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Delete Unused Master Slides in PowerPoint! [An EASY Guide!]

Delete Unused Master Slides in PowerPoint! [An EASY Guide!]

Having too many unnecessary slides in your PowerPoint can just as easily make your presentation quite heavy! It also makes for a poor user experience especially when you are short on time and you keep getting confused between slides.

One of the best things to do in such a scenario is to delete unused master slides!

To delete unused slide layouts in the slide master, first, click on the “View” menu and open the “Slide Master View”. Then, hover over the slide layout to confirm if it is not currently in use. If not, simply select the slide layout (or the master slide), right-click on it, and click on “Delete”.

In this article, I’ll walk you through how to identify the unused slides in the slide master, and how to delete them from your presentation. Plus, I’ll also share with you a neat trick that will help you delete all the unused master slides in one go!

So, let’s get started!

1. How to Identify Unused Master Slides in PowerPoint? 

It can be really difficult to know which slide layouts you are using throughout your presentation if you don’t know where to look. And, you don’t want to inadvertently delete an incorrect slide layout as this will mess with your presentation design!

So, let’s first start with the basics. How do you identify the unused master slides in PowerPoint?

To see which slide layout is in use, you will need to open the slide master view first.

In Microsoft PowerPoint, a master slide usually has multiple slides under it. To identify an unused slide layout, follow the 2 easy steps below.

Step-1: Click on “Slide Master”

The first step is to click on the “View” tab in the menu ribbon located at the top of the screen. In the “View” menu, click on the “Slide Master” option to access the master slide.

Step-2: Hover the pointer over the master slide

In the “Slide Master” view, hover the pointer over the master slide from the slide layout navigation pane on the left side of the screen. Wait for 2 to 3 seconds.

If the master slide is in use, it will say “used by slide(s)” when you hover the pointer over it. If it shows “used by no slides”, the slide layout is unused.

One thing to note is that the “used by slides(s)” number mentioned is the slide number and not the number of slides using the specific slide layout. So, in the case of the image above, the specific layout is being used by slide number 20.

2. How to Delete Unused Master Slides in PowerPoint? 

Once you have identified the unused slides in slides master in PowerPoint, you can easily delete them. You can either use the “delete” key on your keyboard or click on the “Delete Master” options

Remember – before you start deleting any slides in PowerPoint, create a copy of your PowerPoint presentation as a backup!

2.1 Method 1 – Using the Delete Key 

To delete an unused master slide in Microsoft PowerPoint using the “delete” key, follow the 2 simple steps.

Step-1: Click on the “View” menu

In the menu bar at the top of the screen, click on the “View” tab to open the “View” menu. Then click on the “Slide Master” option. 

Step-2: Identify the slide and press the “delete” key

In the “Slide Master” view, hover over the slide layout that to identify whether it is used or not.

Then, click on the unused master slide from the slide layout navigation pane on the left side of the screen.

Now all you have to do is press the “delete” button on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can click on the “Delete” button in the “Edit Master” section of the “Slide Master” menu.

2.2 Method 2 – Using the Right-Click Option 

You can also delete an unused master slide using the “Right-Click” option.

The first step is to open the “Slide Master” view. In the slide layout panel on the left side of the screen, “Right Click” on the unused master slide. Now all you have to do is click on the “Delete Master” option.

3. How to Delete Multiple Unused Master Slides in PowerPoint? 

If there are multiple unused master slides in a PowerPoint presentation, you can delete them all at once. There are various ways to delete multiple master slides at once including manual and automated methods.

Let’s take a look at them one by one.

3.1 Method 1 – Delete Multiple Unused Master Slides Manually 

In Microsoft PowerPoint, you can manually delete multiple unused master slides very easily.

Once you open the “Slide Master” view from the “View” menu, press and hold on the “shift” key on your keyboard and click on all the unused master slides from the slide navigation pane.

Now you can follow the steps mentioned in Section 2 to delete all the master slides. You can either press the “delete” key on your keyboard, click on the “Delete” button, or use the “Right Click” option.

3.2 Method 2 – Using a Macro  

You can also delete all the unused master slides by using a macro. It is the quickest way to delete master slides since you only need to create the macro once and run it in any Microsoft PowerPoint presentation at any time.

All you have to do is follow the 3 easy steps mentioned below –

Step-1: Click on “Macros”

In the opened presentation, click on the “View” tab in the menu button. Then click on the “Macros” option.

You can alternatively press the “Alt+F8” keys on your keyboard. This will open a “Macro” dialog box.

Step-2: Create a new Macro

In the “Macro” dialog box, type in a title inside the “Macro name” box.

Then click on the “Create” button to create a new macro. This will open a “Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications” window.

