How to Remove Placeholders in PowerPoint

As you create Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, it will automatically put your text and objects inside of placeholders. PowerPoint will even insert placeholders just to hold onto empty space it thinks you need for formatting purposes. If you would like to remove the placeholders from PowerPoint and stop them from being inserted, follow the steps below.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2003

Instructions

1. Start Microsoft PowerPoint and open an existing presentation, or start a new presentation. The changes you make in removing the placeholders will apply to all new presentations and your existing presentations.

2. Choose the "Tools" menu and click on "AutoCorrect Options..." to open the "AutoCorrect" dialog box. From the "AutoCorrect" dialog box, you can change several settings that PowerPoint uses to format your presentations automatically.

3. Click the "AutoFormat As You Type" tab at the top of the "AutoCorrect" dialog box to show the formatting options that apply when you are typing in PowerPoint.

4. Locate the "Apply as you work" section at the bottom of the "AutoCorrect" dialog box and notice that the check box in front of it is checked. This means that PowerPoint is free to automatically add placeholders whenever it sees fit.

5. Remove the checkmark in the box before "Automatic layout for inserted objects" by clicking the box with the checkmark with your mouse.

6. Choose the "OK" button to close the "AutoCorrect" dialog box and apply your formatting changes. As you work in PowerPoint, your content will no longer be put in placeholders.

Tips & Warnings

• To get an image or text out of a placeholder after it has already been converted, copy and paste it to a new section of the PowerPoint presentation.