Slide Master

Presentation Effects

To view the Slide Master, pull down the View menu, point to Master, and then click Slide Master:

The Slide Master will appear:

There are five text placeholders on the Slide Master, each one marked by a dotted box:

slide number (#) area

If you would like your slides to have numbers, a footer, and/or a date/time stamp, pull down the View menu and click Header and Footer. The following dialog box should appear:

Make sure the Slide tab is selected. Click to check the desired options:

Date and time. If you check this option, then click either “Update automatically” (if you want PowerPoint to automatically use the current date whenever the slides are viewed) or “Fixed” (if you want to enter a date and not have it change). If you clicked “Update automatically,” then tell PowerPoint how you would like the date/time formatted. If you clicked “Fixed,” then type in the desired date. The desired information will appear in the date/time area on every slide in your presentation.

Slide number. If you check this option, the current slide number will appear in the slide number area on every slide in your presentation.

Footer. If you check this option, enter the desired footer text in the box. The footer text will appear in the footer area on every slide in your presentation.

Click Apply to put the options into effect.

To change the global formatting for a type of text (for example, the title, the third-level text, or the footer), click once on the desired text (so that the blinking insertion bar is in the middle of it), and then use the Formatting toolbar to change the font, font size, font style, font color, alignment, etc. To change the numbering style or bullet character for the selected line, pull down the Format menu and choose Bullets and Numbering.

You can also move the placeholders by dragging the dotted box where you would like it to appear on the slide. For example, if you wanted the date to appear in the upper right hand corner of the slide, you could simply drag it to the desired location, and the date would appear in the desired place on all of your slides.

If you want to add a graphic or some standard text to every slide, you can do that by pulling down the Insert menu and choosing Picture or Text Box. (Don’t delete or add characters in the placeholder text; it will have no effect on your slides. The placeholders simply affect formatting, not the actual content of your slides.) Let’s say, for example, that you wanted to display your company logo and your name on every slide. Doing this would take two steps:

1) Pull down the Insert menu, point to Picture, and then click From File; select your logo. At that point the logo will appear on the Slide Master, and you can drag it to the desired location.

2) Pull down the Insert menu and click Text Box; click once on the Slide Master. Type your name. You can then drag your name to the desired location.

To exit the Slide Master, click one of the View icons.


	What is the Slide Master?	Each PowerPoint template comes with a Slide Master. The Slide Master controls the overall formatting and object placement for the presentation — font type, size, color, background color, graphics and certain special effects (like text shadowing). When you want to make a global change to the look of your slides, you don’t have to change each slide individually; just make the change once on the Slide Master, and that change is reflected on every slide. For example, if you change the font in the Slide Master, it automatically changes the font on all of the slides. If you put a logo on the Slide Master, the logo will appear on every slide. By using the Slide Master, you can ensure that all of your slides have the same professional “look and feel” and that transitions from one slide to the next are smooth.

	How do I view the Slide Master?	To view the Slide Master, pull down the View menu, point to Master, and then click Slide Master: The Slide Master will appear:

		The small inset window in the upper right displays the actual slide so that you can see what effect any changes will have.

	How do I make changes to the Slide Master?	There are five text placeholders on the Slide Master, each one marked by a dotted box: title style area text styles area date/time area footer area slide number (#) area If you would like your slides to have numbers, a footer, and/or a date/time stamp, pull down the View menu and click Header and Footer. The following dialog box should appear:

		Make sure the Slide tab is selected. Click to check the desired options: Date and time. If you check this option, then click either “Update automatically” (if you want PowerPoint to automatically use the current date whenever the slides are viewed) or “Fixed” (if you want to enter a date and not have it change). If you clicked “Update automatically,” then tell PowerPoint how you would like the date/time formatted. If you clicked “Fixed,” then type in the desired date. The desired information will appear in the date/time area on every slide in your presentation. Slide number. If you check this option, the current slide number will appear in the slide number area on every slide in your presentation. Footer. If you check this option, enter the desired footer text in the box. The footer text will appear in the footer area on every slide in your presentation. Click Apply to put the options into effect. To change the global formatting for a type of text (for example, the title, the third-level text, or the footer), click once on the desired text (so that the blinking insertion bar is in the middle of it), and then use the Formatting toolbar to change the font, font size, font style, font color, alignment, etc. To change the numbering style or bullet character for the selected line, pull down the Format menu and choose Bullets and Numbering. You can also move the placeholders by dragging the dotted box where you would like it to appear on the slide. For example, if you wanted the date to appear in the upper right hand corner of the slide, you could simply drag it to the desired location, and the date would appear in the desired place on all of your slides. If you want to add a graphic or some standard text to every slide, you can do that by pulling down the Insert menu and choosing Picture or Text Box. (Don’t delete or add characters in the placeholder text; it will have no effect on your slides. The placeholders simply affect formatting, not the actual content of your slides.) Let’s say, for example, that you wanted to display your company logo and your name on every slide. Doing this would take two steps: 1) Pull down the Insert menu, point to Picture, and then click From File; select your logo. At that point the logo will appear on the Slide Master, and you can drag it to the desired location. 2) Pull down the Insert menu and click Text Box; click once on the Slide Master. Type your name. You can then drag your name to the desired location. To exit the Slide Master, click one of the View icons.

Copyright © 2002, Bloomsburg University Virtual Training Help Center. All rights reserved. This material may not be used without written permission. Contact Dr. Mary Nicholson at mjnich@bloomu.edu