Short answer: A useful company template is built in PowerPoint's Slide Master, not by decorating a normal slide. Set your theme colours and theme fonts first, design a small number of clearly named layouts (around six to eight is a sensible starting point), then save the file as a PowerPoint Template (.potx). Your team then starts new decks from File → New → Personal or Custom, so new slides start with the layouts and theme settings you prepared. (Microsoft: Create and save a PowerPoint template; Microsoft: Use a personal template)

These steps use the desktop version of PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 on Windows. Mac commands differ; see Microsoft's Mac template instructions. PowerPoint for the web can't create a .potx template or edit the Slide Master.

Why most "templates" don't work

Many businesses start from an old deck whose formatting was applied by hand: a title slide with a logo, and a few slides where colours and fonts were set individually. When a colleague adds a new slide or pastes text, those manual choices may not carry over, and the deck drifts.

A proper template stores your decisions in three places PowerPoint actually uses:

  1. Theme colours, so the colour picker shows your brand colours first.
  2. Theme fonts, which define the heading and body typefaces for text that uses the theme.
  3. Slide layouts, so new slides arrive with placeholders in the right place.

Step 1: Set the slide size before anything else

On the Design tab, open Slide Size and choose the size you need (16:9 widescreen suits most screens). Changing the size later can stretch or move content, so decide first. (Microsoft)

Step 2: Set your theme colours

  1. On the Design tab, in the Variants group, open the drop-down.
  2. Select Colors → Customize Colors.
  3. Set Text/Background colours, then Accent 1 to Accent 6, plus Hyperlink colours.
  4. Name the colour set and select Save.

(Microsoft: Create your own theme)

Practical tips:

  • A useful starting point is to put your main brand colour in Accent 1. Chart and SmartArt styles draw from your theme palette, but the colours used depend on the style you choose. Test a sample chart, SmartArt graphic and shape before sharing the template. (Microsoft: SmartArt graphics; Microsoft: Chart colours and styles)
  • If you only have two brand colours, fill the remaining accents with tints, greys or a neutral supporting colour rather than inventing new brand colours.
  • Check text and background pairs for contrast. Our accessible PowerPoint checklist explains how.

Step 3: Set your theme fonts

  1. Go to View → Slide Master.
  2. On the Slide Master tab, select Fonts → Customize Fonts.
  3. Choose a Heading font and a Body font, name the set and select Save.

(Microsoft)

A font warning: if your brand font isn't installed on a colleague's or client's computer, PowerPoint may substitute another font, and your layouts can shift. Either choose fonts that are widely available, make sure everyone who edits decks has the font installed, or send finished decks as PDF. Our guide PowerPoint or PDF? How to send a presentation that opens properly covers font embedding in more detail.

Step 4: Design the slide master and a few layouts

Still in Slide Master view, you'll see one large slide at the top (the slide master) and smaller layouts beneath it (Microsoft).

  • On the slide master, place things that should appear on almost every slide: a small logo, a footer, slide numbers. Set the default title and text styles here.
  • On each layout, arrange placeholders for a specific kind of slide. Use Insert Placeholder to add text, picture, chart or table placeholders.

A starting set of layouts for most small businesses:

  1. Title slide
  2. Section divider
  3. Title and content (text or bullet points)
  4. Two columns (comparison, before and after)
  5. Picture with caption
  6. Chart or key number
  7. Closing / contact slide

Delete the layouts you won't use. A short list of clearly named layouts is easier to choose from than twenty near-identical ones. Right-click a layout and select Rename Layout to give it a plain name such as "Two columns – comparison" (Microsoft: Edit and re-apply a slide layout).

Use placeholders for recurring content. They carry the layout's position, size and formatting. A hand-drawn text box can still use theme fonts and colours, but it isn't linked to a layout placeholder. Manual formatting can also override theme settings. (Microsoft: Placeholders; Microsoft: Restore theme settings)

Select Close Master View when you're done.

To display footer text and automatic slide numbers, return to Normal view, open Insert → Header & Footer, tick the options you need, enter the footer text and select Apply to All. Use Don't show on title slide if appropriate. (Microsoft: Slide numbers and footers)

Step 5: Save it as a template

  1. Select File → Save As (or Save a Copy).
  2. In the file type list, choose PowerPoint Template (*.potx).
  3. PowerPoint usually switches to your Custom Office Templates folder. Give the file a clear name, such as "[Business name] presentation template 2026".
  4. Select Save.

To use it, select File → New → Personal or Custom, then double-click your template. If it doesn't appear, copy the .potx file into your personal templates folder. You can check that folder under File → Options → Save → Default personal templates location. (Microsoft: Use a personal template; Microsoft: Template locations)

Keep the approved .potx file in a shared drive your team uses. Ask colleagues to copy it into their personal templates folder and create new presentations from it. Save each working deck as a separate .pptx file.

Keeping decks consistent after launch

A template only helps if people use it correctly. Three habits make the biggest difference:

Paste slides with the destination theme

When copying slides from an old deck, use the Paste Options button and choose Use Destination Theme. That adapts the slide to your template. Keep Source Formatting keeps the old look and brings the inconsistency with it. (Microsoft: Copy and paste your slides) Check the result afterwards: manually formatted text and objects may still need tidying. (Microsoft: Manual formatting and themes)

Re-apply layouts after you change the master

If you edit a layout in Slide Master view, existing slides don't always update. Select the slides, then go to Home → Layout and choose the updated layout again. (Microsoft) The Reset button in the same group returns a slide's placeholders to the layout's default position and formatting. (Microsoft: Restore a slide design)

Include a one-slide "how to use this template" guide

Add a slide at the start of the template that says which layout to use for what, and to delete that slide before presenting. It's the cheapest form of training you'll ever write.

A quick check before you share the template

  • ☐ New slides use your fonts without anyone changing them manually.
  • ☐ The colour picker shows your brand colours under Theme Colors.
  • ☐ Every layout has a plain, descriptive name.
  • ☐ Logo and footer sit in the master, not pasted onto individual slides.
  • ☐ A test chart picks up your accent colours.
  • ☐ The file is saved as .potx, and a colleague can create a new presentation from it.

Related guides