

Creating templates and slide masters in PowerPoint 2003 These days, it is not enough to create a presentation with interesting and exciting content; you have to create one with interesting and exciting visuals as well. You can use one of PowerPoint s predefined templates, or one of the selection created by Information Services, but there may come a time when you need something a bit different. Perhaps you need to include a particular image or logo, or use a specific range of colours. This note describes how to create your own design templates ready to use whenever you need them. Using a design template A design template gives your presentation its look. It contains layouts, formatting and colours. Information about the design template is stored on master slides, and includes font styles, background images and logos, colour schemes and text positions. PowerPoint has four master slides: Title Master Slide Master Formatting for the title page only Formatting for all slides apart from the Title Master Notes Master Formatting for the Notes pages (used when you select File Print and choose Notes Pages from the Print what drop-down list) Handout Master Formatting for the Handouts pages (used when you select File Print and choose Handouts from the Print what drop-down list) Any change you make to a presentation s master, such as altering a font type or size, is reflected in all the slides that use that master. Creating a design template To create a new template, you can start with a blank presentation or simply change elements of an existing design. To start from scratch from a blank presentation: Click the New button on the toolbar. This creates a presentation using PowerPoint s default design template. To start from an existing design: Creating templates and slide masters in PowerPoint 2003 Select File New. The New Presentation task pane displays on the right of the screen. If you require this document in an alternative format, such as larger print, please contact Fiona Kneale on 0131 650 3350 or email IS.skills@ed.ac.uk 3651-2009

Select From design template. The Slide Design task pane displays. Click on a template from the list. Note: You can use the template from any PowerPoint presentation, including ones you have been sent or ones you have downloaded. Click on Browse at the bottom of the Slide Design pane, navigate to the file and click on Apply. You can download University specific templates from: http://www.malts.ed.ac.uk/resources/powerpoint.phtml Changing the slide master The slide master controls the fonts, images and background that will appear on all the presentation s slides. To open it, select View Master and choose Slide Master. A shortcut is to press the Shift key and click the Normal View button of the screen. at the bottom left You will see a placeholder for the slide title and another for the body text. You can edit the fonts and move and resize the placeholders. You can also add new backgrounds and images. When you have made your changes, click Close Master View on the Slide Master View toolbar. Changing the fonts Click anywhere in the paragraph you want to change. The whole paragraph is highlighted. If you want to change all the text in a placeholder, not just a paragraph, click on the placeholder border to select it. Select Format Font. Choose a font type, style, size and colour and click OK. To change the bullets for selected text, select Format Bullets and Numbering. Choose another bullet style, or click Customize to select a character. You can also use a picture from the Clip Organizer.

Note: When choosing fonts, it is best to stick to ones that are commonly available, such as Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond etc., particularly if your template is to be used on other computers. While it is possible to embed non-standard true type fonts in a template, the template can only be applied if the fonts are also installed on the computer it is being used on. Changing the placeholder layout To change the size of a text placeholder, click on the border to select it, then move your cursor to a sizing handle on a side or a corner. When the cursor changes to a double-headed arrow, hold down the mouse button and drag the handle. To change the position of a placeholder, click the border, and when the cursor becomes a four-headed arrow, hold down the mouse button and drag to a new location. Note: If you delete a placeholder, then want to re-instate it, click the Master Layout button on the Slide Master View toolbar. Click the placeholder checkbox and OK. Adding a background You can complete your template by adding a background, images or a logo, and by customising your colour scheme. In Slide Master View, select In the Format Background. Background dialog box, click on the down arrow in the box at the bottom. You can select a plain background colour, or click on Fill Effects to add gradient colours, patterns or an image. To add an image as a background, click the Picture tab and then the Select Picture button. Navigate to your file and click Insert. Click OK and Apply. The image is automatically scaled to fill the slide. Remember that if you use a small image it may distort when scaled. The usual screen size is 1024 X 768 pixels, so try to use an image as close to this as you can. Note also that you can t format the image with PowerPoint s picture tools once it s part of the background. A good effect for a background is a washed out image. You can create this in PowerPoint if you don t have your own image editing software. Insert your image on a slide. Right-click on it and select View Picture Toolbar if the toolbar is not already open. Click on the Color button, and select Washout. Right-click on the image again and select Save As Picture. Save the image file in a suitable location. Adding logos and clip art You can add a picture, such as a logo, to your master so that it appears on every slide. In Slide Master View, select In the Insert Picture From File. Picture dialog box, navigate to where you have stored your file. Click on the file and on Insert. Position and resize the image as required. You can also use clip art from PowerPoint s Clip Organizer. Select Insert Picture Clip Art. Type in a search and click Go. Click on the thumbnail to insert the image.

