Change Background Styles for Slide Layouts in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

We explored differences between the Slide Master and its Slide Layouts within the Slide Master view. Also, you learned how you can change Background Styles within the Slide Master. When you do so, you may end up changing the Background Style for all dependent Slide Layouts. However, it is not necessary for all your Slide Layouts to possess the same Background Style as the Slide Master—or even another Slide Layout. Each Layout can have its own independent Background Style, as you will learn in the rest of this tutorial. Follow these steps to learn more:

1. Launch PowerPoint. PowerPoint typically opens a blank presentation with the Office Theme applied. You can see the name of the active Theme within the Status Bar as highlighted in red within Figure 1, below. If you see another Theme name here, make sure you apply the Office Theme since this is a basic, clean Theme that lends itself best to changes and edits that we discuss later in this tutorial. If you do not know how you can apply a Theme, explore our Applying Themes in PowerPoint, Word, and Excel 2010 tutorial.
2. 
   Figure 1: Slide Master button within Master Views group of View tab of the Ribbon
2. Next, access the View tab of the Ribbon, and within the Master Views group, click the Slide Master button, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 1, above.
3. This opens the Slide Master view, as shown in Figure 2, below. In Slide Master view, you'll find that the left pane contains two distinctly different elements: a larger thumbnail representing the Slide Master, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2, below, and several smaller slide thumbnails below representing individual Slide Layouts, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 2).
4. 
   Figure 2: Slide Master view within PowerPoint
   Note:

   In hierarchy terms, Slide Layouts are dependent for their appearance on the Slide Master although you can individually override these dependencies.

4. Now, select any of the Slide Layouts. For this tutorial, we have selected the Title Slide Layout, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below. Next, click the Background Styles button, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 3.
5. 
   Figure 3: Background Styles button within Slide Master view
5. Doing so brings up the Background Styles drop-down gallery with 12 default slide background styles, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 4, below. One of these 12 styles may be highlighted, which indicates the current Background Style of the selected Slide Layout. Hover the mouse cursor on any other style to see its Live Preview. Thereafter click on the style of your choice to apply it to the selected Slide Layout.
6. 
   Figure 4: Background Styles drop-down gallery
   Note:

   These 12 default styles change when you apply a different Theme to your presentation. Also, do you see the Format Background, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 4, above, and Reset Slide Background options below the Background Style thumbnails? The former option is explained in our Custom Backgrounds for Slide Master and Layouts in PowerPoint 2010 tutorial.

6. This will apply the selected background style to the selected Slide Layout, as shown in Figure 5, below. Compare with Figure 3 earlier on this page). Note that any changes you made to the Slide Layout do not influence the Slide Master or even any other Slide Layout. However, if you change the Background Style of the Slide Master now, that will reset the Background Styles of all Slide Layouts irrespective of any changes you may have made to them individually.
7. 
   Figure 5: Background Style applied to the selected Slide Layout

   Tip:

   You can reset the Background Style of any Slide Layout to the inherited style from the Slide Master by clicking the Reset Slide Background option within the Background Styles gallery, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 6, below. Is the Reset Slide Background option grayed out when you select a particular Slide Layout. This indicates this particular Slide Layout already inherits the Background Style from the Slide Master.

   
   Figure 6: Reset Slide Background option within the Background Styles gallery

7. Click the Close Master View button on the Slide Master tab of the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 5, below. This will get you back to Normal View , where you can see the new Background Style applied to your slide. Note that for this tutorial we selected the Title Layout within the Slide Master view. Now, within the Normal view, you can see the changed background slide since the first slide of a presentation typically uses the Title Layout.
8. Save your presentation often.