Notes Master View in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

There are very few people who print Notes pages, and it might be among the least used PowerPoint options. And those who print Notes pages never realize that the look of the printed Notes pages can be modified within the Notes Master. Any changes you make within the Notes Master view affects how they appear in Notes Page view, and the layout of printed Notes pages. Do note though that these changes do not affect the Notes pane of your slides in Normal View.

To access the Notes Master, select the View tab of the Ribbon, locate the Master Views group, and click the Notes Master button (highlighted in red in Figure 1).

Figure 1: Notes Master button within Master Views group

This opens the Notes Master, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Notes Master view in PowerPoint 2010

You can do the following tasks within the Notes Master:

• Select any placeholder and delete it by pressing Delete key on your keyboard.
• Reposition placeholders by dragging them to a new position.
• Resize the placeholders.
• Format placeholder by using the tools on the Ribbon or menus.
• Add pictures, SmartArt, clip art, or any other kind of slide objects that you want to display in the Notes view, or when Notes are printed. Do note that these slide objects (anything you insert other than the placeholders that were already available in the Notes Master) will not be editable for individual slides. For example, if you add a picture of an apple in the Notes Master, all Notes pages will show that apple and you cannot change it to something else on any individual slide's Notes page.

Make the changes as required, and choose any of these options to get back to Normal view:

1. Access the Notes Master tab on the Ribbon (highlighted in blue in Figure 2 above). Within the Close group, click the Close Master View button (highlighted in red in Figure 2, above).
2. Access the View tab of the Ribbon, locate the Presentation Views group, and click the Normal button.
3. You can also click the Normal button located on the Status Bar (highlighted in green in Figure 2, above).