Learn PowerPoint | Customize PowerPoint

Working with Slide Numbers

Works with PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

by Geetesh Bajaj, February 19th 2008

Most of the time, slide numbers are not visible on the slide although many users like to enable them. To do that, choose View | Header and Footer and make sure that the Slide Number option is checked (see Figure 1). Make sure to choose Apply to All if you want to show slide numbers in all slides of the presentation -- and only Apply if you want it to be visible on the current slide.

Figure 1: The Header and Footer dialog box

As you can see in Figure 1 above, you can opt to not show the slide numbers in the title slide, typically that's the first slide in a presentation.

You can also enable slide numbers to show in a presentation by choosing Insert | Slide Number -- this brings up the same dialog box that you saw in Figure 1.

Enable Slide Numbers in the Master

Other than enabling slide numbers in the Normal view, you can add them to slides based on a particular Slide Master so that you can control which slides show the slide number and which don't -- this works if you are using multiple masters.

Note: Multiple masters are only available in PowerPoint 2002 (XP) and 2003 -- and later versions.

The process is similar -- follow these steps:

1. Choose View | Slide Master to get into Slide Master view.
   
   
2. Select the Master on the left pane for which you want to enable slide numbers.
   
   
3. Choose View | Header and Footer to bring up the familar dialog box that can be seen in Figure 1 (refer earlier in this page).
   
   
4. Choose Apply to All if you want to show slide numbers in all masters of the presentation -- and only Apply if you want it to be visible on the current slide master.
   
   
5. Choose View | Normal to get back to the Normal view from Slide Master view.
   

Troubleshooting Slide Numbers

Did you try everything, and still cannot see slide numbers -- follow this troubleshooting sequence:

• Look for slide objects overlapping the slide numbers in both the Normal and Slide Master views.
  
  
• If that doesn't work, choose View | Slide Master, and then select the master you want to work with. Then choose Format | Master Layout to bring up a dialog box of the same name that you can see in Figure 2 (see below).
  
  
  Figure 2: Master Layout
  
  Make sure that the Slide number option is not unchecked -- if it is, then check it, and click OK. If you have multiple masters, you'll want to check the master layout for all the masters.
  
  Choose View | Normal to get back to Normal view.

If you find another problem or solution, do enter your comments at the bottom of this page!

Start Numbering from Zero

Do you want to start the numbering on your slides from zero rather than one? Or do you want to start it from 6 or 101? You can do it -- just follow these steps:

1. Choose File | Page Setup, to bring up the dialog box that you can see in Figure 3.
   
   
   Figure 3: Page Setup
   
   
2. Change the number in the Number slides from option at the bottom left as required.
   
   
3. Click OK to get back to your slides.

Related Links:

1. PowerPoint MVP John Wilson provides some VBA code on the PowerPoint FAQ site to number your slides consecutively, starting at any slide within the active presentation. It also provides you the option of skipping title slides within the numbering sequence. Learn how to use VBA code snippets here...