Applies ToPowerPoint for Microsoft 365 PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac PowerPoint for the web PowerPoint 2024 PowerPoint 2024 for Mac PowerPoint 2021 PowerPoint 2021 for Mac PowerPoint 2019 PowerPoint 2019 for Mac PowerPoint 2016

If you want your presentation to contain more than one theme (layouts that contain colors, fonts, and effects), add another slide master to it, and apply a theme to the new slide master.

Use multiple themes in a presentation

Your presentation currently has one slide master with a theme applied. To add a second theme, add another slide master with a different theme. Here's how:

  1. On the View tab, pick Slide Master.

    shows the slide master button on the ribbon in PowerPoint

  2. On the Slide Master tab, pick Insert Slide Master.

    A second slide master is inserted in the thumbnail pane on the left.

  3. With the new slide master selected in the thumbnail pane, on the Slide Master tab of the ribbon, select Themes, and choose a theme from the list.

    Shows Slide Master Themes options in PowerPoint

    The Slide Master you've added will now have a different theme from the other Slide Master in your presentation.

  4. When you've finished your selections, select Close Master View.

The new theme you just chose hasn't been applied to any slides yet, but now you now have two different themes that you can apply to slides. See the two procedures below to make use of the new theme and slide master you've just added.

To apply a theme to new slides

  1. On the Home tab of the ribbon, under Slides, click the down arrow next to New Slide to open a gallery of slide-layout thumbnails.

    New slide button
  2. Scroll the thumbnails and click the theme and layout you want to use.

    Click arrow next to New slide for selection of masters

For more info, see Edit and reapply a slide layout.

To apply a theme to existing slides

  1. Click the slide you want to change.

  2. Under Slides, click the down arrow next to Layout to drop down a selection of thumbnails.

    Layout button
  3. Scroll the thumbnails and click the theme and layout you want to use.

    Click the down arrow next to Layout for selection of masters

For more info, see Edit and reapply a slide layout.

Apply a different theme to a slide

  1. Select the slide that you want to apply a different theme to.

  2. Hold down CONTROL and then, on the Design tab, in Themes, click the slide that you want to apply the theme to and click Apply to Selected Slides.

    If your goal is to display very little or no color on the slide (a plain look), apply the White theme.

Return manually formatted elements to theme settings

A theme is a collection of specific fonts, colors, and slide layout. When any of these elements is formatted manually, that formatting overrides the theme. For example, if your presentation uses the Courier font and you manually format some of the text as Tahoma, reapplying or changing the theme will not affect the text that is formatted with the Tahoma font.

To return manually formatted elements to the theme settings, see the following sections:

Restore a font to the theme font

Each theme has two sets of fonts, one for headings and another for body text. If your text is a heading, use the Theme Headings font. Otherwise, use the Theme Body font.

  1. Select the text that you want to change to a theme font.

    You can hold down SHIFT to select more than one text box or object that contains text. If you can't select an object or text on a slide, modify the slide master.

  2. On the Home tab, in Font, click the arrow next to the font name box.

  3. To change text to a theme font, click the Theme Headings font or the Theme Body font.

    A check mark shows that the Theme Headings font or the Theme Body font is selected.

    Screenshot shows the Theme Fonts options for Headings and Body that are available via the Font drop-down control in the Font group on the Home tab.

Restore theme colors to objects

If you apply a theme and some objects do not change to theme colors, they probably have manual formats applied.

  1. Select the object for which you want to restore theme colors.

  2. On the Format tab, in Shape Styles, click the arrow next to Shape Fill, and then click the color that you want.

    Screenshot shows the options available from the Shape Fill menu, including No Fill, Theme Colors, Standard Colors, More Fill Colors, Picture, Gradient, and Texture.

Restore theme layouts

If you apply a theme and some slides don't change to theme layouts, the layouts were probably changed manually. For example, if you move a heading to a different place on the slide or change the position of a table, those items have manually formatted layouts that don't change when the theme changes.

  1. Click the item that you want to restore to the theme layout, such as a repositioned heading.

  2. On the Home tab, in Slides, click Reset.

    Screenshot shows the Slides group with the New Slide, Layout, Reset, and Section options.

See Also

Create your own theme in PowerPoint

PowerPoint for the web doesn't support using more than one theme in a presentation. You have to use a desktop version of PowerPoint for that.

Links to more information about themes

Need more help?

Want more options?

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.