How to Copy Slides to a Different PowerPoint Presentation

If you’ve created a fantastic PowerPoint presentation, you may want to reuse the slides in the future. Fortunately, this is a pretty straightforward task. With just a few simple clicks, you’ll be able to copy them.

However, there are various other options, like keeping the formatting, which you should know about. In this article, we’ll show you how to copy slides to a different PowerPoint presentation. Plus, we’ll show you some useful PowerPoint hacks.

Copying Slides and Keeping Formatting

The presentations you’re working on can have different styles and themes. Nonetheless, you want to copy slides from one presentation to another, but keep the same formatting. To do so, make sure you open both PowerPoint presentations. For a better view of all slides, under ‘View’ tap on ‘Slide Sorter.’ There you’ll see all the slides from the presentation. All you have to do is select the ones you want to copy.

Depending on what you want to do, you can either select all slides or just specific ones. The commands are different for Mac and Windows users. To select all files:

For Windows users: Ctrl + A

For Mac users: Cmd + A

If you want to select specific slides, this is what you need to do:

Windows users: Ctrl + click

Mac users: Cmd + click

Now that you’ve selected, you can copy by holding Ctrl and C, or Cmd and C for Mac users. Once you do that, head over to the other presentation. To keep the formatting, click on the ‘New slide’ under the ‘Home’ button. Then, click on ‘Reuse Slides.’ You’ll now see a box open on the right side of the presentation, where you can browse the slides from the old presentation and select the ones you want to copy.

The next step is crucial because it allows you to keep the formatting of the old presentation. By ticking the box next to ‘Keep source formatting,’ you ensure the old slides keep the same style and the theme, even though they’re now copied to a new presentation.

Copying Slides Without Source Formatting

If you want to merge slides from different PowerPoint presentations, while keeping the uniformed style and theme, the steps will be different.

As before, open both PowerPoint presentations and select the slides you want to copy. In the presentation where you want them inserted, open ‘Slide Sorter’ for a better view. Here, copy the slides – and that’s it! When you adopt this method, the slides will assume the new presentation style and lose their formatting.

PowerPoint Hacks

Besides being able to copy slides from one presentation to another, there are other hacks and tips you should know. Without further ado, let’s see what these are.

Hack #1: Embedding Fonts

Fonts are a huge part of any PowerPoint presentation as they draw the attention of the audience. If you choose a font that isn’t clear, your audience won’t be able to see the content of the presentation itself. However, another problem may arise when you share your presentation with someone who doesn’t have the font you’ve used in PowerPoint. To avoid this, here’s what you can do:

1. In your presentation, go over to ‘File’ and tap ‘Options.’
   
2. Look for ‘Save,’ scroll down until you see ‘Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation.’
   
3. Check the box ‘Embed fonts in the file.’
   
4. You can now select between two options: ‘Embed Only the Characters Used in the Presentation (Best for Reducing File Size)’ or ‘Embed All Characters (Best for Editing by Other People).’
   
5. Finally, click ‘OK.’
   

Now, when another person receives your presentation, they won’t have a problem seeing it, even if they don’t have the same font saved.

Hack #2: Adding Audio

If you want to get a little bit creative with your presentation, you can add audio. To do that, click on ‘Insert’ from the menu bar and then ‘Audio.’ You can now choose whether you want to use something from your computer or online. Once you insert the audio, you’ll see the ‘Playback’ tab. You can now select the starting point of the sound, or choose it to play in the background while you deliver the presentation.

Hack #3: Make Your Presentation a Video

Although PowerPoint presentations can be interesting, many people still prefer to watch videos on a particular topic. Luckily, you can easily turn your presentation into a video. Follow these steps:

1. In your presentation, click on ‘File.’
   
2. Next, tap ‘Export’ and hit ‘Create a Video.’
   
3. Once you do that, you’ll have an option to choose how many seconds you want each slide to last. Pay attention to the timing so that people can see everything.
   

Various PowerPoint Options

As you can see, PowerPoint comes with some fantastic options. If you’ve made a really great presentation and want to use some slides in the future, you can do it easily. Moreover, you can choose to keep the formatting if you want.

Besides that, there are some other unique PowerPoint features which can make a huge difference to your presentation. Make sure you check them out the next time you need help. How about you? Are you a fan of PowerPoint presentations? Do you know any other hacks? Why not share them with the rest of the community in the comments section below?