When you launch PowerPoint 2016, you are provided with an option to create a new blank
presentation. Further, if you are already working on an open presentation, and want to create a new presentation at that point, you can do so
using the New tab within the Backstage View.
Tip: You can also use the Ctrl+N keyboard shortcut to create a new presentation. However, this
keyboard shortcut won't get you to the options for New presentations in Backstage View.
Follow these steps to explore options with the New tab of Backstage View in PowerPoint 2016:
- Launch PowerPoint 2016. This opens a new presentation.
- Click the File menu, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 1.
Figure 1: File menu- This action opens Backstage View. Select the
New tab as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: New option selected within Backstage view
- Options to open a new presentations are explained below, as marked in Figure 2, above:
A. Search for online templates and themes
- Here just enter any keyword(s) as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3 and
click the Search button to search for online templates and Themes. You can see the results as shown in
Figure 3. Click on any of the thumbnails to open a new presentation based on the template. You can also pick
up any other category to search for the templates, from the Category Pane, shown highlighted in
blue within Figure 3.
Figure 3: Result of searched keyword
B. Suggested searches
- Here you'll find some suggested searches based on keywords and categories. These include: Presentations,
Business, Industry, Education, Labels,
Charts, and Personal. Just click on any of these keywords to get relevant results, and also
to access the Category Pane, as shown highlighted in blue in
Figure 3, above.
C. Personal
- Here you'll find templates and Themes created by the user, or placed by your system administrator in a
designated folder. If you haven’t created or placed any custom templates or
Themes, you will not see this Personal option, as well as the Featured option we discuss next.
D. Featured
- This section header is only visible if you have Personal content, as explained in the preceding section, thus necessitating the distinction between
Personal and Featured content. Either way, you will get access to locally available default templates. If you
click on any template other than Blank Presentation, you will bring up a window with the selected template, as shown in
Figure 4.
Figure 4: Selected template
- Within this window you will get to choose from variations of the selected Theme (highlighted in red within
Figure 4). The More Images arrows (highlighted in blue within
Figure 4) show some of the layouts available in the selected Theme. And the arrows highlighted in
green in Figure 4 browse previous and next Themes.
- When you have selected the required Theme and the layout, click the Create button (highlighted in
orange in Figure 4) to open a new presentation based on the selection.
Tip: Do you want to create a basic barebones slide without any content template? Choose the Blank Presentation
option, shown highlighted in red within Figure 2, shown earlier on this page.
