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Microsoft PowerPoint 2010™
Themes (Level 3)
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................1
Built-in Themes ..........................................................................................................2
Copying a Theme to Another Slide ...................................................3
Theme Settings ..........................................................................................................3
Theme Fonts...............................................................................................3
Theme Colours ..........................................................................................4
Theme Effects ............................................................................................5
PowerPoint Backgrounds ......................................................................5
Themes and the Slide Master ...............................................................................6
Fixing Colours on an Object ..................................................................................6
Introduction
A theme is a defined set of fonts, colours and effects. Office 2010 provides you with several builtin themes and you can download many more from the web. Themes operate across the whole
of Office but are particularly relevant to PowerPoint, where they have largely replaced design
templates. Whereas a template can contain text, a theme only holds fonts, colours and effects.
If you choose a different theme, or customise one of your own, all objects using that theme will
automatically reflect the new theme. A theme can be applied to all the slides in a show or just a
single slide.
The theme includes a palette of colours which are defined for the various parts of a slide (eg the
background and chart fills). By sticking to the palette for objects on your slide(s), you can
maintain a consistency and flexibility throughout your presentation. You can define your own
colour palette (or modify existing ones) to create your own customised theme..
It is important to note that the Master Slide is, by default, set up to use the theme colours. If you
fix an object (eg background or chart fill) colour on the Master Slide then selecting a different
colour theme will not affect that particular object (ie the background would not change).
However, all the other objects will reflect the new theme. You will try out an example of this
later in these notes.
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Built-in Themes
PowerPoint has several pre-defined themes, which are specifically designed with a palette of colours which
work together to give clear and interesting presentations. Different themes are provided for different
templates, as you will see later. Every presentation uses a theme, the default one (with which you should be
familiar) uses a theme with black text on a white background.
In this exercise it is assumed you don't have an existing presentation to work on, so create one from new:
1. Load up PowerPoint to start a new presentation (or press <Ctrl n> if PowerPoint is already running)
2. On the Home tab, click on the [Layout] button and choose Two Content
3. For a Title type Theme Elements – press <Ctrl Enter> to jump to the next placeholder
4. In the left placeholder type The University web address is: then press <Shift Enter> and
type www.reading.ac.uk – press the <spacebar> and the hyperlink is established
5. Click on the [Bullets] button to remove the bullet
6. Click on the [Insert Chart] icon in the right placeholder - press <Enter> for [OK], for a column chart
7. A sample chart appears – [Close] the right-hand Chart window (ie keeping the current data)
You should now have a slide containing a range of objects, including text, a hyperlink and a chart. These are
some of the objects for which the theme colours are defined - you will have noticed that the hyperlink is
coloured differently from the rest of the text. To apply a different theme:
1. Move to the Design tab on the Ribbon and note the buttons in the Themes group:
Currently you are using the Office Theme (first on the left). To change it:
2. Click on the Apex theme (fifth from the left, with the grey background)
It's obvious that the background colour has changed, but so have the colours used for the chart and text - the
hyperlink is now purple (it was blue) and the title is yellow with the ordinary text white (previously both were
black). The title also has a shadow effect. None of the chart colours are the same.
3. Using the mouse, move the cursor over some of the other themes to see how they appear
Some themes move the title placeholder to the foot of the slide; others have fancy borders. For any theme,
always be aware of its accessibility (ie how easy it would be for the audience to view the information).
To see yet more themes:
4. Click on the [More] down-arrow on the right of the displayed themes – more appear:
5. Move the cursor over some of these themes to see how they have been defined (but stick with Apex)
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Many schemes have different layouts for a Title Slide (usually the very first in a presentation):
6. Press <Ctrl m> for a new slide and type in a Title of PowerPoint Themes
7. Next, right click away from any placeholder and set Layout to Title Slide
8. Drag the slide miniature on the left above Slide 1 to make the new slide the first in your presentation
9. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to see the Title Slide layouts provided by some of the themes
Usually, a single theme is used for all the slides in a presentation, but it is possible to employ several themes:
10. Right click on any theme and choose Apply to Selected Slides to apply the theme just to the Title Slide
11. Next, press <Ctrl m> to create another new slide - the new theme is used (as it is the current theme)
but the layout will most likely be different as it isn’t a Title Slide
Note: To return to a single theme for all the slides you simply right click on a theme and Apply to All Slides.
