How to Apply a PowerPoint Template to an Existing Presentation

There are two different jobs that are often described as “applying a template”:

• Apply a template to a new presentation, then add your content.
• Move existing slides into a presentation that already uses the template.

For an existing deck, the second job is more reliable when done as an import. Microsoft recommends starting with a fresh presentation created from the template, then importing the existing slides into it.

Apply the template to a new presentation

1. Select File > New.
2. Open the Personal, Custom, or equivalent template tab. The name depends on your PowerPoint version.
3. Select the .potx template and choose Create.
4. Add new slides to this presentation and move your content into the template’s layouts.

This gives the new presentation the template’s theme, slide master, and layouts from the beginning. A .potx file is a PowerPoint template; it can contain both a theme and placeholder instructions for future slides.

Move existing slides into the template

If your content is already in another .pptx file, keep the template presentation as the destination:

1. Open the presentation that contains your existing slides.
2. In the thumbnail pane, select the slides to move. Use Ctrl+A for all slides, or hold Ctrl while selecting individual slides.
3. Copy the slides with Ctrl+C.
4. Switch to the new presentation created from the template.
5. Right-click in the destination thumbnail pane and choose Use Destination Theme under Paste Options.

Use Destination Theme makes the imported slides follow the template presentation’s design. This is usually the right choice when the goal is to restyle existing content with a new template.

When to keep the original design

If a slide must retain the colors, fonts, backgrounds, and other formatting from its original presentation, choose Keep Source Formatting instead. The slide will remain visually tied to the source design, so it may not look consistent with the rest of the new deck.

PowerPoint also provides Home > New Slide > Reuse Slides. In the Reuse Slides pane, choose the source presentation and select Keep source formatting when the original appearance must be preserved. When that option is not selected, imported slides inherit the styling of the destination presentation.

Save the design for later

If this design will be reused, save the source presentation as a template:

1. Select File > Save As (or Save a Copy in some Microsoft 365 versions).
2. Choose PowerPoint Template in the file-type list.
3. Save the file with the .potx extension.

You can then find it under File > New, usually in Personal, Custom, or Custom Office Templates, depending on the PowerPoint version and configuration.

References

• Apply a template to an existing presentation — Microsoft’s recommended workflow for starting with a fresh template and importing existing slides, including the Use Destination Theme option.
• Reuse (import) slides from another presentation — Documents Reuse Slides, local presentation import, and Keep source formatting.
• Create and save a PowerPoint template — Documents creating a template and saving it as a .potx file.
• Save a slide design (theme) as a template in PowerPoint — Explains the difference between a theme and a template and how to reuse the result.