Change Background Styles for Slide Layouts in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac

When you change the Background Style of the Slide Master, the Background Style for all dependent Slide Layouts will also change. However, it is not necessary for all your Slide Layouts to possess the same Background Style as the Slide Master. Each Slide Layout can overrule the Slide Master and have its own independent Background Style, as you will learn in the rest of this tutorial. Follow these steps to learn more:

1. Open a presentation in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac. Access the View tab of the Ribbon and click the Slide Master button, shown highlighted in blue within Figure 1, below.
2. 
   Figure 1: Slide Master button within the View tab
2. Doing so opens the Slide Master view, as shown in Figure 2, below. In Slide Master view, you'll see 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.
3. 
   Figure 2: Slide Master and Slide Layouts within PowerPoint
   Note:

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

3. Now, select any of the Slide Layout(s) for which you want to change the Background Style. For this tutorial, we have selected the Title and Content Slide Layout, as shown in Figure 3, below. The orange highlight around the layout thumbnail indicates that it has been selected, as shown in Figure 3. Next, click the Background Styles button, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 3.
4. 
   Figure 3: Background Styles button within Slide Master view
4. 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. Click on the style of your choice to apply it to the selected Slide Layout. In Figure 4, you can see Style 8 being selected.
5. 
   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 and Reset Slide Background options, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 4, above, below the Background Style thumbnails? These options are explained in our Custom Backgrounds in the Slide Master in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac tutorial. In the same tutorial, we also explain the Reset Slide Background option, which is used to reset the slide background to its original status, on a particular slide layout.

5. This will apply the selected background style to the selected Slide Layout, as shown in Figure 5, below. Compare Figures 3 and 5. 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.
6. 
   Figure 5: Background Style applied to the Title and Content Slide Layout
6. Click the Close Master View button, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 5, above. This will get you back to Normal view, where you can see the new Background Style applied to your slide, as shown in Figure 6, below. Note that for this tutorial we selected the Title and Content 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 and Content Layout, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 6.
7. 
   Figure 6: Slides in Normal View reflecting the changes made in Master View
7. Save your presentation often.