2/28/26 for time wizards

PowerPoint's Master Slides

Ever been working on a PowerPoint deck and there's something on the slide that no matter where you click, you can't edit? This stuff is often in the footer and might contain something like the date or the title of the presentation.

Cartoon: someone hiding part of their computer screen with masking tape

These items are on PowerPoint’s “master slides.” Here’s how to get to them:

Hit the “View” button on the top, about in the middle of the screenIn the ribbon that appears right below the menu bar, choose “Slide Master”
PowerPoint will bring you to the template that’s being used for that slide. Its “master slides” have sub-pages, so if you’re looking for something on the footer, you’ll have to scroll all the way up to the top to fix it. Otherwise you’ll have the same problem you had trying to edit the stuff in the normal slide view.
When you’re done editing, you can choose “Close master slide” (again under the “Master Slide” menu). This should be enough to get you where you need to be, but you can watch me do this if you need a visual.