Changing Location of Slide Numbers in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

When you insert Slide Numbers on your slides, you may discover that the location of the Slide Number changes depending upon the active Theme of your presentation. Some Themes (or templates) may display the Slide Number at the bottom right. With other Themes, it may be located at the top right (highlighted in red within the slide on left in Figure 1, below), or even the bottom center (highlighted in red within the slide on right in Figure 1, below). As you can observe, the location of the Slide Number may seem to be influenced by the Theme or template -- and that's almost true. However it's only the Slide Master within your Theme or template that's influences the position of your Slide Numbers.

Figure 1: Applying a different Theme may change the position of Slide Numbers

Follow these steps to learn more:

1. Launch PowerPoint for Mac. You'll find that PowerPoint typically opens a blank presentation with the Office Theme applied. You can see the active Theme of the presentation highlighted within the Theme tab of the Ribbon, as shown in Figure 2, below. If you see another Theme selected 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 2011 tutorial.
2. 
   Figure 2: Presentation applied with Office Theme
2. Next make sure that you insert the Slide Number on your slide -- this is an easy process already explained in our Working with Slide Number tutorial. You'll end up with the slide number visible on your slide, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below.
3. 
   Figure 3: Slide Number on the slide
3. Now, Select the View | Master | Slide Master menu option, as shown in Figure 4, below.
4. 
   Figure 4: Slide Master option within the View menu
4. This opens the Slide Master view, as shown in Figure 5, 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 5, and several smaller slide thumbnails below representing individual Slide Layouts, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 5.
5. 
   Figure 5: 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.

5. Now make sure you select the Slide Master, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 5, above. And notice the location of the Slide Number placeholder, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 6, below.
6. 
   Figure 6: Slide Number placeholder's default position
   Tip:

   Cannot see any Slide Number placeholder? Within the Slide Master tab of the Ribbon, go to the Edit Master group and click the Master Elements button. In the resultant drop-down gallery, you will find the Slide Number option deselected as shown in Figure 7, below. Just click to activate the Slide Number placeholder.

   
   Figure 7: Slide Number option

6. Now, you can reposition and resize the Slide Number placeholder as required. In Figure 8, below, you can see that the Slide Number placeholder is moved to the top of the Slide Master, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 8.
7. 
   Figure 8: Slide Number placeholder repositioned
   Tip:

   Want to know more about how you can reposition and resize the Slide Number placeholder? Explore our Reposition and Resize tutorials. The linked tutorials pertain to text boxes, but the concepts are identical.

7. If you want to have a different location for the Slide Number in any particular Slide Layout, you can optionally make those changes now -- remember that any changes you make in individual Slide Layouts will override the Slide Master. Typically, you will find a Slide Number placeholder located in the same position in all layouts -- edit as required. If you want the layouts to behave just like the Slide Master though, don't edit the Slide Number placeholder within your Slide Layouts.
8. When done, access the Slide Master tab of the Ribbon, and click the Close button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 9, below. This will get you back to Normal view.
9. 
   Figure 9: Close button
9. You'll now see the Slide Number in a different location on your slide, as shown in Figure 10, below, -- compare the slides shown in Figures 3 and 10.
10. 
    Figure 10: Slide Number repositioned
    Tip:

    Still cannot see Slide Numbers? Make sure you insert them -- the Slide Master only influences the location of the Slide Numbers -- it does not insert them. Learn how to enable the Slide Numbers in our Working with Slide Number tutorial.

10. Save your presentation.