Selection Pane

  1. Select one of the objects you want to manage.

  2. On the Shape Format tab, select Selection Pane.

    selection pane

  3. Select an object in the list.

  4. Drag an object up to move it forward or down to move it backward.

    selection pane

After you select the object you want to change, open the Format Pane to edit.

The grid line under the title is called a “straight connector”. Follow the instruction above and you can change its position, thickness, color, etc.

straight connector

You can change its position either

  • using the “Size & Properties” tab $\rightarrow$ Position $\rightarrow$ Vertical/Horizontal position; or
  • using the mouse to click to select, then using ↑/↓ to move up/downwards.

format shape

Layout

Copy and paste the design of a slide to other slides

The source of a slide design is the slide layout that it is based on.

  1. Choose View $\rightarrow$ Slide Master to see the slide layout for the selected slide.

  2. You can copy formatting of individual elements with the Format Painter, but not a whole slide.
  3. Paste the element to the destination slide and edit accordingly.

To change the design of a slide, choose Home $\rightarrow$ Layout and select the layout that has the design you want.

Turn off Autofit in Text Boxes

ppt automatically changes font size to fit the size of your text box. More words smaller font; fewer words larger font. You can turn it off if you don’t want this feature.

  1. Right-click on the text box border and choose Format Shape. The Format Shape task pane opens.
  2. Choose Text Options and click on the Textbox icon.
  3. Select either the Do not Autofit or the Resize shape to fit text options.

Text box

Use Template potx

Save your presentation as a PowerPoint template

  1. Open the presentation that you want to save as a template.

  2. On the File tab, select Save as Template.

  3. In the Save As box, type the name that you want to use for the new template.

  4. (Optional) In the Where box, choose a location where the template will be saved.

  5. Next to File Format, select PowerPoint Template (.potx), or, if your presentation contains macros, select PowerPoint Macro-Enabled Template (.potm).

  6. Select Save.

    Unless you select a different location, the template is saved in /Users/username/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Templates.

Apply the new template to existing slides

  1. Open the file that contains the existing slides.

  2. Select the thumbnail pane and then select the slides you want.

  3. Copy the selected slides (cmd+C).

  4. Switch to the new file, right-click the thumbnail pane, and paste the slides by pressing cmd+V.

    All the copied slides are inserted in the new presentation, and they adopt the design of its template.

Add Page Number

Add page number when you are finished if you need to insert total number of pages.

  1. Format your page number in Slide Master.

    Add total number of pages: page ‹#› of 20. Yes, you need to add the total number manually every time you add or remove one page. It’s so stupid! MS hates humanity and Mac.

  2. Go back to Normal View and Insert page number.

Note that if you make changes to footers or slide numbers in the Slide Master, the changes will NOT be applied automatically. You need to re-insert to apply the changes. It is a two-step process.

MS is just anti-human. Every time I use MS software, I feel my patience is tested and challenged greatly. About to lash out! How can MS be so stupid at this AI taking over age? 🤯🔥🔥

Don’t show on title slide

It means don’t show the page number but still it counts as a page…

If you meant don’t count the title as one page, you can set the page number to Starts at: 0.

Q: How does ppt determine title page?
A: PowerPoint always treats the first layout listed under a master slide as a title slide.