Slide numbers help people in your audience keep track of which slide you’re on in the PowerPoint presentation.
While you can manually add a number to each slide using text boxes, it’s much easier to display slide numbers using the header and footer dialog box. That way, if you add or remove slides, the slide numbers are automatically updated.
We cover all aspects of building a presentation – including how to add slide numbers in PowerPoint – in our Microsoft PowerPoint training.
Here are 3 tips to help you add and work with slide numbers like a pro!
1) Add a Slide Number, Date and Time, and Footer Text to Your Presentation
The easiest way to add slide numbers in PowerPoint is to enable them in the Header and Footer dialog box.
While in Normal view, click Header and Footer in the Insert > Text group to display the Header and Footer dialog box.
To add slide numbers to your presentation, verify that the Slide tab is active then click to select the Slide number checkbox.
If you want to include a date, click to select the Date and time checkbox and indicate whether the date in your presentation should Update automatically or be Fixed (static).
Selecting the Footer checkbox, lets you add standardized text at the bottom of each slide, in addition to any other options you have specified.
Click to select the Don’t show on title slide checkbox to suppress all of the above details on your first slide.
When you’re finished, click Apply to All to add the selected elements to the entire presentation or click Apply to update your current slide.
2) Change the Position of Slide Numbers in Slide Master View
To change the position of the slide numbers in your presentation, you’ll need to update the Slide Master for the presentation.
The Slide Master stores information about the theme applied to a presentation, including slide layouts, the background, color, fonts, effects, placeholder sizes, and positioning. When you update the Slide Master, you’re updating design elements for the entire presentation.
Click Slide Master in the View > Master Views group.
In Slide Master view, scroll to the top of hierarchy and select the Slide Master.
In the slide pane, select the slide number placeholder and drag it to a new location.
Click Close Master View in the Slide Master > Close group to return to your presentation.
3) Remove Slide Numbers in PowerPoint
To remove slide number in PowerPoint, disable them in the Header and Footer dialog box.
While in Normal view, click Header and Footer in the Insert > Text group to display the Header and Footer dialog box.
Click to clear Slide number checkbox then click Apply to All.
Final Thoughts on Slide Numbers in PowerPoint
Adding slide numbers to your PowerPoint presentation can make it easier for people in your audience to understand the structure of your talk.
I hope you found this article useful.
See you next time!
