Colour-changing masters in Powerpoint
May 10, 2023 3:16 PM Subscribe
I have a specific question about using different coloured Slide Masters in the same Powerpoint presentation.
I have a PowerPoint deck with a few different customized slide masters that is to be used for making a specific type of presentation. There are three slide masters -- Background, Analysis, Recommendation. Right now, each of those slides uses only a single shade of blue for all the coloured elements.
A presentation will include multiple issues. For each issue, there will be a Background, several Analysis slides, and then a Recommendation. Then move on to the next issue, and start again with Background, etc.
What I have been asked to do is make it so that while Issue 1 remains blue, Issue 2 can be green and issue 3 can be red, or whatever. You get the point.
I can use the Design -> Colors feature in Powerpoint to change the colour of all the blue elements to a different colour at the same time. So, if I go and select a different colour scheme, everything that's now blue can be red, instead. But seemingly only on the entire presentation, not slide by slide.
Is there a way to make it so that someone using the Master can select a colour and have it replace the blue, but only for their own slides? Or would I have to create Background - Blue, Analysis - Blue, Recommendation - Blue and then Background - Red, Analysis - Red, Recommendation - Red in the available Masters and have them choose the right masters each time?
The answer to this cannot be to use different software -- Powerpoint is what we have.
I have a PowerPoint deck with a few different customized slide masters that is to be used for making a specific type of presentation. There are three slide masters -- Background, Analysis, Recommendation. Right now, each of those slides uses only a single shade of blue for all the coloured elements.
A presentation will include multiple issues. For each issue, there will be a Background, several Analysis slides, and then a Recommendation. Then move on to the next issue, and start again with Background, etc.
What I have been asked to do is make it so that while Issue 1 remains blue, Issue 2 can be green and issue 3 can be red, or whatever. You get the point.
I can use the Design -> Colors feature in Powerpoint to change the colour of all the blue elements to a different colour at the same time. So, if I go and select a different colour scheme, everything that's now blue can be red, instead. But seemingly only on the entire presentation, not slide by slide.
Is there a way to make it so that someone using the Master can select a colour and have it replace the blue, but only for their own slides? Or would I have to create Background - Blue, Analysis - Blue, Recommendation - Blue and then Background - Red, Analysis - Red, Recommendation - Red in the available Masters and have them choose the right masters each time?
The answer to this cannot be to use different software -- Powerpoint is what we have.
I've done similar things in the same way as described by humbug. It does require people to understand how to use and choose between master slides, but it's pretty simple.
posted by dg at 9:12 PM on May 10, 2023
posted by dg at 9:12 PM on May 10, 2023
Same here, my org's master slide deck has different layouts for different kinds of slides, each in different color options, and people just choose which ones to use when they make a deck. (Or at least did, before PowerPoint's "design ideas" feature which has ruined our ability to maintain our brand look, much to my designer's dismay.)
posted by misskaz at 4:16 AM on May 11, 2023
posted by misskaz at 4:16 AM on May 11, 2023
Response by poster: That's unfortunate - it would be a lot of work to do the slides over and over again for each colour. I will push back on the request and see if it goes away.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:19 AM on May 11, 2023
posted by jacquilynne at 6:19 AM on May 11, 2023
You could create a custom theme in the master slide file. Then you could instruct people creating the slides to change colors of specific elements using the colors in the custom theme. But, it's relying on the people making the slides to know how to do that without screwing things up and to be able to follow directions, and as we all know that is not always successful.
Otherwise, yeah, you're creating a master slide(s) for each color option.
posted by misskaz at 6:55 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Otherwise, yeah, you're creating a master slide(s) for each color option.
posted by misskaz at 6:55 AM on May 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
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In my PowerPoint (n.b. for Mac, can't speak to Windows menu layout), this would be Arrange --> Master --> Slide Master. Choose one of the blue-backgrounded slides, right-click it, pick Duplicate Layout, then change the background on the duplicated master slide. Deck creators can then pick from the blue master or the red master.
posted by humbug at 4:19 PM on May 10, 2023 [1 favorite]