Video: Change list formatting on the slide master

You want to change the bullets formatting everywhere, not just on one or two slides. So make all changes on the slide master. Click VIEW > Slide Master.

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In this presentation, we want to change the list formatting everywhere, not just on one or two slides.

So, we’ll make all our changes on the slide master. To open the slide master, click VIEW, Slide Master.

To change all the bulleted lists, we’ll select the slide master thumbnail — the one at the top — and change the formatting for the list placeholder and text here.

That will affect the bulleted list formatting in each of the master layouts.

We’ll make changes similar to those we made in Movie 2: Change font size, line spacing, and indentation.

And we’ll also change the type of bullet we are using.

Let’s start with the font size.

Because this is the slide master, we see the font size, spacing, and bullet for each level of text.

To change the font size for the top level, I’ll select that line, click HOME, and look in the Font Size box, which shows a font size of 18.

I’ll open the list and change it to 24.

Notice that the bullet size increases in proportion to the font size.

I also want to increase the font size for the second-level text, so I’ll select it and choose 20.

I won’t worry about the next three levels of text because I don’t use those.

Let’s see how the larger font sizes look on the slides. I’ll click Normal to switch to the normal view.

The Agenda slide shows just the top level text with the larger font, and the next slide, Our values, shows the second-level text, as well.

Let’s look at the other lists.

I like the larger font sizes, but I think we should increase the line spacing as well. Let’s go back to the slide master.

I’ll click VIEW, Slide Master, and select the slide master thumbnail.

Selecting the text placeholder, I’ll click HOME, Line Spacing. The list is currently set at 1.0, or single spacing.

To increase the line spacing for just the top-level text, I’ll click in that line, and click Line Spacing, Line Spacing Options.

Under Spacing, in the Before box, I’ll increase the spacing, from 10 points to 20, and click OK.

So, with this increase, a list of top-level text, like the Agenda list, will change from single spacing to slightly more than single spacing.

Note that I haven’t changed the line spacing for the other text levels.

So, in a list like this, the second-level text keeps its original spacing, but there is a bit more space above the top-level text.

I like that.

Now, on the slide master, lets add more space on the left margin of the list by right-clicking the placeholder and clicking Format Shape.

Then, we click Size & Properties, TEXT BOX, and in the Left margin box, increase the number, from .1” to .5”.

As I increase the number, the list moves to the right. So, all lists in the presentation will now have more space on the left.

Let’s close the Format Shape pane.

Now, let’s have fun with the type of bullet we are using for the list. I’ll Zoom In for a closer look.

The theme has a green arrow for a bullet. I like it, but I could choose something else, if I wanted.

To see other options, I’ll select the placeholder, and click the arrow next to Bullets, on the HOME tab.

As we point to these alternative bullet styles, we see how they would look.

For more choices, click Bullets and Numbering. I’d like something different, so I’ll click Picture.

This gives me the option to browse for a picture file of my own, or search for one on the web.

I’ll click Office.com and type "web bullets". Then I’ll click Search.

Here is a lime-green sphere, perfect for the theme I am using. I’ll select it and click Insert.

The new picture bullet is inserted on the slide master, in various sizes to match each text level.

I’ll zoom back out.

We are finished with our changes to the slide master. So, let’s click Normal and look at the various bulleted lists with the new formatting.

Look for these changes: increased line spacing between top-level items; a bigger left margin; and the new picture bullet.

As I look through all the slides, I see the changes reflected in every type of list. I like the improvements.

Now it is clear how much the slide master helps when I want to change the bulleted list formatting for all my lists.

For more information, see the course summary, and experiment on your own.