PowerPoint 2016: Apply Themes in PowerPoint

This updated overview organizes the essential information about PowerPoint 2016, including practical uses, key features, setup considerations, and common questions.

A theme is a predefined combination of colors, fonts, and effects. Different themes also use different slide layouts. Surely, you already use a theme, even if you don't know it: the default Office Theme.

What are themes?

In PowerPoint, themes provide users with a quick, and easy, way to change the design of a presentation. The theme controls the main color palette, basic fonts, slide layout, and other important elements. All elements of a theme should fit together. That means you won't have to spend a lot of time formatting your presentation.

Each theme uses its own set of slide layouts. These layouts control how your content is arranged, so the effect can be dramatic. In the examples below, you can see that the placeholders, fonts, and colors of the themes will be different.

If you use a unique slide layout, such as Quote with Caption or NameCard and then switch to a theme that doesn't include that layout, it may give unexpected results.

Each PowerPoint theme, including the default Office theme, has distinct theme elements. These factors are:

• Theme Colors: There are 10 main theme colors, along with darker and lighter variations, available from the Color menu.

• Theme Fonts: There are two fonts available at the top of the Font menu in Theme Fonts.

• Theme Effects: These effects affect the preset Shape Styles . You can find these Shape Styles on the Format tab whenever you select a shape or SmartArt graphic.

When you switch to another theme, all of these elements will update according to the new theme. You can dramatically change the look of your presentation with just a few clicks.

If you apply a font or color that is not part of the theme, it will not change when you choose a different theme. This includes colors selected from the Standard Colors or More Colors options and fonts selected from All Fonts. Using non-theme elements can be useful when you want certain text to have a specific color or font, like a logo, for example.

You can also customize the theme and define elements for it yourself.

Apply theme

All themes included in PowerPoint are in the Themes group on the Design tab. Themes can be applied or changed at any time.

How to apply a theme

1. Select the Design tab on the Ribbon, then find the Themes group. Each image represents a theme.

2. Click the More dropdown arrow to see all available themes.

3. Select the desired theme.

4. The theme will be applied to the entire presentation. To apply a different theme, simply select it from the Design tab.

Once you've applied a theme, you can also choose a variation for that theme from the Variants group. Variations use different theme colors while still maintaining the overall look of a theme.

Practice!

1. Open the sample presentation.

2. Apply the Gallery theme, which has a light background with a wood grain pattern at the bottom.

Note : Theme names will appear when you hover over them.

3. Choose a theme variation.

4. Here's an example of what your presentation will look like: