Copy & paste slides in PowerPoint and keep slide formatting

Copy & paste slides in PowerPoint and keep slide formatting

In this post I will show you how to copy & paste slides in PowerPoint and keep slide formatting. Some of you may know this already but if you are like me you may have never had the need for it and when you do, like me you may realise that the instructions on the PowerPoint help centre are less than straightforward so I intend to explain it in simple terms as it is actually a very straightforward and quick process.

You will notice that if you try to copy slides from one PowerPoint presentation and paste them into another just using the standard copy (command+C for mac) and paste (command+V for mac) buttons the format of the slides change. They try to pick up or merge with the format of the presentation you are copying the slides into. Well this does not need to be the case. You can easily copy and paste multiple slides from one PowerPoint presentation to another and maintain formatting really easily.

Below is a quick video and a written guide as ever I have tried to keep it to simple quick instructions so I hope you find it useful.

Copy & paste slides in PowerPoint and keep slide formatting – Video guide

Copy & paste slides in PowerPoint and keep slide formatting – Written guide

STEP 1
Select the slides from the presentation you wish to copy from by clicking on each slide you wish to copy whilst holding down the command (on mac) button. Then press command+C (on a mac) or right click to copy those slides.

STEP 2
Now open the presentation you wish to copy the slides into. Click on the slide in that presentation which you want the new slides to follow. Now in the top ribbon find the paste button and click the arrow to see the dropdown menu. Then select ‘Keep source formatting’.

This will paste the slides into your new presentation but keep the formatting of the presentation they came from.

Written by Donna Hocking, graphic designer and creative artworker. If you are a designer / agency in need of support or a business looking for someone to create your print & web materials get in touch I’d love to hear from you. You can also read more about what services I provide here.