Copying a Theme to Another Slide
If you have several slides in a presentation for which you would like to use a different theme, you can copy the
theme from one slide to the others using the Format Painter. If you have a lot of slides, it's easiest to do this in
Slide Sorter View, but here use Normal View:
1. You should still be using two different themes – if not, press <Ctrl z> for [Undo].
2. Click on the slide with the preferred theme (here, click on the third Apex themed slide miniature)
then move to the Home tab and click on [Format Painter] in the Clipboard group on the left
3. Now, click on the slide with the incorrect theme (here, the second slide) - the theme is copied across
Note: If you double click on the Format Painter you can paint the theme to more than one slide. When you
have finished, you have to click on the [Format Painter] button again, to turn it off.
Tip: You can paint a theme between presentations by having both open at the same time. To view both
presentations at the same time, use the [Arrange All] button on the View tab.
Theme Settings
As mentioned previously, a theme is a defined set of fonts, colours and effects. You can reset any of these
features if you don’t like what’s provided as default for that theme.
Theme Fonts
Every Office theme contains two font settings, one for headings and one for body text. The Quick Styles
galleries and WordArt also use these fonts. You may already have noticed in Word 2010 that the normal text is
in a font called Callibri, while headings use a font called Cambria. To see how they are defined for a theme:
1. Move to slide 3 then click on the Design tab and then on the [Fonts] button on the right of the Themes
group – the fonts that are defined for each theme are now listed
2. Click on Create New Theme Fonts… at the foot of the list to see the following dialog box:
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These are the two fonts currently defined for the Apex theme. You can easily change them to create your own
custom theme by clicking on the list arrows attached to the font boxes (note that you can’t redefine the Apex
theme fonts). The arrows attached to the Sample let you view the current font in other languages. Here:
3. Press <Esc> to [Cancel] any changes
Theme Colours
Each theme has a default palette of twelve colours. The standard Office theme uses black for text and white
for the background colour. To see the built-in palettes (and try them out on your current presentation):
1. Click on the [Colors] button on the right of the Themes group on the Design tab
2. Move the mouse cursor slowly over the palettes to see how they affect your presentation – further
named palettes can be accessed by using the scroll bar provided
3. End by choosing the Office theme at the top of the list
Note how only those slides based on the current slide’s theme change; any based on a different theme retain
their existing colours. By choosing Office at step 3 above, you may have expected black text on a white
background, but each theme has a second pair of colours for light text on a dark background (and Apex had a
grey background). Only eight of the twelve colours are shown in the palette – one pair of text/background
colours plus six accent colours. To see them all (and how to change them):
4. Click on the [Colors] button again and choose Create New Theme Colors… at the foot of the list – a
dialog box appears:
5. Try changing some of the Theme colors (click on [More Colours…] for a good selection) and note the
effect in the Sample on the right
Note that if you click on the [Reset] button, you will return the whole palette to its original setting
6. [Save] your new palette, giving it a Name: of Mytheme
Note that you can’t change the built-in palettes (or delete them) but you can edit your own:
7. Click on the [Colors] button then right click on mytheme and choose Edit…
8. Make any changes required then [Save] them
9. Finally, repeat step 7 but choose Delete… - press <Enter> for [Yes] to confirm this
10. End by clicking on [Colors] and choose Office to restore the original colours
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Theme Effects
Theme effects are less obvious to see. They deal with lines, fills and special effects such as shadow. Effects are
mainly applied to objects such as drawing shapes, pictures, charts, SmartArt, tables, text and WordArt. You
cannot create your own effects but you can pick from those supplied by existing themes.
To see the available effects:
1. Click on [Effects] on the right of the Themes group on the Design tab – a dialog box appears:
Note that you are still using the Apex theme – but with the Office colour palette.
2. Move the mouse over the Office effects button and watch very closely what happens to your slide
Some changes are very subtle (eg the axes etc on the chart thicken slightly). To see this in more detail:
3. Click on the [Zoom level] button on the right of the Status Bar and choose 400% - click [OK]
4. Scroll to a blank area of your slide then move to the Insert tab and click on the [Shapes] button
5. In the Basic Shapes, click on [Bevel] – shown as a rectangle in the third row on the left
6. Using the mouse, hold down the mouse button and drag out a rectangle to almost fill the screen
7. Release the mouse button then move to the Design tab and click on the [Effects] button
8. Move the mouse cursor slowly across the effects to see what happens (especially to the shape edges)
9. Finally, click on the shape and <Delete> it, then return [Zoom level] to Fit the window
These very subtle effects are mainly provided for professional designers and can largely be ignored. You can’t
customise them anyway.
