Template vs Slide Master

[Bill]

I tried to take the online course that teaches one
how to create templates....or is it Slide Master?

The online course keeps bombing out with some
sort of "Flashmedia" errors, so there's not much
help there.

Anyway, all I want to do is create a slide that is
the "default" every time I click on insert new
slide. I can easily create an empty slide and then
insert the picture I want as a constant background
that also has a single textbox. I tried to then save
it as a pot file, but that doesn't seem to be enough.
How does PowerPoint know where I keep my
templates? Does it assume there's a template file
in the same tree as the presentation directory?

Clearly, I don't have the conceptual difference
understood relating to a template vs a slide master,
OR how to make such a slide the default each time
I click on new slide.

Some guidance PLEASE!

Bill

 

[Chirag]

Hi Bill,

A template contains a set of slide masters. Each slide in a presentation is
based on a "master" that makes a slide follow a specific layout, have
specific shapes, etc. to be consistent with other slides based on the same
"master". This is called Slide Master. A Template (or more easily remembered
as Presentation Template) is a collection of slide masters and slides. A
presentation template suggests how the whole presentation should look like
through its collection of slide masters and slides. The slides in a template
form the beginning set of slides when a presentation is created out of a
presentation template.

PowerPoint, being flexible, does provide you with options to allow you to
delete the beginning set of slides from a template or make a slide not
"inherit" the shapes from the slide master among other things.

Presentation Templates are generally stored at the following location in
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your logon>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

- Chirag

PowerShow - View multiple PowerPoint slide shows simultaneously
http://officeone.mvps.org/powershow/powershow.html

 

[Bill]

OKAY! (great explanation)

So, what I want then is really simple. I want a presentation template that
is comprised of one Slide Master. The Slide Master is to have a background
picture and a single text box with a default font, color, weight and shadow.
Then, when I click to insert a slide I can quickly cut/paste text from a
text document open in another application.

So, I created a Slide Master (I assume "preserve master" means save it?)
with a picture background. Deleted all the other controls except the text
box. Set all of the attributes of the text and clicked on "preserve master".
However, if I open a new set, the Slide Master doesn't display when I
insert a new slide. How then, do I make the Slide Master available to
other sets (presentations)?

Also, it seems that my Slide Master is corrupted in the sense that I thought
I deleted all the controls except the one text box. What in fact happens is
that there's still a title box prompt (click to add title) when I insert a
new slide.
I then have to delete it each time I add a new slide.
Bill