Easy Steps on How to Change Slide Size in PowerPoint?
(Note: This tutorial on how to change slides in PowerPoint is suitable for PowerPoint 2013 and later versions including Office 365)
PowerPoint presentations are a great way to engage the audience and deliver content very effectively. Generally, a PowerPoint presentation consists of slides, and contents in the form of images, text, charts, or graphs are added to them.
Microsoft PowerPoint offers a landscape-positioned slide as the default slide. However, this can be changed according to user preferences depending on your style, purpose and the type of presentation, and where you’ll be presenting.
In such a case, you can easily change the slide size in PowerPoint depending on your preference. Let us see how.
You’ll learn:
Related Reads:
How to Save PowerPoint as Video? A Step-by-Step Guide
How to Make a Flowchart in PowerPoint? 2 Easy Methods
How to Insert GIF into PowerPoint? 3 Easy Ways
Slide Sizes in PowerPoint
Slides are an integral part of any presentation. In PowerPoint, two types of slides are available: the default 4:3 standard slide and the 16:9 widescreen slide. These two resolutions are used for different purposes.
The 4:3 standard slide size is the preferred slide size when presenting over projectors, whereas the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio is preferred mostly when presenting over laptops, monitors, LED, and LCD screens.
Note: It is always better to set the slide size and then add your content. Once you add your content and change the slide size, there is a greater chance that the content might be disoriented.
How to Change Slide Size in PowerPoint?
Let us now see the steps to change the slide size in PowerPoint. One of the quick and easy ways to change the slide size in PowerPoint is from the Design tab.
- Open the PowerPoint application and navigate to any slide you want to change the size.
- Navigate to the Design tab in the main menu ribbon. In the Customize section, you can find the dropdown from Slide Size.
- From the dropdown, you can choose your desired slide size(either the standard 4:3 format or Widescreen 16:9 format).
Suggested Reads:
How to Insert PDF into PowerPoint? 3 Easy Ways
How to Link Excel to PowerPoint? 3 Easy Ways
How to Add Slide Numbers in PowerPoint the Easy Way?
Customize the Slide Dimensions
In addition to changing the slide sizes between the standard 4:3 and the widescreen 16:9 resolutions, you can also make additional customizations regarding the size of the PowerPoint slide. Powerpoint contains over 13 preset slide sizes in addition to the standard and widescreen sizes.
- Locate the Design tab on the main menu ribbon. You can find the Slide Size option on the right side of the pane and the Custom Slide Size option when you click on it.
- Click on the Slides sized for dropdown to choose the preset height and width for multiple purposes. The preset slide sizes include Widescreen, Letter Paper, Ledger Paper, A3, A4, B5, 35mm Slides, Banner, and so on. Clicking on each option will change the dimensions of the slide respectively as per the preset value.
- To change the slide dimensions as per your preference, click on the Custom option from the Slides sized for dropdown and enter the height and width of your choice. Even though the default metric is centimeters(cm), you can also change the height and width metrics to pixels(px).
- To change the orientation of the slides, choose between Portrait or Landscape. Additionally, choose to apply the current setting from the specified pages from the Number slide from text box.
- After making all the changes, click OK.
- Finally, click on Maximize or Ensure Fit to maximize or retain the size of the content in the slide
Also Read:
How to Create a Timeline in PowerPoint? 2 Proven Methods
How to Embed a Video in PowerPoint? 4 Easy Steps
How to Add Notes to PowerPoint? 6 Easy Steps
Frequently Asked Questions
How to change the slide size in PowerPoint easily?
Locate the Design tab in the main menu ribbon. In the Customize section, you can find the Slide Size dropdown, then choose your desired slide size(either the standard 4:3 format or Widescreen 16:9 format).
How to change the slide size of the PowerPoint presentation manually?
Locate the Design tab on the main menu ribbon, find the Slide Size option on the right side of the pane, and click on the Custom Slide Size option. To change the slide dimensions as per your preference, click on the Custom option from the Slides sized for dropdown and enter the height and width of your choice.
Final Thoughts
A standard size does not always work for all presentations and purposes. In such cases, you can easily change the slide sizes based on your preferences and customize them using the above methods.
If you need more high-quality PowerPoint guides, please check out our free resources center.
Ready to dive deep into Excel? Simon Sez IT has been teaching Excel for over ten years. For a low, monthly fee you can get access to 150+ IT training courses. Click here for advanced courses with in-depth training modules.
Simon Calder
Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!