PowerPoint Backgrounds
Only PowerPoint makes use of background styles. Each theme has three background-fill definitions: subtle,
moderate and intense. The combination of these with the four potential background colours gives you
twelve different background styles. To see these:
1. Click on the [Background Styles] button in the Background group on the right of the Design tab
2. Move the mouse cursor over the different styles to see their effect
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You should find that the text and background colours switch automatically while the other colours used in
the palette still look reasonable (accessible) whichever background is chosen.
Note: The Format Background… command lets you define your own backgrounds. The Reset Slide
Background then lets you cancel any changes you have made to the background style.
Themes and the Slide Master
The Slide Master is, by default, set up to use whichever theme is specified. Most users know a little about Slide
Masters but very little about themes, and set a background colour on the Master. This then overrides the
theme palette background colour. This may or may not be what's required. To see this:
1. Move to the View tab and click on [Slide Master] in the Master Views group towards the left
2. Click on the master at the top of the slide miniatures on the left – this controls all the layouts below
3. Right click either on the miniature or away from any placeholder on the main slide and choose Format
Background… (you can also get to this via the [Background Styles] button on the Ribbon)
4. Change Fill to Solid Fill then click on the [Color] button
Note how the colours offered are split into two – Theme colours and Standard colours. If you choose a colour
from the Theme colours, then it will change if a different theme is selected. If you choose one of the Standard
colours (or a colour from the extended range offered by the [More Colors… ] button) then it is fixed. The
same is true for any object, as you’ll see later.
5. Click on the [More Colors...] button and select a new background colour on the Standard tab - press
<Enter> for [OK] (but don’t close the Format Background dialog box)
6. Click on the list arrow attached to the current background Fill Color again and note how your chosen
colour has been added to a second (Recent Colors) palette
You can select up to ten colours in this palette for use anywhere in your presentation. If you try to add any
more, the colours drop off the right of the palette. Colours you add to this palette are not affected by any
theme you might choose.
7. Click on [Close] to set the background colour and close the dialog box
8. Now click on the [Close Master View] button to return to normal working
You will find that all your slides have the same background colour as the Master. Now choose a different
Theme and note the effect:
9. Move to the Design tab and click on [Colors]
10. Move the mouse cursor over the themes and note the effect
You should find that the background colour remains the same - that used by the theme is ignored. However,
if you look closely, you will find that the other theme colours have been used for eg text and colour fill. The
end result may not be accessible, so this was not a good idea. To restore the background to the theme colour:
11. Press <Ctrl z> for [Undo] until the background colour is restored
12. Click on [Close Master View] to get back to your presentation
Fixing Colours on an Object
Though themes are very useful, there are some instances when you might not want them to work. For
example, you might have devised a special colour theme for a chart in Excel which you want to preserve. If
you choose a non-theme colour for that object then that will be fixed (as you saw with the slide background
earlier):
1. Click on the chart element you want to make independent of the theme (eg one of the columns)
2. Move to the Chart Tools Format tab then click on the [Shape Fill] button in the centre of the ribbon
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3. Either choose one of the Standard Colors (or one of your own Recent Colors) or select a new colour
via the More Fill Colors… option
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for any other chart elements whose colour (or outline) you wish to fix
5. Click on the chart background (to select the Chart Area) and colour that too
6. Click away from the chart to close the Chart Tools tabs
7. Now move to the Design tab and click on the [Colors] button in the Themes group
8. Move the mouse over the various themes and note what happens
You should find that only those chart elements whose colours you have not fixed change colour.
Tip: To keep a copy of the fixed chart colour scheme, save it as a template (using the [Save As Template]
button on the Chart Tools Design tab). You can then apply this template to other charts in your presentation
(by using the [Change Chart Type] button and selecting it from Templates at the top).
9. End by closing the file - there's no need to save it
™ Trademark owned by Microsoft Corporation.
© Screen shot(s) reprinted by permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright © 2011: The University of Reading
Last Revised: December 2011
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