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Placeholders are boxes with dotted borders that hold content in its place on a slide layout (layout: The arrangement of elements, such as title and subtitle text, lists, pictures, tables, charts, shapes, and movies, on a slide.). You can change a placeholder by resizing it, repositioning it, or changing the font, size, case, color, or spacing of text within it. You can also delete a placeholder.

 Important   If you apply a slide layout to one or more slides in your presentation, and then edit the layout by adding, changing, or deleting a placeholder, you must reapply the layout to the slides so that the slides adhere to the updated layout.

Change a placeholder

1. On the View tab, in the Presentation Views group, click Slide Master.
2. On the layout, click the placeholder that you want to change, and then do any of the following:
   • To resize it, point to one of its sizing handles (sizing handle: One of the small circles or squares that appears at the corners and sides of a selected object. You drag these handles to change the size of the object.), and when the pointer becomes a two-headed arrow, drag the handle.
   • To reposition it, point to one of its borders, and when the pointer becomes a four-headed arrow, drag the placeholder to a new position.
   • To change the font, size, case, color, or spacing for text within it, select the text, and then on the Home tab, in the Font group, click the options that you want.
   • To group objects such as pictures, shapes, clip art, and charts, select the first object that you want to place in a group, press CTRL, and then click on the other objects that you want to group together. Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the Arrange group, click Format, and then click Group twice.

       Notes  

     • You can group objects in object placeholders, but not text box placeholders. However, you can add a Text box shape and group that with other objects. To do this, on the Insert tab, in the Shapes group, under Basic Shapes, click Text Box.
     • To ungroup the objects, select the grouped objects, under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, click Group, and then click Ungroup.

3. On the Slide Master tab, in the Close group, click Close Master View.
4. For the placeholder changes to be final, you must reapply the slide layout to the slides that follow the changed slide layout. To reapply the slide layout, in the list of slide thumbnails, click the slide that adheres to the layout that you just changed.
5. On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click Layout, and then click the layout that contains the placeholders that you just changed.

Delete a placeholder

1. On the View tab, in the Presentation Views group, click Slide Master.
2. Click the border of the placeholder that you want to delete, and then press DELETE.
3. On the Slide Master tab, in the Close group, click Close Master View.

    Note   To remove the placeholder from the slide completely, you must reapply the slide layout to the slide.

4. For the placeholder changes to be final, you must reapply the slide layout to the slide. To reapply the slide layout, in the list of slide thumbnails, click the slide that adheres to the layout that no longer contains the deleted placeholder.
5. On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click Layout, and then click the layout that no longer contains the deleted placeholder.

Watch a demo  Time: 3:04 minutes

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