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Step 1 - What is a Design Template ?

A Design Template is a type of template that contains pre-formatted master slides that correspond to a particular design.

The design of a presentation can be quickly changed by applying a different design template to a presentation.

When you apply a design template to a presentation the existing master slides are replaced with the new ones.

You can choose a design template when you create a new presentation or you can apply a design template to an existing presentation.

PowerPoint comes with 44 different design templates as standard and these can be found in the following locations:

Step 2 - Where are the Design Templates stored ?

PowerPoint 2003 - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Presentation Designs\

PowerPoint 2002 - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Presentation Designs\

PowerPoint 2000 - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Presentation Designs\

PowerPoint 97 - C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\Presentation Designs\

Step 3 - How to Create a Design Template ?

All you need to do is create a presentation with the Master and colour scheme set up just the way you want and save it as a template (.pot)

To create a new presentation template based on a template

Select (File > New) to display the task pane.

You can save your own Design templates - In the Save As box select "Design Template" ??

Click on Design Templates in the New section

The Slide Design pane appears

Select the template you want to use.

The most recently used templates are listed directly in the Recently Used Templates section of the New Presentation task pane

If the template you want is not listed you can select "On My Computer" near the bottom of the Other Templates section.

This displays the New Presentation dialog box.

Notice the tabs across the top.

The New Presentation also has links that let you look for templates on your website and on the Microsoft website.

When you create a presentation you have the option of using the Masters slides from an existing presentation.

When you apply a new template, PowerPoint copies the masters and the colour scheme to that presentation.

Step 4 - Saving your Design Template

The built-in design templates are stored in a different folder location.

If you want your design template to appear in the Slide Design task pane then it must be saved (or copied to) the built-in design templates folder.

Default file location for user-created templates:

PowerPoint 2003 - C:\Documents and Settings\"user name"\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\

PowerPoint 2002 - C:\Documents and Settings\"user name"\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\

PowerPoint 2000 -

PowerPoint 97 -

Step 5 - More Design Templates

You can also get additional design templates from the Microsoft website and from other websites.

Step 6 - Things to Remember

If you have purchase some design templates from a third party there will often be a Setup utility that will automatically install them in the built-in design templates folder.