Manage Slide Masters

Once you’ve been working with slide masters for a while, it can start to get a little confusing and cluttered. Luckily, you can rename, delete, and preserve slide masters and layouts.

Rename Masters and Layouts

1. From Slide Master view, select a slide master or layout.
2. Click the Rename button on the Slide Master tab.

   Right-click the slide master or layout in the Thumbnails pane and select Rename Layout.

3. Add a new name and click Rename.
   

When you hover over a slide master or layout in the Thumbnails pane, you see its name and the slides in your presentation that are using it.

Delete Slide Masters

1. From Slide Master view, right-click a slide master in the Thumbnails pane.
2. Select Delete Master.

   Deleting a slide master will also delete all of its layouts.

   

Preserve Slide Masters

Sometimes PowerPoint may try to clean itself up and delete any slide masters that aren't currently being used in a presentation. To prevent that from happening, preserve your slide masters.

1. From Slide Master view, select a slide master.
2. Click the Preserve button on the Slide Master tab.

   Right-click the slide master and select Preserve Master.

   

   A tiny pin symbol appears next to the slide master, so you know that it won’t be deleted.

3. Click the Close Master View button.