PowerPoint is considered one of the easiest and most convenient programs for displaying information to a large audience. But here there are subtleties that often baffle inexperienced users. For example, how to delete a slide in PowerPoint? Given that it is rare for anyone to immediately create the perfect presentation without feeling the urge to erase one or two failed pages, the problem is quite acute.
What you need to know about working with PowerPoint
Beginners who are familiar with Microsoft Word, but never worked in PowerPoint, get an unpleasant “surprise”: when you try to delete a slide in the standard and usual way for Word (by selecting the entire page and pressing the Backspace button), only the written text is erased. The object tables and the slide itself remain in place.
This nuance is often confusing for those who are just starting to work with PowerPoint. It consists in the fact that the slide cannot be deleted while on the main field, where, in fact, the work with the text and images of the presentation takes place.
In order to remove an extra page, you need to go to the “Structure” block (in PowerPoint 2013 it is “Sketches”). It is located on the left side of the screen and looks like a column of images, each of which is a miniature copy of one of the slides.
As the name implies, this panel is designed for actions that change not one page, but the entire presentation, such as: “Delete slide” (in PowerPoint, there are 3 ways to do this), “Duplicate”, “Hide”, “Restore”, "Change location", etc.
The thumbnail block can be expanded half the screen (for example, if it is important to see what is shown on several adjacent slides) or make it narrower.
How to delete a slide in PowerPoint
PowerPoint versions of different years have significant differences. However, the main functions in them operate almost identically. Removing a page from a presentation from an earlier version is as easy as removing a slide from PowerPoint 2010 or 2016. There are several ways to do this:
- Select the desired page and press the Delete or Backspace key.
- Click on the slide with the right mouse button and select the “Delete” command from the drop-down menu.
- Go to the “Edit” tab on the control panel and click the “Delete” button.
Editing text and headings in PowerPoint
Almost all layouts contain a title block. But not every presentation needs them. Often they have to be removed or moved to another place. How to remove slide title in PowerPoint? There may be two options, depending on your goals:
- You want to erase the title, but leave the possibility of introducing a new name on this page. To do this, click on the word and delete it using the Backspace key.
- You need to completely remove the title from the page. In this case, left-click on the interfering word so that the frame appears. When you hover over it, the mouse cursor will take the form of crossed arrows: by clicking on the border of the frame, you can work with the entire heading, and not just change the entered text. Click Delete if you need to completely delete it, or select the “Cut” function from the context menu if you plan to move the title to another page.
You can do the same with any text fragment. PowerPoint provides all the features that are available in Microsoft Word: change the font, size and color of letters, highlight words in bold or italics. Any piece of text can be copied and transferred to another slide. In addition, you can open several files at once and copy text and graphic elements from one presentation to another.
Delete multiple slides at once
There are times when you need to remove not one extra slide, but several dozen at once. If you delete each of them individually, a lot of precious time is wasted. And the risk of accidentally erasing something you need will increase, which means that you have to spend time undoing the last action.
It is much easier to first select all the unnecessary pages, and then already perform the required action with them. Before deleting slides in PowerPoint, mark each of them while holding down the Ctrl key. Or (if you need to delete everything at once) click on the thumbnail panel and press Ctrl + A. Then just click Delete.
Slide Recovery
It happens that an already erased slide needs to be returned back. For example, you changed your mind and decided to simply edit the failed page. Or before removing a slide from a Powerpoint presentation, you typed a large amount of text in it and now you want to paste it in another place.
To restore the slide, press the Ctrl and Z keys together. Or click the left arrow on the top panel. This will undo the last action performed. This method also works in cases where you need to go back 2, 3, 10 steps.