Blog Banner

Reusing Slides in PowerPoint

Top 25 Instructor Ruth Romano shares her tips for reusing slides in PowerPoint

Reusing Slides in PowerPoint

If you ever find yourself copying slides from another Power Point Presentation and pasting them into the one you are currently working on, you may feel like it requires delicate navigation skills. Many times, I ended up copying or pasting the wrong slide(s). however, there is a Reuse Slides feature in PowerPoint. This easily fixes the problem of trying to navigate around multiple windows and avoiding a click in the wrong place.

First, make sure you have the file you want to add the slides to open. Navigate to the Home tab > Slides Group. Select the button for New Slide. The very last option from this menu is Reuse Slides. This will then open up a Reuse Slides pane on the right side of your screen. You can then browse to select the file that has the slides you want to copy or reuse in the other file.

In the Reuse Slides pane, you can right-click on one of the slide thumbnails and choose to insert that one slide or all slides. Take note that whichever slide of the original file you opened was last selected is where it will be inserted. Of course, you can always rearrange the slides later. You also have the option to keep source formatting or not. 

So, let's refer to the file you are inserting from as the source and the file you are inserting to as the destination. By default, when you insert a slide, it will automatically change the formatting to the destination file's formatting. This could end up changing any of the formatting (font, font size, colors, etc.). However, if you wish to keep the slides formatted as they originally were in the source file, you can check the box to Keep Source Formatting and it will not change the look of the slides you insert/reuse.

The Reuse Slides feature can be very helpful when you are needing to reuse slides from other presentations and can save you time!


Ruth Romano is an award winning Applications Instructor for New Horizons Anaheim. Ruth's experience with Microsoft Office spans over multiple generations of Windows and Office. Her teaching and management experience provides many real world examples in classes, especially Business Skills. Ruth's favorite part of teaching is engaging her students with practical applications of the material so the "real world" connection is made. Her goal in the classroom is to make her students more proficient and efficient, no matter what the class is. Ruth is a certified Microsoft Office Specialist Master. She is one of the Top 25 Instructors Worldwide

More links

  • Beat the Year End IT Budget Crunch with Training from New Horizons!It’s that time of year again! Technology training budgets are expiring soon. If you’re feeling your company may be pressed for time, New Horizons is here to help you maximize your training dollars with award winning service
  • Microsoft Recommends You Update to Windows 10Microsoft really wants you to update to Windows 10. So far, it has offered the OS for free for users of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. However, the tech giant is taking yet another step toward maximizing Windows 10 use across the globe.
  • Getting Started with Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 (BeginnerThis webinar is designed for the newer user of Microsoft PowerPoint 2016, who would like a better understanding of when, how and why to use Microsoft PowerPoint. Attendees will explore the new features of PowerPoint 2016, learn to start with a blank presentation and create a slide show that conveys a message by using the tools for formatting slides, the uses of differing views, simplifying content, and delivering a finished presentation.
  • Delivering Presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 (Intermediate)This webinar is designed for an audience who already have beyond a basic level knowledge of Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 and seek to deliver more formal presentations in a variety of settings. Attendees will learn how to incorporate new PowerPoint 2016 features, see how to repurpose existing content from PowerPoint, Word, and Excel . In addition to seeing how to create flexible decks that hold an audience’s attention, through the use of audio and video segments, animation, and transitions; delivere
Categories: Microsoft Office

Terry Mott

Terry Mott

Other posts by Terry Mott

Contact author

Related articles

Contact author

x

Subscribe for Future Blog Notifications