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One of the features PowerPoint users have been asking for since the dawn of time has been the ability to have more than one Slide Master in a single presentation. Jump for joy, for this long-sought feature is now a part of PowerPoint 2002. PowerPoint now enables you to have as many Slide Masters as you need, so you can create presentations with slides that have several different looks.
This is especially useful if you merge slides from two separate presentations and you want the slides to keep their original appearance, or if you want to create a presentation with two or more sections, each of which has its own look.
First, however, you need to understand the relationship between Slide Masters and Title Masters. Every presentation has at least one Slide Master. Each Slide Master in a presentation may have a corresponding Title Master, but doesn't have to.
Suppose you create a new presentation that starts out with one Slide Master and one Title Master. Then, as you work with the presentation, you add two additional Slide Masters to create new slide designs. Now, the presentation has three Slide Masters but still only one Title Master.
If you want to add an additional Title Master, the new Title Master must be paired with an existing Slide Master that doesn't already have a Title Master. So, you can add a new Title Master to either of the two Slide Masters you created.
The following sections explain how to use the multiple masters feature.
Creating a new slide master
To add a new master to a presentation, follow these steps:
1. Choose the View-->Master-->Slide Master command to switch to Slide Master View.
Or if you prefer, hold down the Shift key and click the Normal View button near the lower-left corner of the screen.
2. Click the Insert New Slide Master button.
A new Slide Master appears, as shown in Figure 1. Notice that a thumbnail for the new Slide Master has been added to the list of thumbnails on the left side of the screen, and that the new Slide Master uses PowerPoint's default settings (white background, black text, and so on).
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Figure 1: Creating a new Slide Master. |
3. Modify the new Slide Master to your liking.
You can make any formatting changes you want: Change the background color, text styles, background objects, and so on.
4. Click Close Master View on the Slide Master View toolbar to return to Normal View.
You can now begin using the new master you created.
 | Another way to create a new Slide Master is to duplicate one of your presentation's existing Slide Masters. When you do that, the new Slide Master inherits the formatting of the original one. That can save you a lot of work, especially if you want to create a new Slide Master that varies from an existing one in only a minor way, such as having a different background color. |
To duplicate a Slide Master, click the master you want to duplicate in the thumbnails on the left of the screen, and then press Ctrl+D or choose Edit-->Duplicate.
To delete a Slide Master, click the master you want to delete and click the Delete Master button in the Slide Master View toolbar, choose Edit-->Delete Master, or press the Delete key.
Creating a new Title Master
You can add a new Title Master to any Slide Master that does not yet have a Title Master paired with it. To add a Title Master, first select an available Slide Master by clicking its thumbnail on the left of the screen, and then choose the Insert-->New Title Master command. A new Title Master appears, as shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 2: Creating a new Title Master. |
In Figure 2, you can see that the Title Master and Slide Master thumbnails are connected by a line to indicate that these Slide and Title Masters are paired.
When you create a Title Master, the Title Master inherits any formatting from its Slide Master. However, once created, the Title Master and Slide Master are formatted independently of one another. Thus, you can change the format of the Slide Master without affecting its Title Master, and vice versa.
To delete a Title Master, click the master you want to delete and click the Delete Master button in the Slide Master View toolbar, choose Edit-->Delete Master, or press the Delete key. If you delete a Slide Master that is paired with a Title Master, the Title Master is deleted as well.
Applying masters
If you have created multiple masters for a presentation, you can select which master to use for each slide in your presentation. To apply a master to one or more slides, follow these steps:
1. Select the slide or slides you want to apply the alternate Slide Master to.
The easiest way to do this is to click the slide you want in the thumbnails on the left of the screen. To select more than one slide, hold down the Ctrl key and click each slide you want to select.
2. Choose the Format-->Slide Design command to bring up the Slide Design Task Pane.
Figure 3 shows the Slide Design Task Pane, with two slides selected in the thumbnail list. This pane shows a thumbnail list of Slide Masters and Design Templates you can apply to your slides.
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Figure 3: Creating a new Title Master. |
3. Click the arrow next to the Slide Master you want to apply to the slides you've selected, and then choose Apply to Selected Slides.
The Slide Master is applied to the selected slides.
 | Do not simply click the Slide Master you want to use in the Slide Design Task Pane or you may be surprised by the results. If you select two or more slides and then click a Slide Master, the Slide Master is applied to the slides you selected. But if you select only one slide and click a Slide Master, the Slide Master is applied to all the slides in the presentation, not just the one you selected! |
Worse yet, there's a good chance that PowerPoint will also delete the Slide Master that was applied to the other slides in the presentation. To avoid this, always click the arrow next to the Slide Master so you can select the Apply to Selected Slides command from the menu.
If you accidentally apply a Slide Master to all slides in your presentation and PowerPoint deletes the original Slide Master, just press Ctrl+Z or choose Edit-->Undo to restore sanity to your presentation.
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