Content best practices for PowerPoint

This article explains best practices when using Templafy Library for PowerPoint. 

Presentations library

The Presentations Library is used to generate templates or presentations in PowerPoint. 

• Templates/Blank presentations: allow users to start a presentation from scratch.
• Corporate presentations: a set of presentations that are often used in your company.
  For example: company presentation, product introduction and onboarding/training presentations.

Slides library

The Slides Library is used to insert slides in the current presentation. Examples are:

• General/Additional layouts: text columns, tables, placeholders.
• Corporate: 'about us', values/missions, company facts.
• Sales: product features, subscription terms.
• HR: training and onboarding presentations.
• Marketing & Communications: posters, social media plans, market plans.
• Legal: NDA components.
• Finance: quarterly results reporting, budget.

Slide elements library

A slide element is a shape, or a group of shapes, on a slide, that is inserted from the Slide elements Library onto a slide in the active presentation. Examples are:

• General: corporate icons.
• Specific: graphs, tables, comments boxes, maps, shapes. 

Best practices

Slide master and slide layouts

The Slide Master will give formatting and branding guidelines to users. The Slide Master should contain a limited number of slide layouts. Slides should use the same Slide Master and slide layouts as the templates.

Use (limited) standard formats

Ensure to collect and verify all required company templates.
Different formats (16:9 Widescreen, 4:3 Standard, etc.), different theme colors, layouts, etc. We recommend using standard formats (avoid custom formats).

Limit the number of formats (e.g. 16:9 Widescreen, 4:3 Standard).
Templafy Slide Library will only display the slides that are relevant for the active presentation format. If a user works in a 16:9 format, Templafy will only display 16:9 slides in the Slide Library to ensure correct insertion in the active presentation. If you use multiple presentation formats in the Presentations Library, you will need to support the same number of formats for the Slides Library.

Presentation based on presentation template

Base all corporate/pre-made presentations on the company presentation template.

Slides based on presentation template

Always use one of the finalized templates that are uploaded to the Presentation Library.
Templafy Library uses the 'Use Destination Theme' default setting from PowerPoint upon insertion, which could result in slides being reformatted or new layouts being created if the slide is based on a different template than the active presentation. The Slide Masters of the presentation and slide need to match.

Slides formats

Upload the slides in all formats that are in use in your Presentation Library (4:3, 16:9, etc.).
Templafy Slide Library will only display the slides that are relevant for the active presentation format.  If a user works in a 16:9 format, Templafy will only display 16:9 slides in the Slide Library to ensure correct insertion in the active presentation. 

Slide elements splitting up and resizing

Split your slide elements into individual slides.
Slide Elements are uploaded as .pptx format on individual slides to allow users to choose which slide elements they want to insert.

Resize the slide size of your slide elements presentation to ensure that previews are larger.
This can be done in PowerPoint > Design tab > Slide Size > Custom Slide Size > Select 'Maximize'. Be careful, logos, layouts, and other PowerPoint elements might be distorted during the conversion.

Slide elements insertion using the Web Add-in

Slide elements are inserted as separate slides when using the Web Add-in. This might cause the image to be stretched when you insert a slide element that is sized 1:1 in a presentation that is widescreen (16:9):

To prevent the stretching of the image, make sure that the size of the slide elements template is the same size as the presentation (widescreen). Follow the steps below to change an 1:1 slide elements template into a 16:9 slide elements template:

1. Open the slide elements template and open the Slide Master view.
2. Change the Slide Size to Widescreen 16:9):
   
3. Select the slide layout and re-size the picture placeholder to be a square by setting the same Width as Height in Format Shape:
   
4. Make sure that the picture placeholder is centered in the slide:
   
5. Close the Slide Master view, save the slide element template and upload it to the Slide Elements library.

The slide is keeping its format when it is inserted into the presentation:

Name and description

When uploading to Templafy, it is recommended to give a friendly name to the presentations so it is easy to understand by the end-user. You can add more details about the presentation in the Description field (like 'Internal presentation' etc..).

It is also recommended to tag the deck and slides accordingly, to enhance results for the end-user when using the search.