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Office Background in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows

Learn how to change the Office Background in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows.

Author: Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: PowerPoint 2016 for Windows

OS: Windows 7 and higher

Date Created: April 24, 2018
Last Updated: April 24, 2018

While working in PowerPoint and other Office applications, you will see the concept of “Office Background”, which essentially indicates the small image strip visible on the top right area of the program interface. In Figure 1 below, you can see the PowerPoint 2016 interface with Office Background applied. It does look like PowerPoint just got tattooed!

Figure 1: Office Background applied to PowerPoint 2016 interface

By default, these image strips are not turned on. We show you how you can enable and change the "Office Backgrounds" image strips in this tutorial. There are fourteen such strips that provide a touch of personalization to the software suite experience. Frankly, we are quite happy with the default no-image-strip option but we agree that they can be fun to explore! Follow these steps to learn more:

Open a presentation in PowerPoint 2016. Choose the File menu to bring up the Backstage view, as shown in Figure 1. Now, select Options (highlighted in blue within Figure 2).

Figure 2: PowerPoint Backstage view
This brings up the PowerPoint Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 3. Make sure that General option is selected within the sidebar (highlighted in red within Figure 3). On the right side of the dialog box locate the Office Background option (highlighted in blue within Figure 3) within the Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office section.

Figure 3: PowerPoint Options dialog box
Now, click the downward pointing arrow next to the Office Background selection box to bring up a drop-down list, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Office Background drop-down list

Note that No Background option is selected by default (refer to Figure 4). You can choose one of the fourteen available backgrounds, and click the OK button. We selected Calligraphy. The selected background graphic will appear as a tattoo-like pattern on the top right corner of PowerPoint application window, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 5.

Figure 5: Calligraphy background images added within PowerPoint Interface
Choose the Office Background you want for your PowerPoint interface. Be aware though that the same background will show up on all of your Office applications. Below are screenshots of all the fifteen background images (including the No Background option) giving you an idea of how your interface will look like:

No Background

Calligraphy

Circles and Stripes

Circuit

Clouds

Doodle Circles

Doodle Diamonds

Geometry

Lunchbox

School Supplies

Spring

Stars

Straws

Tree Rings

Underwater
To turn off a previously selected background, you can follow the same steps, and in Step 3, select the No Background option. To change the background, you can also choose another image strip.

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