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Powerpoint 2010 - Placeholder Formatting Changes (Copy & Paste)

Anonymous
2015-02-26T18:07:50+00:00

Hello,

I understand that I have the ability to create content and text placeholders and keep their formatting (i.e. font size/color, paragraph spacing, alignment) to a default within the Slide Master.  However, this formatting completely changes when copying and pasting the placeholder into another slide. 

To walk you through:

  1. Under Normal View in your presentation, with an already edited slide master
  2. Create a new slide (this slide would have the desired formatting content/text placeholder)
  3. Type in text into the placeholder (formatting works! yay...)

*Now I want to copy this text (which is in the original placeholder) and paste it into a new slide 4. Create new slide 5. Paste the content/text placeholder into another slide, within the same presentation - There is no option to Paste (Keep Formatting).  The only options when you right-click are: Paste or Paste (Picture) 6. Content/text that is pasted into new slide has completely changed formatting (i.e. font size, margins, paragraph spacing, alignment)

Can this be fixed through the Slide Master, or through a macro?  I have contacted multiple Microsoft Help Desk representatives and have been forwarded to the Powerpoint Specialist team; who were unable to even think about answering my question, due to the fact that they "cannot deal with formatting and can only deal with errors, because Microsoft offers tutorials online".  Hint: there are no tutorials offered by Microsoft that address this question. 

If this is possible, can you please give me a step-by-step instruction as to how this formatting issue can be fixed in Powerpoint 2010.

Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-02-26T20:24:37+00:00

    Hi John,

    Thanks for your response.  Unfortunately, this doesn't answer my issue.  I understand how to create a default master slide from scratch and have already done so.  The issue that I am referring to is with regards to actions after following your steps and using the template in normal view.

    To reiterate (after completing your steps):

    1. Under Normal View in your presentation, with an already edited slide master
    2. Create new slide
      • Choose slide with desired formatting content/text placeholder (i.e. a two column slide with size 10 font)
    3. Type in text into one of the placeholders (i.e. let's say hypothetically the right column placeholder)
    4. Copy right column placeholder box with text

    *Now I want to copy this text (which is in the original placeholder) and paste it into a new slide 5. Create new slide (i.e. with standard slide format) 6. Paste right column placeholder into another slide, within the same presentation - There is no option to Paste (Keep Formatting).  The only options when you right-click are: Paste or Paste (Picture) 7. Content/text that is pasted into new slide has completely changed formatting (i.e. font size, margins, paragraph spacing, alignment)

    Please advise.

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  2. John Korchok 232.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-02-26T21:45:49+00:00

    Hi, before my first replay, I constructed a test file, followed your steps and found that the formatting only changes when pasted into a slide created from a slide layout with different formatting. Otherwise, pasting works as expected.

    If you can post your file to OneDrive, DropBox or other cloud storage, then post a link here, I would be happy to examine it. Please include a slide that is labelled with your original correct formatting and another that illustrates pasted text with a changed format.

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  3. John Korchok 232.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-02-26T18:43:15+00:00

    When you use View>Slide Master to examine the slide master, the large slide (at the very top of the left-hand Slides pane) is the master. The smaller slides below are the slide layouts. If you modify a layout, then create a slide using that layout, then paste it into a slide based on a different layout, the formatting will change to match the receiving layout.

    Here's a good workflow for creating a new presentation design from scratch:

    1. Open a fresh presentation.
    2. On the Design tab, format the Color and Font themes first. This sets the basic palette and fonts for your entire presentation.
    3. Use View>Slide Master to open the master and slide layouts.
    4. Select the top slide (the master). Place any logos or graphics that will be appearing on all or most slides. Select the Title, Text, Date, Footer and Slide Number placeholders and format to your graphic standards. By formatting the master first, all its changes ripple through the layouts.
    5. Now go through the layouts and create variations as required. Usually the Title Slide and Section Header layouts are the most different from the master.

    With this workflow, all layouts will automatically have similar formatting and copying and pasting between them will be effortless.

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