Chapter 16: Creating Your Own Template

Overview

Remember Rachel? Her boss was so thrilled with how the printed materials came out she was asked to formalize her PowerPoint designs into corporate templates.

All of my presentations are based on the standard PowerPoint templates delivered with Office. However, for each look I have done some tweaking and nudging. I now need to pull all of what I have done together in to a set of formal corporate PowerPoint templates.

I don't know what to do. I know all about applying the various masters, but I don't know what goes into making a fully functional template.

Template creation is much like the work done when determining the look of the presentation. The difference here is scope. Instead of deciding what a single presentation will look like, consider what a number of presentations will look like. In addition, you have to consider the non-slide elements of the presentation file.

Templates in PowerPoint are made up of a number of elements

• Master slides, which come in pairs: the Slide Master and the Title Master. These slides contain the common elements and formatting for the slides in the presentation. All of the slides in the presentation are based on one of these two masters. The Slide Master is inserted automatically. The Title Master you have to create yourself.

• Notes master: This page generally contains a small picture of the slide at the top, with a placeholder for speaker's notes on the bottom. It also can contain headers and footers, dates and page numbers . Changeable items on this master include the size of the slide and the format and placement of the various text items. (This master is only applied to new files. If applying the template to an existing presentation, copy and paste the notes master from the template to the notes master for the file.)

• Handout master: There are a number of views for the handout master, one for each printable handout style. You cannot change the size or position of the slides or the lines on handouts. All you are able to change on these masters is the content and style of the headers and footers (including dates and page numbers) and the addition of printed background elements. Furthermore, although there are six handout masters, changes made on any given handout master are reflected on each of the other handout masters. (This master is only applied to new files. If applying the template to an existing presentation, copy and paste the handout master from the template to the handout master for the file.)

To ensure the template is complete, format each of these masters. You can start the template from either a blank slide, from another presentation or from another template. We are going to start from a blank slide, as it is the most complex process. If starting with masters from another presentation or template, you are already that far ahead.