Tips and Tricks #46: Customize themes and templates using Show's Master View

Hi All!

Let's say you want to revamp your presentation and make changes to its visual design. You can do this easily using the Master Slide and its associated layouts.

The Master Slide stores information about all the layouts used in the presentation. Any changes you make here will reflect instantly throughout the slide deck, ensuring consistency across your slides.

You can also make edits to the individual layouts in the Master slide. These updates will automatically apply to any slides built using these layouts.

Accessing the Master View in Show

In the main interface of Show, you can choose the Master View option in the bottom bar or click the Edit Master Slide button in the right pane to access the Master slide.

In the Master View, you can find thumbnails of all the layouts in your presentation on the left, the slide area with a comprehensive toolbar at the center, and a contextual toolbar on the right.

Working on the layouts to retain formatting in the presentation

You can click +LAYOUT in the top-right corner of the screen to add Custom Layout in the Master View. The layout follows the styles applied in the Master slide. In the Custom Layout text field in the right pane, you can enter a name for the layout.

Note: All the layouts in the Master View mirror the styles and properties of the Master slide.

In the new layout, you can find the title, subtitle, date, footer, and slide number placeholders. You can add new placeholders and apply a background image or color here if you need.

You can click the Add Placeholder icon in the top-right corner of the right pane to add a Title, Content, Text, or an Image placeholder on the layout. The Show Slide Number option lets you insert the slide number in the bottom-right corner of the slide. You can enable the Footer Message option to enter text in the text area provided and display it in the bottom-center. Using the Date option, you can either display the current or a specific date on the slides.

Note: The Apply To All option lets you display all the footer placeholders throughout the presentation.

In addition, the Fill drop-down lets you apply a background on the layout. You can choose the Follow Master to apply the same fill used in the Master slide, Solid Color to apply a single shade, Gradient Colors to apply gradient shades of one color, Image to use a relevant picture as the fill, or Pattern to add a design in the background.

Sometimes, you may not want to show the background fill applied in your slide. In such cases, you can tap the Hide Background Graphics toggle button on the right pane.

Note: You can tap the Show Background Graphics toggle button again to uncover the fill in the slide.

You can further edit a placeholder in the layout, if required. For this, you can select the placeholder to view formatting options specific to it on the right pane. For example, when you click the Title placeholder, options like Bold, Italic, and Underline will appear in the contextual toolbar.

Additionally, you can include objects like Text Box, Symbol, Image, Shape, Smart Elements, Silhouettes, Table, and Chart in the Master View. You can embed audio or video files from external sites in the Master slide or specific layouts. You can enable the Shape Recognition checkbox and draw design elements in your layouts using the Draw with pen tools. You can further enable the Continuous Draw Mode switch to create a workflow in your layout.

In the Master View, you can remove any layouts you will not use in your presentation so that the More Layouts option in the editing mode (Normal View) will list only the layouts you need to create the presentation. To do this, you can right-click the layout and select the Delete Layout option.

When creating your own template, you may want to customize the color and font properties as well. Show lets you pick a color from Theme colors and Advanced Color Palette apart from the Standard Colors. You can also provide RGB or HSV values in the Advanced Color Palette window to apply precisely the shades you want.

Apart from setting the usual text properties like font type, color, and size in the Master View, you can choose a preset style, fill, or an effect for your key points in the presentation using the Text Effects button in the right pane.

Additionally, you can also align all the placeholders in the layouts using the Arrange pane on the right or Guides, Grids, and Objects option in the bottom bar.

Once you make all the edits in the Master View, you can click Close Master to return to the normal editing mode in Show. All the changes you made in the Master View will be automatically saved to our local server and can be retrieved anytime from the My Presentations section in the listing page.

We hope you found this post useful! We'll be back with more interesting tips for Show.

You can connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to learn more about how Show can help improve your business communications. You may also write to us at support@zohoshow.com or comment below.

Happy presenting!

—the Show team

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