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How to combine multiple PowerPoints into one

You might need to put the same boilerplate disclaimer in all your presentations.
By
June 8, 2023

It could be for archiving purposes or to combine related training modules into one presentation. Or you might need to put the same boilerplate disclaimer in all your presentations. There are quite a few situations where combining multiple PowerPoints into one would serve the application or meeting better. It’s easily done. Even if you only want to copy a slide or two into another PowerPoint, the process is straightforward. This feature is available on all versions of PowerPoint: desktop, web-based, and mobile.

Combining multiple PowerPoints into one can help with storage, organization, and distribution. And remember, you can split them apart again whenever you want. We’ll walk you through it, so you can present your PowerPoint presentations in the way that works best for you and your organization.

QUICK ANSWER

To combine multiple PowerPoint presentations into one, resize the windows of the two presentations so they are side by side. In the donor file, select all the slides by clicking on the first one, then holding the Shift key while you click on the last one. Drag them into the destination file and drop them above the first slide or after the last slide.


JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS

How to combine PowerPoint presentations

There are a couple of ways to combine one entire PowerPoint presentation with another, as opposed to just copying a slide or two. We’ll go over each of them.

Using Insert Object

First, open PowerPoint and the presentation you want to paste another presentation into. In the slide gallery on the left, click between two slides where you would want the content to be inserted to go. Then click on New slide in the upper left.

Merge PowerPoints Insert New Slide
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The new slide may have some pre-populated empty text boxes. Delete them. Then, with the blank new slide selected, in the Insert menu, click on Object.

Merge PowerPoints Click on Insert Object
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In the dialogue box that comes up, select Create from file and then Browse to choose the presentation you want to insert. Then click on OK.

Merge PowerPoints Choose Object to Insert
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The slide you inserted will now be populated with the presentation you inserted. All animations and transitions in the inserted file will still be there. You can only see the first slide of the inserted file in the gallery. When you run the slide show, you will see that the whole presentation is there.

Merge PowerPoints Object Inserted
Kevin Convery / Android Authority

Using the Compare Feature

Open one of the PowerPoint presentations you want to combine. If you want one of the two presentations to play first in the slide show, make sure you open the other one. The merged file will come in at the beginning of the presentation, no matter where you click before merging. In the Review menu, click on Compare. The Compare function is not really intended to merge files together, but we can make it perform this function. Choose the file you want to merge with your current file and click on OK.

Merge PowerPoints Click on Compare
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There will now be two revision windows on the right of the screen. One is for changes to slides, and the other is for changes to the presentation.

Merge PowerPoints Revisions Windows
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As you click on each individual revision, there will be a checkmark in the slide gallery on the left for you to check (accept the revision) or leave it unchecked (reject the revision).

Merge PowerPoints Approve Revisions
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If you want the merged slides to take on the headers and footers of the original file, check the box that says Title slide headers and footers.

Click on Checkboxes
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Accept the revision that inserts the slides of the merged file. Leave unchecked the revisions that delete the slides of the original file. In this way, you will have both presentations in one file. Remember to save your work.

How to copy slides from one PowerPoint presentation to another

Reuse slides

The Reuse Slides command lets you reach into any PowerPoint presentation on your computer or network and copy any number of slides from it into your current presentation. To use it, click in the slide gallery on the left between two existing slides where you want to insert a reused slide.

Reuse Slides Click Between Existing Slides
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In the Insert menu, click on the lower half of the New Slide button to bring up your options. Select Reuse Slides.

Merge PowerPoints Reuse Slides New Slide Menu
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Use the dialogue box on the right to browse to the presentation where the slides you want to reuse are.

Merge PowerPoints Reuse Slides Click on Slide to Reuse
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Click on the slide you want to reuse. It will be inserted in your presentation at the place you indicated in the first step.

Merge PowerPoints Reuse Slides Click on Slide to Reuse 1
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Note that the reused slide has had its style changed to match the presentation into which it is being pasted.

Merge PowerPoints Reuse Slides Slide Inserted With New Style
Kevin Convery / Android Authority

Drag and drop

The old, tried-and-true method of dragging a file from one window and dropping it into another is an option when copying slides from one PowerPoint presentation to another. To do it, you start by opening both the donor file (that you want to borrow from) and the destination file. Resize them and position them side by side.

Merge Powerpoints Side by Side
Kevin Convery / Android Authority

Scroll through the donor file until you see the slide or slides you want to copy.

Select Slides to Drag
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Click on the slide (or any one of multiple slides) and drag it across to a space between two slides in the slide gallery of the destination file.

Drag Slides Over
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Where the copied slides will be placed is indicated by a red line between two slides wherever you place your mouse.

Select Place to Drop
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The donor file and the destination file are side by side. Notice how the table from the donor file has adopted the style of the destination file for a consistent look.

Slide Adopts Destination File Style
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FAQs

There is no upper limit as long as your computer can handle the file size, which of course, will grow larger with each added slide.

As long as you are using a version of PowerPoint from after 2007, the only limit is your computer’s capabilities.

Yes, they will. All media, transitions, and animations will transfer over to the destination file.