Step-3: Paste the Macro code

In the next step, select the existing code (if any) and delete it using the “backspace” key or the “delete” key on your keyboard to clear the code.

Now all you have to do is copy the macro code mentioned below and paste it into the description box.

Then click on the “Run sub” icon which looks like the play button in the toolbar above the description box. Alternatively, you can press the “F5” key on your keyboard.

This will delete all the unused master slides.

The macro code is as follows:

Sub SlideMasterCleanup()
Dim i As Integer
Dim j As Integer
Dim oPres As Presentation
Set oPres = ActivePresentation
On Error Resume Next
With oPres
    For i = 1 To .Designs.Count
        For j = .Designs(i).SlideMaster.CustomLayouts.Count To 1 Step -1
            .Designs(i).SlideMaster.CustomLayouts(j).Delete
        Next
    Next i
End With
End Sub

3.3 Method 3 – Using PowerPoint Downsizer Add-in 

The easiest way to delete multiple unused slides in Microsoft PowerPoint is to use the PowerPoint Downsizer add-in.

PowerPoint Downsizer is a third-party add-in specifically designed to delete unused master slides in PowerPoint. It helps to reduce the size of your PowerPoint presentation this way.

The steps to download and install this add-in are mentioned below. However, in case you need further assistance, check out my other article on add-ins in PowerPoint that shares further details!

Step-1: Download the PowerPoint Downsizer

The PowerPoint Downsizer is not available in the Office Add-ins store. You can click here to download the add-in. Once it is installed, click on the “Run” button in the dialog box.

Step-2: Click on the “Slide Master” option

The next step is to open the PowerPoint presentation. In the menu bar located at the top of the screen, click on the “View” tab. Then click on the “Slide Master” option in the “View” menu.

Step-3: Click on “Downsize”

In the “Slide Master” menu, you will see a new “Downsizer” section added after the “Edit Master” section.

Click on the “Downsize” button in the “Downsizer” section and select the “Downsize” option from the dropdown menu.

Step-4: Click on the “Yes” button

Now all you have to do is click on the “Yes” button in the “PowerPoint Downsizer Add-in” dialog box. It will prompt another dialog box showing how many unused master slides along with slide layouts have been deleted.

Click on “OK” to finish deleting all the unused master slides.

4. Can You Delete a Slide Master in PowerPoint? 

In Microsoft PowerPoint, you can delete a master slide if it is not preserved and not being used in the presentation.

To delete the master slide, first, select the master slide that is currently not in use from the slide layout pane on the left side of the screen in the “Slide Master” view. Then, right-click on it and choose the “Delete” option.

However, remember that once you delete the master slide, you will also end up deleting all the layouts under the master slide! So, be sure which slide master you are deleting!

Here are the steps that you need to follow in order to delete the slide master –

Step 1 – Identify the “Slide Master” to be deleted

First, make sure that you identify which slide master you need to delete.

To do that, hover over the “Master Slide” (the bigger slide in the slide preview on the left part of the screen) and keep the mouse still for a couple of seconds.

Step 2 – Delete the Slide Master

Once you see the message “used by no slides“, right-click on it. Then, from the options, click on the “Delete” option.

You can also delete the master slide by simply clicking on the “Delete” key on your keyboard.

5. How to Preserve the Master Slides in PowerPoint? 

By preserving a master slide in a PowerPoint presentation, you basically tell PowerPoint that you intend to keep the master slide even when it is not in use.

To preserve the master slide, at first, you have to click on the “Slide Master” option in the “View” menu. In the “Slide Master” view, select the slide you want to preserve and click on the “Preserve” option.

You will see a pin icon appear on the left side of the preserved master slide.

Let’s take a look at the process step-by-step –

Step 1 – Select the “Master Slide” and preserve it

To preserve the master slide, first, select the master that you wish to preserve. Then, “right-click” on it. From the options that appear, click on the “Preserve Master” option.

Step 2 – Verify that “Preserve Master” is enabled

Now, just make sure that the preserve master option is indeed enabled.

To verify the same, just make sure that you see a “pin” icon next to the slide master. This indicates that the master has been preserved.

You can preserve multiple masters at the same time. You can also manually delete a slide master that is preserved. Just that the slide masters that are preserved will not be deleted automatically by PowerPoint.

6. Can’t Delete Master Slide – Delete Button is Greyed Out!

Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to only delete the master slides that are not being used. If the master slide is being used in the presentation, you cannot delete the master slide.

If the “Delete” button in the “Slide Master” menu is greyed out, it means that you cannot delete the selected master slide since it is being used by one or more slides.

If you hover the pointer over the selected master slide, it will say “used by slide(s)”. Thus, the “Delete” option is only available for master slides that are unused.

Credit to wayhomestudio (on Freepik) for the featured image of this article (further edited)