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How to add or remove slide numbers in PowerPoint
A PowerPoint presentation can sometimes be very long, depending on the level of detail involved. It is sometimes helpful to be able to refer to each slide by something more precise than “the one with the sales projections.” This is especially true if you will be printing your presentation and handing it out to attendees. It’s quite simple to add slide numbers to your PowerPoint, but you have to know where to look. We’ll walk you through the sequence, so you can present your PowerPoint in the most effective way possible.
Read more: How to add, change and manage fonts in PowerPoint
QUICK ANSWER
To add slide numbers to PowerPoint, click on the first slide and then on the Insert menu. Click on Headers & Footers. Click on Slide numbers and then on Apply to All.
JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS
How to add slide numbers in PowerPoint
With your presentation open, click on the first slide in the slide gallery to the left. Then click on the Insert menu.
In the Insert menu, click on Header & Footer.
In the dialogue box that comes up, click on the checkbox next to Slide number. If you want to leave the slide numbering off the title page, click in the checkbox next to Don’t show on title slide. Click on the Apply to All button to complete the procedure. If you only want to number some of your slides, you must number each individually. In this case, you would click on Apply instead of Apply to All. Then repeat the procedure for each slide you want numbered.
How to remove slide numbers in PowerPoint
Open the presentation that has slide numbers. In the slide gallery on the left, click on the first slide that has numbering. Then click on the Insert menu.
Click on the Header & Footer button.
The Slide number checkbox will be checked. Click on it to uncheck it. Then click on Apply to All. The slide numbers have now been removed from your presentation.
Read more: How to loop a PowerPoint presentation
FAQs
No, PowerPoint will vary the position and sometimes the color of the slide number, depending on the contents of the slide. This is to make sure the slide numbers are clearly visible.
It’s just an aesthetic choice, in order not to distract from the title.
Some slides have so many numbers to keep track of, the slide number might confuse some viewers.