Changing the colour scheme A design template has a built-in colour scheme. This includes the colour settings for the background, text, titles and the fills for drawing objects. It also includes the colours used for hyperlink text. To change the colour scheme: In Slide Master View, select Format Slide Design or click the Design button on the toolbar. Click on Color Schemes at the top of the Slide Design task pane. The scheme used in the design is outlined in blue. Click on Edit Color Schemes at the bottom of the task pane. Click on an option and the Change Color button. Select a colour and click OK. Click Apply to finish. Creating a title master Note: If you choose Format Background from the menu to add a background colour, this will override any change you make to the Background option in the Edit Color Scheme dialog box. When you create a new presentation, one of the layouts you can choose from the Slide Layout pane (Format Slide Layout) is a Title Slide. Any changes you make to the slide master will be reflected in the title slide. For example, any background images or pictures you add will appear on the title slide as well. If you want the title slide to look different from the rest of the slides, for example, another background, different fonts, or a logo in a different position, you must first create a title master, then edit it. To create a title master: In Slide Master View, select Insert New Title Master, or click the Insert New Title Master button on the Slide Master View toolbar. The title master thumbnail appears in the panel on the left. Edit the title master in the same way as the slide master. Note: If you are editing an existing design, a title master may already have been created. In Slide Master View you will see the thumbnails for both the slide and title masters in the panel on the left. The line linking them indicates that they are part of the same set.

Working with multiple masters You can create more than one slide master in a presentation. For example, you may want different sections of your presentation to have different designs. To create another slide master: Open Slide Master View. To make a copy of an existing slide master, click the thumbnail and select Insert Duplicate Slide Master. To create a new master, select Insert New Slide Master or click the Insert New Slide Master button on the Slide Master View toolbar settings.) Make any changes to the new master you wish.. (PowerPoint will create a master using the original You can also create new title masters. To base a title master on a slide master, click on the slide master thumbnail then select Insert New Title Master. The thumbnails of related title and slide masters appear linked by a grey line. You can rename masters to make it easier to identify them when applying them. Click on the thumbnail and click the Rename Master button on the Slide Master View toolbar. Note: PowerPoint deletes masters not currently applied to any slides, therefore you must preserve the masters you want to keep. Preserved masters have a pushpin icon next to the thumbnail. Select the thumbnails of the masters that do not have the pushpin (use Shift and click to select multiples), then click the Preserve Master button on the Slide Master View toolbar. You can still delete a master at any time by selecting the thumbnail and pressing Delete. Applying a different master If you have created several slide and title masters in your template, you can apply them to different slides in your presentation. In Normal view, select the thumbnail of the slide where you want to apply a different master (or press Ctrl and click to select several). Right-click on the thumbnail and select Slide Design from the shortcut menu or click the Design button on the toolbar. The slide masters appear in the Used in This Presentation section of the Slide Design pane. Move your cursor to the master you want to use, click the down arrow and select Apply to Selected Slides. Saving your template When you have made your changes, save your new design template: Select File Save As and enter a name for your file. Click on the down arrow at Save as type, select Design Template (*.pot) and click Save. Using your template To apply your template to a presentation: Select File New. In the New Presentation task pane, click on On my computer in the Templates section. Click on the General tab.

Click on your template and OK. You can also apply your template to an existing presentation. With the presentation open, select Format Slide Design (or click the Design button on the toolbar ). Your template should appear in the Available for Use section of the Slide Design task pane. (If you have just created the template, you may need to close down and re-open PowerPoint to see it. Alternatively, click on Browse at the bottom of the pane to open the Templates folder.) You can even apply different templates within the same presentation. Select the slides in the panel on the left, then in the Slide Design task pane, click on the down arrow at the template and select Apply to Selected Slides. Adding slide numbers and footers Numbering your slides can make it easier for your audience to reference them, particularly if you have handouts. You can add numbers to every slide automatically. You can also add footer text and dates. The format and layout of slide numbering and footers is controlled by the slide master. You can move and resize the placeholders and change the fonts just as for the title and body text. Actually inserting a slide number or footer text, however, is done from the presentation, not the template. You must be in Normal view. To add a number or footer text to every slide: Close the slide master if you are still in it. In Normal view, select Insert Slide Number. The Header and Footer dialog box displays. Click the Slide number check box. If you don t want the number to appear on the title slide, click the Don t show on title slide check box. If you want a footer, type your text into the Footer box. The check box is ticked by default. Click on Apply to apply the settings to the current slide only, or Apply to All to apply to all slides, including new slides. You can also display the date and time the presentation was opened, printed or run by clicking Date and time and the Update automatically checkbox.

Using the handout and notes masters As well as masters to control slide design, PowerPoint includes masters for handouts and notes. These masters are used when you choose Handouts or Notes Pages from the Print what option on the Print dialog box. To change a master, select View Master and choose Handout Master or Notes Master. Make your changes in the same way as for the slide master. You can even add colour and images if you wish. Adding headers and footers Page numbers appear on your handouts and notes by default. If you want to include a date or header and footer text as well, you can do this through the Print Preview option. To add headers and footers: Select File Print Preview or click the Print Preview button on the toolbar. Click the down arrow at Print What and choose the option you want. Click the down arrow at Options and select Header and Footer. Make your selections and click Apply to All. You can also use the option Insert Slide Number and click on the Notes and Handouts tab. Note: The settings you choose are applied to all notes and handouts pages, and if you save the presentation, the settings are saved with it. Rather than simply printing out the handouts, you can save them as a document, for example, to send out via email. Use the option File Send To Microsoft Office Word. You can customise the Word document any way you want.