If you created a PowerPoint presentation using a complex, custom background, you can save time by copying the background to your next presentation. Doing so also allows you to reuse backgrounds based on image files you no longer have. PowerPoint includes a Reuse Slides feature that imports all or selected themes from another presentation into the current presentation. This allows you to apply the other presentation's background to any slide in the new presentation. (Note that the instructions below are for PowerPoint 2010.)
Instructions
1. Open your new presentation in PowerPoint.
2. Click "New Slide" from the Home tab's Slides group and select "Reuse Slides."
3. Click "Browse" in the Reuse Slides panel and select "Browse Files." Double-click the PowerPoint presentation that contains the background you wish to copy.
4. Check "Keep Source Formatting" and click the slide that contains the background you want.
5. Click the left-hand slide preview to which you wish to apply the background. To apply the background to multiple slides, hold the "Ctrl" key and click each slide, or click one file and press "Ctrl-A" to select them all.
6. Right-click any selected slide, point to "Layout," and click the slide preview containing the background. Doing so applies the background to each selected slide.
7. Click the last slide in the presentation, which should be the one copied from the original presentation, and press "Delete" to remove it. This removes the copied slide but retains the theme on the other slides.
Tags: Reuse Slides, apply background, click slide, contains background, PowerPoint presentation