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How do I create locked colour schemes?

Anonymous
2010-06-16T13:45:21+00:00

I have received a PowerPoint 2007 presentation which I have been asked to modify. If I open this file and go to the design tab I can see 3 custom colour themes under the heading 'This Presentation' These themes are 'locked' and can't be edited, deleted or modified. They appear above the usual Built-in colour themes. I need to be able to remove all three of these themes, create a new one of my own and save it so that it can't be modified or deleted. I'd be happy to start the template from scratch if needs be. Steve Rindsberg has suggested this might involve XML editing. I have no knowledge of this so would need a detailed guide. I'd really appreciate any help any of you may be able to offer. Thank you.

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Anonymous
2010-06-22T16:05:00+00:00

I wonder if each of the color schemes in "this presentation" is tied to a different slide master. If so, deleting that master might remove the associated color scheme. I'm not sure, off the top of my head. I'd have to do some mucking about to test it.

Anyway, yes, you have to edit the XML to remove these extra schemes. I'll try to find a few minutes today to set up a file with extra colors and then poke around in the XML. Actually, if you can just email me your file, that might be easier. echos at indy dot net is the address to use, and if you'd include the text of your original post so I can remember what I'm doing, that would help!

I suspect the process will be similar to that described here: http://www.echosvoice.com/2007/addcolorstotheme.htm (click the link for Click here to get a PDF with instructions for adding color schemes to a theme). This describes adding a color scheme to the XML, so I think you'd probably look in the same place to delete the extra color sheme as well.

That said, I'm with Christine in that you can't really lock the theme so that it cannot be edited. I mean, to change the color scheme, you'd simply select another. Or choose Create New Theme Colors and make a new one that's based on the current one. If you're just using "locked" to mean you cannot right-click and edit the color scheme in the Colors dropdown, though, then okay, you just need the color scheme to be part of the theme.

-- Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-07-08T11:43:03+00:00

    For what it's worth, JayDayCo did email me a file to look at. The extra color schemes appear because they existed in PPT 2003, and this file was based on a 2003 file. Best practice when building templates is to start from scratch in PPT 2007, not try to port over a 2003 file. There are just too many issues that crop up partway through -- like extra color schemes that you can't get rid of!

    Alternatively, you can remove the color schemes in 2003 before opening in 2007. Do this by going to Format | Slide Design and then clicking Edit Color Schemes. Remove all but the one the slide master is based on.

    Otherwise, you have to manually edit the XML in PPT 2007 to remove these. Here's how:

    Rename the .PPTX file with a .ZIP extension

    Double-click to open the zipped folder

    Double-click the PPT folder

    Double-click the Theme folder

    Copy theme1.xml

    Paste it someplace on your harddrive so you can open and work on it.

    Open theme1.xml in Notepad or an XML editor. (Opening it in IE makes it easy to read, but you can’t edit the code in IE.)

    You’re looking for the code that begins with this:

    <a:extraClrSchemeLst>

    Delete from there until this line of code:

    </a:extraClrSchemeLst>

    There’s a lot of code between those two lines; the only line of code after that will be this:

    </a:theme>

    Save the file, theme1.xml

    Copy it.

    Paste it back into the zipped\ppt\theme folder and replace the old theme1.xml file.

    Rename the file from .ZIP to .PPTX

    Open the file and test it. You should not see any color schemes listed in the “this presentation” section on the Design tab.

    -- Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-06-22T15:38:24+00:00

    Try going into View -Slide Master . Along the left side you will be able to see each of the three Master Slides with their accompanying layouts. If you delete the Master Slide (which deletes the subsequent layouts as well) that should delete them from your This Presentation section of yourDesign Tab .

    I know no way to lock a Theme so it cannot be edited, deleted or modified...but the end user would have to access the Slide Master to make these changes.  Echo may know more about this and can chime in.

    HTH

    Christine

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-06-17T20:38:39+00:00

    Hi Cathy, thanks for the suggestion but what I want to do is create a presentation with a locked color scheme of my own that travels with the template when I send it out and can't be edited or deleted. I.e. I like the fact that it can be done just don't know how. Any further suggestions welcomed.

    Many thanks,

    Jim

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-06-16T20:07:32+00:00

    No idea if this will work, but can you:

    • Copy the slides
    • Paste them into a new presentation using the "use Destination Theme" option from the paste tag

    This should put in just the content without the theme information....

    Kathy Jacobs Microsoft MVP OneNote and PowerPoint Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/callkathy Read my blog at http://www.VitaminCH.com/blogs I believe life is meant to be lived. But: if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

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