In previous versions of Microsoft Office PowerPoint, to add a background to your presentation, you added a design template from the Slide Design pane. In Microsoft Office PowerPoint, to add a background to your presentation, you add a background style.In this article

Overview of background styles

Background styles are background fill variations derived from combinations of the theme colors and background intensities in the current document theme . When you , the background styles are updated to reflect the new theme colors and backgrounds. If you want to change only the background of your presentation, you should choose a different background style. When you change document themes, you change much more than the background - you also change the set of colors, heading and body text fonts, line and fill styles, and theme effects .

Background styles are displayed in thumbnails in the Background Styles gallery. When you place your pointer over a background style thumbnail, you can preview how the background style will affect your presentation. If you like the background style, you can then click to apply it.

Add a background style to your presentation

  1. Click the slide or slides that you want to add a background style to.

    To select multiple slides, click the first slide, and then press and hold CTRL while you click the other slides.

  2. On the Design tab, in the Background group, click the arrow next to Background Styles.

    design tab image

  3. Right-click the background style that you want, and then do one of the following:
    • To apply the background style to the selected slides, click Apply to Selected Slides.
    • To apply the background style to all of the slides in your presentation, click Apply to All Slides.
    • To replace the background style for the selected slides and any other slides in the presentation that use the same slide master, click Apply to Matching Slides. This option is available only when your presentation contains multiple slide masters.

    Tip To add the background styles gallery to the , right-click a thumbnail, and then click Add Gallery to Quick Access Toolbar.

Customize a background style for your presentation

  1. Click the slide or slides that you want to add a background style to.

    To select multiple slides, click the first slide, and then press and hold CTRL while you click the other slides.

  2. On the Design tab, in the Background group, click the arrow next to Background Styles.

    design tab image

  3. Click Format Background, and then choose the options that you want.

Tip To make your presentation handouts easier to read, you can hide nonplaceholder objects (such as shapes, images, charts, or SmartArt graphics) that are on slide master layouts or custom layouts. To do so, click the slide or slides that you want to hide the background graphics for, and then on the Design tab, in the Background group, select the Hide Background Objects check box.

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