Use both bullets and numbering in the slide master - PPT 2019

If you want to use both bullets and numbering in the slide master, you can use one of three options.

Provide a slide layout for bullet points and a separate one for numbering.

This is the easiest option  You can do this by copying an existant slide layout or by creating a new one (button Insert layout and button Insert placeholder). The latter takes more effort.

Go to View Slide Master. If you want to copy the slide and content layout just right-click the layout and choose Duplicate Layout.

The layout will get the same name preceded by 1_Title and content.

You can change the name by right-clicking it and choosing the Rename layout option.

In the master select the duplicate layout and change to numbering.

Watch the video below:

Provide two slide masters, one for bullets and one for numbering

You can do this by duplicating the existant master or by creating a new one (in the Slide Master ribbon use Insert slide master) The latter method takes a lot more effort as it creates a blank master and requires applying all the formatting needed.

Go to View and click the Slide Master button.

Right-click the current master and choose Duplicate master.

It is better to give the slide master a distinctive name. Right-click the master and choose the option Rename master. Type the new name and click the Rename button.

This is how it looks when you add a new slide:

This second master will be preserved even when you do not use it in your presentation. You can see this with the little pushpin icon beneath the master number.

In het second master you can add the numbering. You can do that by clicking in every level and choosing the Numbering button in the Paragraph group of the Home ribbon.

Using a second master has its disadvantages. It can create confusion when choosing the correct slide layout as both masters have the same layout.

Define the first three levels of the default slide layout with bullet points and the next three with numbering.

Although it looks like you can only use 5 levels in PPT it is possible to go to 9 levels. See my article : Increase outline levels. In the slide master below I used 6 levels. The first three for bullets, the last three for numbering.

If you want to use the numbering part this will mean you will have to press the increase level button several times to do so.

The indents for the levels can be set in the ruler. See my article : Adjust indents bullet list

This video shows you how to proceed:

Remove unwanted slide masters from a presentation in PPT 2019

Ever had a presentation with multiple masters in it without you creating them. Excess slide masters often occur when users copy slides using the Keep source formatting option. This not only copies the slide but also the master and the entire layout set.

Go to View - Slide Master - you can see the masters in the slides pane on the left. If you hover your mouse over the excess slide master you will see a tooltip which will tell you what slides use that master. 

Delete the master by selecting it and pressing Delete. The copied slides get the layout of the remaining slide master.

You can also get rid of the master by applying a layout of the target presentation to the copied slides. The superfluous slide master (as its slide layouts) will also be deleted.

Below an example of two slides that have been copied both with the empty layout. In the target presentation (on the right) you will see that after removing the slide master the layout from the remaining master is applied. Which may or may not be beneficial.

Remove slide layout from master not possible in PPT 2019?

Ever wanted to delete a slide layout in the master and come to the conclusion that you can't?

The reason is simple the slide layout is in use in your presentation. You can check this by hovering the mouse pointer over a slide layout, a pop-up will show which slides use the layout. In a brand new presentation you can delete all the slide layouts except for the first one Title slide. That is normal as every new presentation has at least one slide, so the title slide is in use and cannot be deleted.

Below is an example of a custom slide layout displaying the pop-up.

So if you want to delete the slide layout the option is greyed out.

You can also check in the presentation. If you click the Layout button on the Home tab you will see which layout has been applied to the slide. In our example slides 7-10).

To remove the slide layout you will have to apply another layout to the four slides. This will have implications, for example the arrow on the slides will disappear. The centered text will be aligned to the left. So select the slides and apply the new layout, here I have applied the Empty layout.

Now you can delete the slide layout in the master.

Another way to quickly access the master in PPT 2019

There are different ways to access the master of a presentation.

See my previous articles

for PPT 2007 and PPT 2010:
Show master slide quickly in PPT 2007-2010

for PPT 2013
Show master slide quickly in PPT 2013


The content of these articles is still valid in PPT 2019.

There is still one more possibility to explore, adding a button to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Under File - click Options - select Quick Access toolbar - in the Popular commands click Slide master view button, click on Add button and hit OK.

One click on the button will bring you to the master slide. Please note, you will be taken to the active slide layout from which you departed. If, for example, you start with the title and object slide layout, then you will land there in the master.

In summary it comes down to this:

Reset slide background picture on a slide layout

When you decide to keep the master background picture after all, and restore it on an individual slide layout follow this procedure.

Click the Background Styles button in the Background group on the Slide master ribbon and choose Reset slide background.