Restoring the formatting of a slide - 30 Oct 2007

If you apply direct formatting to a slide, or to objects on a slide, you override the formatting determined by the slide's master. Formatting applied to the master will not update the slide if the corresponding formatting on the slide has been applied directly.

If you want to return the slide to the formatting of the master, and restore the 'links' between the slide and its master, several steps are required depending on what changes have been made.

1. Reapply the design template. Click the Design button to open the Slide Design task pane, then click Design Templates. Click the drop-down arrow of the appropriate design template and choose Apply to Selected Slides.
2. Reapply the layout from the master. Right-click the slide and choose Slide Layout. In the task pane, click the drop-down arrow for the layout and choose Reapply Layout.
3. Restore the background to that of the master. Right-click the slide and choose Background. Click the drop-down arrow underneath the Background Fill preview and choose Automatic. Make sure that the Omit background graphics from the master option is cleared.

These three steps will restore most slides entirely to the formatting of their master. In some cases, you may have to reformat individual objects that have direct formatting applied to them.

To restore formatting on all slides in a presentation quickly, perform the following steps:

1. Switch to the slide master view.
2. Reapply the design template to the master. Click the Design button to open the Slide Design task pane, then click Design Templates. Click the drop-down arrow of the appropriate design template and choose Replace All Designs.
3. Restore the backgrounds of the slides. Right-click the master and choose Background. Click the drop-down arrow underneath the Background Fill preview and choose Automatic. Make sure that the Omit background graphics from the master option is cleared. Click Apply to All.
4. If slides' layouts are not corrected, you will need to reapply layouts. In the Normal view's slide pane, or in the Slide Sorter view, select slides that share a common layout (e.g. Title and Text). Choose Format → Slide Layout. In the Slide Layout task pane, click the drop-down arrow next to the correct layout and choose Reapply Layout.