How to Use PowerPoint Templates

Microsoft PowerPoint includes templates that make PowerPoint presentations much more attractive. Once a PowerPoint template has been applied to a presentation, every page in the PowerPoint presentation will use the theme and colors that are included in the selected PowerPoint template. You can then apply slide layouts, which makes creating PowerPoint slides very easy. Here is how to use PowerPoint templates.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

How to Select PowerPoint Templates in PowerPoint 2007

1. Open a new file. Click the "Office" button in the upper left corner. Then, click "New." The new presentation window opens.

2. Locate the "Templates" section. The "Templates" section is located in the upper left side of the window.

3. Click "Installed templates." The window populates with the PowerPoint templates that are stored on your computer.

4. Click to select a PowerPoint template. Scroll through the PowerPoint template options available on your computer and then click on the one you want to apply to your PowerPoint presentation.

5. Click "Create." The "Create" button is located on the bottom right of the screen. This applies the PowerPoint template to your PowerPoint presentation.

How to Select PowerPoint Templates in PowerPoint 2003

6. Open a new file. From the menu, select "File" and then select "New." Then click "From design template." This opens a new PowerPoint presentation.

7. Open the "Slide design" menu bar. From the menu, select "Format" and then select "Slide design." The "Slide design" menu bar populates with the PowerPoint templates that are stored on your computer.

8. Select a PowerPoint template. Scroll through the PowerPoint template options available on your computer and then click on the one you want to apply to your PowerPoint presentation.

9. Apply the PowerPoint template to your PowerPoint presentation. When you click to select a PowerPoint Template, a gray arrow appears next to the selected template. Click the arrow and then select "Apply to all slides."

How to Use PowerPoint Templates

10. View design layouts for each slide. After you have applied a PowerPoint template to your PowerPoint presentation, you can choose how arrange each slide from a variety of layouts. To view layout options in PowerPoint 2007, click on the "Home" tab and then click "Layout." To view layout options in PowerPoint 2003, select "Format" and then select "Slide layout" from the menu.

11. Scroll through the available layout options. A wide variety of options are available that include text only, images, charts and other layout elements.

12. Select a layout for each slide. To select a slide layout in PowerPoint 2007, click the desired slide layout. To select a slide layout in PowerPoint 2003, click on the selected layout. Click the gray arrow and then select "Insert new slide." A new slide is inserted with the layout you selected.

13. Add content. After you apply the PowerPoint template and the slide layouts, adding the content is easy. Click on each section in the template and then insert the information. For text boxes, click on the text box and start typing. For boxes with icons, click on the icon and then follow the directions in the window that is launched.

Tips & Warnings

• For PowerPoint 2007, the icon options are "Insert table," "Chart," "SmartArt graphic," "Picture from file," "Clip art" and "Media clip."
• For PowerPoint 2003, the icon options are "Insert table," "Chart," "Clip art," "Picture," "Diagram" or "Organizational chart" and "Media clip."