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Dynamics and Smart Templates Best Practices for PowerPoint

In order to enable Templafy Admins and Owners on the extensive capabilities of the Dynamics module, we have accumulated a list of methods and techniques for building and maintaining data sources, Forms, bindings and configurations for efficient and scalable smart templates!

  Prerequisites

  • Library and at least one Dynamics modules enabled.
  • Templafy Desktop and Office VSTO add-in installed on the PC.
  • Space owner access to the Templafy tenant.

  Important

Please keep in mind that this article is by no means a complete overview of all the best practices for the Dynamics module. This article is a collection of best practices to keep in mind when building smart templates and will be updated as more and more best practices are established.

Slide Master and Slide Layouts

When you make a change to the Slide Master, this affects all slide layouts. Always first edit the Slide Master, then a slide layout. If you first edit a placeholder on a slide layout, then that placeholder becomes disconnected from the Slide Master. Now, if you make changes to the Slide Master, then you manually have to make the same changes to (the placeholder of) the slide layout.

Using Slide insertion

Each presentation contains a Slide Master and slide layouts. When you insert slide(s) in your presentation, you must be aware that the selected slide(s) also have a Slide Master and slide layout.  During document creation it is not possible to adjust the layout of the slide to fit in the Slide Master of the presentation when the slide is inserted.

  Important

It is recommended that the presentation and the inserted slide(s) share the same Slide Master name and layout.

The following paragraphs show how slides are inserted in the presentation by:

  • Slide insertion (static/dynamic) - the slide is inserted by linking to the asset ID.
  • Library - Inserting the slide manually from the Library after the presentation has been created.

Slide insertion - same Slide Master, same layout (recommended)

When the slide has the same Slide Master and slide layout as the presentation, then the layout of the presentation Slide Master is used. In this example both presentation and slide have the Slide Master 'Templafy 16:9' and layout 'Title and Content A'.

SideMasterNameLayoutName-BothSlidePresentation.png

Slide insertion - different Slide Master, same layout

When the slide has a different Slide Master than the presentation, but the same layout (name), then the layout of the slide is added to the presentation. In this example the Slide Master of the slide is named 'Test 16:9' and the Slide Master of the presentation is called 'Templafy 16:9'. Both have a layout named 'Title and Content A'.

SideMasterNameLayoutName-SameLayout-DifferentMaster.png

Slide insertion - same Slide Master, different layout

When the slide has the same Slide Master but a different layout than the presentation, then the first available layout of the presentation Slide Master is used. In this example the layout of the slide is named 'Title example A'. Because this layout is not part of the Slide Master, layout 'Cover B', which is the first available slide, is used.

SideMasterNameLayoutName-DifferentLayout-SameMaster.png

Slide insertion - different Slide Master, different layout

When the slide has a different Slide Master and a different layout than the presentation, the layout and Slide Master of the slide are added to the presentation. In this example the Slide Master of the slide is named 'Test 16:9' and the layout is named 'Title example A'.

SideMasterNameLayoutName-DifferentSlidePresentation.png

Library - Insert slide from Library (same layout)

When you have created the presentation, you can insert a slide from the Library. The layout of the presentation is used when the layout of the slide exists in the Slide Master of the presentation - even when the slide and presentation have different Slide Masters. In this example the layout 'Title and Content A' exists in the Slide Master of the presentation.

InsertManally-sameLayout.png

Library - Insert slide from Library (different layout)

It is also possible that you insert a slide from the Library, that has a layout that does not exist in the Slide Master of the presentation. The layout of the slide is added to the Slide Master of the presentation when the slide does not exist in the Slide Master of the presentation. The slide layout inherits the color scheme of the presentation. In this example the layout 'Title example A' is added to the Slide Master and uses its color scheme.

InsertManually-differentLayout.png

Using grouped shapes

You can use grouped shapes to make it easier to move, align or resize the shapes together. However, if you use a grouped shape, smart fields will not be shown on the Template tab in Template Designer. So, when designing a template, consider if you want to use grouped shapes.

For example, the template contains a 'Title', 'Subtitle' and 'UserProfile.Name' shape, but in the task pane only the field 'UserProfile.Name' is shown:

PowerPointGroupedShapes.png

When you ungroup the shapes (in this example the 'Title' and 'Subtitle' field) all fields are shown in the task pane:

PowerPointNoGroupedShapes.png

  Note

  • The task pane only shows the fields on the current layout. If some fields are part of another layout or the Slide Master, they will only be shown when that layout or the Slide Master is selected.
slide insertion slide layout slide master tech_role
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