When launched, PowerPoint 2016 typically opens the Presentation
Gallery that you can see in Figure 1, below. This Presentation Gallery provides several ways to start your new
presentation using a template, a Theme, a recent presentation, a not-so-recent presentation, or even a blank presentation. These and other choices
are explained in this tutorial.
Figure 1: PowerPoint 2016 Presentation Gallery
Tip: Does the PowerPoint Presentation Gallery not show up when you launch PowerPoint 2016? No worries, you can also access this
gallery after launching PowerPoint 2016 by choosing the File | New menu option.
Each element of the PowerPoint Presentation Gallery is explained below, as marked in Figure 1 above:
- Recent: Here you will see the list of recent presentations. To open, click on the name of any recent presentation.
- Open Other Presentations: This option, when selected brings up the Open pane within the
Backstage view, as shown in Figure 2.
Here first you need to choose the Places from where you want to open the presentation(s) such as
Recent Presentations, OneDrive, or Computer. You can even Add a place where
your presentations are saved such as a cloud location. Then click to see an available list of presentations (appears on the right side as a new
pane).
Figure 2: Open Pane within Backstage view
Tip: Want to go back to the Presentation Gallery from the Open pane? Just click the
New option, highlighted in green within Figure 2.
- Search online templates and themes: Here just enter any keyword(s) as shown highlighted in red
within Figure 3, and click the Search button (the magnifying lens icon) to search for online templates and themes. You can see the
results in the New pane within Backstage view, as shown in Figure 3. Click on any of the thumbnails to open a
presentation based on the template.
Figure 3: Results for searched keyword
- Suggested searches: Here you'll find some suggested searches based on keywords and categories. These include: Business,
Calendars, Charts and Diagrams, Education, Medical, Nature, and Photo Album. Just click on any of these keywords to get relevant results.
- Themes and Templates: This section provides quick access to locally available Templates and Themes. Click on any Theme other
than Blank Presentation. This brings up a window with the selected Theme, as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Variants of the selected Theme
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 within Figure 4 let you browse Previous and Next Themes.
See Also:
Presentation Gallery in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
PowerPoint Presentation Gallery in PowerPoint 2011
for Mac
