Preview of Default Theme not showing in PowerPoint

Question

I updated the default theme for PowerPoint by saving a new Blank.potx file. The file works great, but the preview in PowerPoint > New menu looks like a document rather than what the slide deck actually looks like. How do I get this preview to look correct?

Answer 1

Instead of naming the file Blank.potx, call it Default Theme.potx and move it to the Document Themes subfolder of your Templates directory (C:\Users\YourActualUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Document Themes). Then you should get an icon that shows a preview.

If you're still having problems, open File>Info>Properties>Advanced Properties and make sure that on the Summary tab of the dialog, there is a check mark beside Save preview picture.

Answer 2

The advanced file properties was exactly what I was looking for. I had seen that suggestion elsewhere on the internet and incorrectly assumed it was a file property set from explorer and not something within the PowerPoint application. Thanks for the quick reply!