Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

Any Powerpoint Pros?

I have a question that 7 people haven't been able to answer. I am attempting to use Powerpoint (oh how I hate it) to make a presentation.

I want to set up one master slide with 5 editable text areas that a person can change on each individual slide. How do I do that?

I've set up the master slide, and inserted the 5 default editable text areas (Date, Slide, Text, Title, Footer) but only the Footer and Date show up on the main slides, and neither of them are editable.

If I place a text box on the slide master, it shows up on all slides, but it is no editable.

Anyone ever conquer the master slide in PPT?

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We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Modesto, CA USA
Posts: 599

30 Minutes Expended

Homer,

I've attempted to answer your dilmena but I confess that I don't have an answer. My only suggestion would be to set up 5 bullets that are part of the master slide and thus enable 5 different lines of text.

If your looking to have 5 different boxes placed in totally different locations - the above obviously won't work. I thought I was good but this one has me stumped.

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Moose Man
I may be from the LEFT coast but that's not the correct political view in my mind!

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Nebraska- the Good life
Posts: 695

Well...

a.) If this is the only time you'll need this layout, create a new presentation, set up the screen with your first dataset, then copy the slide 5 times and change each slide. This is usually easier than going through the master slide bit for one presentation.

b.) In the master slide area, resize the text box the way you want it, then copy it- position it, paste another, position it, etc. This always works for me, but I seem to recall that you need to save a master oddly somehow, and I just can't quite recall off-hand exactly how!

c.) The prevailing theory of on-screen presentations is 'short and sweet'. I wonder if, with 5 editable areas, you might not be trying to put too much on a screen? One recommendation I saw even wanted you to keep it under 6 WORDS per screen. I think that is too extreme, but shorter slides always work better for me than longer slides do. Just a thought!

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Do what you can, with what you have, where you are at!

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

Thanks guys.

The verdict is that Powerpoint just isn't capable of doing what I want.

For the record, I wasn't using it to make a bulleted presentation. It was going to be used as a portfolio presentation.

I was forcing Powerpoint to look good, and you can't. You need to stick with marble backgrounds and 5-bulletpoints I guess. ;o)

The main answer I got from everyone was, yea...just cut and paste the slide you want. Well, this totally eliminates the benefit of the master slide, so I gave up.

Switching to PDFs...

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We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
-David Byrne

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Nebraska- the Good life
Posts: 695

I have a love/hate relationship with PowerPoint, but I can usually get it to do what I want.

I would like to help, but I guess I am still not real sure of what you are trying to accomplish.

The Master Slide bit works, but is not usually worth the effort unless you will be using the same layout over and over. Since I make it a point to never use the same layout twice for my own purposes, it does little for me. When I am forced by others to repeat a layout, I just copy the old one and insert new art or text.

My usual technique is to create the page layout I want in a blank screen- I usually include a strip along one edge with the presentation title, my name, etc. so it shows up on each screen. I then copy this layout several times, then go in and fabricate the slides I want, copying 'standardized' elements from page to page.

Hate the backgrounds? So do I, so I use a blank format and either draw my own, scan one in, or whatever. Some of my favorites have been blown-up photos with the presentation material superimposed over them. I tend to change the background to reflect changes in topics or mood, and I rarely use the same background for mroe than 6 slides or so.

I took a day-long seminar on PowerPoint- what a waste that was! I learned some interesting things, but the presenter used pretty much the same-old looking stuff and seemed more interested in having us maintain his companies traditions and gidelines than us exploring new territories. The section on 'using color' was a real snoozer for me- but I was amazed at how many people in the class thought that using color to comminicate a mood or message was a hot new idea! Yeesh!

Anyway- if ya tell me what you are trying to do on a page, I might be able to help more concretely- if you are still interested in going this route at all!

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Do what you can, with what you have, where you are at!