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Create and save a PowerPoint template

When you create a presentation and then save it as a PowerPoint template (.potx) file, you can share it with your colleagues and reuse it again. To create a template, you'll need to modify a slide master and a set of slide layouts.

Download   Choose from thousands of free templates to download at Microsoft templates

Click a heading below to open the section and see detailed instructions:

  1. Open a blank presentation: File > New > Blank Presentation

  2. On the Design tab, select Slide Size > Custom Slide Size and choose the page orientation and dimensions you want.

  3. On the View tab, in the Master Views group, choose Slide Master.

    On the View tab, click Slide Master

    The slide master is the largest slide image at the top of the slide thumbnail list, to the left of your slides. Associated slide layouts are positioned beneath the slide master.

    Slide Master

  4. To make changes to the slide master or slide layouts, on the Slide Master tab, do any of the following:

    • To add a colorful theme with special fonts and effects, click Themes, and choose a theme from the gallery. Use the scrollbar on the right to see more themes.

      PowerPoint themes

    • To change the background, click Background Styles, and choose a background.

      PowerPoint background styles

    • To add a placeholder (to hold text, a picture, chart, video, sound, and other objects), in the thumbnail pane, select the slide layout that you want to hold the placeholder, and do the following:

      • Click Insert Placeholder, and select the type of placeholder you want to add.

        Shows the Insert Placeholder button in the Slide Master View in PowerPoint

      • On the slide master or slide layout, click and drag to draw the placeholder size.

        Tip:   To resize a placeholder, drag the corner of one of its borders.

    • To move a placeholder around on a slide master or slide layout, select the edge and then drag it into a new position.

      Moving a placeholder on a slide

    • To remove an unwanted placeholder in a slide master or slide layout, select it in the slide thumbnail pane, and then select the border of the placeholder on the slide and press Delete.

    • To set the page orientation for all of the slides in your presentation, click Slide Size > Custom Slide Size.

      Custom Slide Size menu option

      Under Orientation, choose Portrait or Landscape.

      Click Portrait

  1. On the File tab, click Save As (or Save a Copy, if you are using Microsoft 365).

  2. Under Save, click Browse to open the Save As dialog box.

    Click the Browse button near the bottom of the pane to open the Save As dialog box
  3. In the Save As dialog box, in the Save as type list, choose PowerPoint Template.

    Save as a PowerPoint Template

    When you choose the "template" type, PowerPoint automatically switches the storage location to the appropriate folder, the Custom Office Templates folder.

  4. In the Save As dialog box, in the File name box, type a file name for your template, or do nothing to accept the suggested file name.

  5. Select Save.

  6. To use your template for a new presentation, click File > New. Then click Custom > Custom Office Templates, and then double-click the template you saved.

    Under File > New, click Custom and then Custom Office Templates.

See Also

Create your own theme in PowerPoint

Save a slide design (theme) as a template

Edit, change, or delete a placeholder

What is a slide master?

What is a slide layout?

Create and use your own template in Microsoft 365 for Mac

How to make a branded PowerPoint presentation

You can't create a template in PowerPoint for the web. You have to use a desktop version of PowerPoint instead.

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