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Why are there new Text Placeholders ?

The Template Wizard uses new text placeholders. These can be placed anywhere on a slide and are not dictated by the slide master.

They look exactly the same and behave in exactly the same way as the standard placeholders although there are a few important differences:

The new placeholders can be quickly added to existing slides without using the Task Pane.

The new placeholders can be easily converted.

The new placeholders have a predefined size and position and are repositioned automatically.

The new placeholders have a predefined style and are reformatted automatically.

If you delete a textbox from a slide an empty placeholder will not be displayed.

The new text placeholders can be in any format and can also be in any position on the slide.

It is also possible to have any number of placeholders on a slide. You are not limited to two.

How to insert the new Text Placeholders ?

This template wizard removes the need to use the task pane for inserting new slides and placeholders.

It is now possible to insert new placeholders directly using the additional toolbar.

The drop-down box on the left of the toolbar displays the text placeholders that are available.

Lets imagine that we have a slide that only contains a title and has no textbox placeholder on it (see screen shot below).

Just select the placeholder you want to insert in the left drop-down box, in this case "Slide - Text".

Press the button immediately to the right of the drop-down box.

 Insert Placeholder - Inserts a placeholder onto the current slide of the type selected in the drop-down box.

The new placeholder will be added to the existing slide.

Automatic Formatting

Although the placeholders always default to the correct format it is possible that users may try and change the formatting of the text.

Once you have finished adding or changing the text in a text box the text will be automatically reformatted when you deselect the textbox.

The formatting of your text is restricted to try and ensure that all presentations look consistent.

Any changes to the formatting that are not recognised as company style will be removed automatically. This includes changing the font size and the line spacing.

Lets imagine that a slide title has been manually formatted and the following adjustments have been made.

The font size has been increased to 54, the colour has been changed to RGB(20,200,20) and the line spacing has been changed.

This can be temporarily switched off from the (Options > Settings)(General tab, "Automatic Text Formatting").

Automatic Repositioning

Although the placeholders always default to the correct position on the slide it is possible that they may get repositioned or even resized.

The position of a textbox can be easily changed accidentally by dragging the edge of the textbox.

The size of the textbox can be easily changed by dragging one of the resize handles.

The size and position of the textboxes is restricted to try and prevent users from squeezing too much text on one line or increasing the height in order to fit more text on.

Once you have finished making the changes to your text the text box will be automatically repositioned and resized when you deselect the textbox.

This can be temporarily switched off from the (Options > Settings)(General tab, "Automatic Repositioning and Resizing").

Things to Remember

The "Automatic Formatting" of the text means that text can be easily copied and pasted into PowerPoint from other applications.

The new placeholders will be printed and will not be automatically excluded when a presentation is printed.

The new placeholders can be added to existing slides.

The Outline pane will no longer display the text in your presentation.

Be aware that the "Click to add text" text will appear in print preview and will be printed.