Reuse Slides in PowerPoint 365 for Windows

Reusing existing slides can significantly enhance efficiency and productivity. It eliminates the need to recreate content and frees up valuable time that can be better invested in refining and rehearsing the presentation.

Until recently, Microsoft PowerPoint included a dedicated Reuse Slides feature that allowed users to locate and insert specific slides into the current presentation. While the underlying functionality remained consistent across versions, minor interface variations could be encountered.

This tutorial outlines the process for reusing slides in PowerPoint 365 for Windows:

1. First, open the presentation you’re working on, as shown in Figure 1, below. Now imagine you have a bunch of older presentations, filled with great slides. Instead of recreating those slides from scratch (who has time for that?), you can simply pick the best ones and get them into this open presentation.
2. 
   Figure 1: Presentation open within PowerPoint 365
3. Reusing slides is like recycling, but way cooler. Not only do you save time, but you also keep your designs consistent, which makes your presentation look polished and professional.

   Where are Slides Inserted?

   Copied slides will always be inserted after the selected slide in the active presentation.

2. Select the slide after which the new content will be inserted. Then, on the Home tab of the Ribbon, click the lower half of the New Slide button, highlighted in red within Figure 2, below, to open the drop-down menu. From this menu, choose the Reuse Slides option highlighted in green within Figure 2.
3. 
   Figure 2: Reuse Slides option
3. This action opens the Reuse Slides task pane, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below.
4. 
   Figure 3: Reuse Slides task pane
4. Within the Reuse Slides task pane, click the Browse button, highlighted in green within Figure 3, above. Doing so brings up the Browse dialog box, shown in Figure 4, below. Locate the presentation you want to use as a source to import slides, and click the Open button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 4.
5. 
   Figure 4: Browse dialog box
5. The selected file will be opened within the Reuse Slides task pane, displaying individual slide previews and their corresponding slide titles that can be seen in Figure 5, below.
6. 
   Figure 5: Slides in Reuse Slides task pane

   Keep Source Formatting

   To retain the slide formatting of the original slide, make sure to select the Keep source formatting check-box, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 5, above. If you do not select this check-box, the copied slide will take on the slide formatting using the design template of the new presentation.

6. To add a slide, click on it within the task pane. Alternatively, right-click on a slide and from the contextual menu that appears, as shown in Figure 6, below, choose an option. These options are explained below:
7. 
   Figure 6: Insert slide(s) options

   Insert Slide

   This option will insert the slide into the active presentation and the slide will use the Theme of the active presentation.

   Insert All Slides

   This option will insert all the slides into the active presentation and all the slides will use the Theme of the active presentation.

   Apply Theme to All Slides

   This option will apply the Theme of the selected slide to all the slides in the active presentation. No actual slides are inserted.

   Apply Theme to Selected Slides

   This option will apply the Theme of the selected slide to selected slides in the active presentation. No actual slides are inserted.

7. In Figure 7, below, you can see that the selected slide has been added to the new presentation below the first slide.
8. 
   Figure 7: Added slide
8. Save the presentation often.

Additionally, you can also reuse older slides using the drag and drop process, this is explained in our Reuse Slides through Drag and Drop in PowerPoint 2016 tutorial.