Change a placeholder into a text box in PPT 2019-2024

Is it possible to change a placeholder into an ordinary text box in PPT?

Not really.

You could be tempted to just go to the Home tab and in the slides group click on the Layout button and choose the Blank layout. Or if you wanted to maintain only the title placeholder, change the slide layout to Title only.

Here's an example of a slide with placeholders (left) and one with the blank layout (right).

You will see that the placeholders changed position. So how can you actually tell that they are still placeholders?

Just remove the text of the title and you will see there is a prompt left. Click to add title and Click to add text are still displayed. If you reinstate the original layout the placeholders will go to there original position again.

The only way to change the placeholder to a text box is to copy paste the placeholder. I do this using CTRL+drag. If you then remove the text there will no longer be a prompt appearing in the box. Then remove the original placeholder.

If you do not delete the original placeholder and go to the selection pane (Alt+F10) you will see that both objects have the same name/number which could lead to some confusion.

In the example below you can see the copied placeholder with the text removed. To show there is a second text box I applied an outline otherwise you would not see the box.

To delete the original placeholder, click on the its edge and press delete, the text will disappear leaving the prompt allowing you to add new text. Then click the edge again and press delete.

Placeholder with a multi-line prompt - PPT 2019-2021

In a previous article (see: Centered picture prompt) I explained how to position the prompt close to the picture icon.

But what if you want to use a prompt that has more than one line?

There is no problem as long as you  use continuously typed text. The moment you press enter the text will no longer appear in the prompt. Here is an example:

Prompt using enter

Resulting slide

To get around that problem you need to type the text using a new line by pressing shift+enter.

Resulting slide

Picture placeholder with rounded corner bottom left/right in PPT 2019

Go to View - Slide master and click on Insert layout. Now click Insert Placeholder and choose Picture.

Drag the + until you obtain the perfect dimensions and release the mouse button.

This is the result:

Select the placeholder and click the Shapes format tab, in the Insert shapes group choose Edit shape and then Change shape, select the rectangle shape. Nothing will change at first sight but this step is necessary to be able to change the shape of the placeholder. If you do not take this step you will see that the options will stay greyed.

Right-click the border of the placeholder and choose Edit points.

Right-click the border of the placeholder where you want the curve to start. Then choose Add point.

Now click on the point in the bottom left corner of the shape and drag to your right.

Use the handles to get a perfect rounded corner.