Inserting a new slide into PowerPoint

We don’t just sell PowerPoint templates. We focus on supporting our products and providing you with additional information to make your PowerPoint presentations more successful and easier.  This is one in a series of tips to make using PowerPoint more efficient...whether you choose our templates or others.

How to insert a new slide into your PowerPoint presentation

If you're going to use PowerPoint regularly, it will speed your workflow to learn the various shortcuts available.
You've opened a presentation and selected a slide design from your available  PowerPoint templates.
Now, how many ways can you add a new slide? If you haven't explored the options available in PowerPoint 2003, you might be surprised to learn that there are at least seven options (maybe more) available in PowerPoint.
These options are  available from the menu bar, the slides tab and the task pane.  See the image to the right to see these sections of the PowerPoint workspace.

What’s Your PowerPoint Working Style? Some presenters like to use menus, others use keyboard shortcuts.  Whatever your working style, PowerPoint is set up to efficiently allow you to complete common tasks easily.

Menu and Button Options

Insert Menu. The most obvious way to insert a new slide is by using the Insert/New Slide menu. This will work regardless of what item you have highlighted or where you are in the various views or sections of the workspace. That same menu will give you the option to insert a duplicate slide. 

So, if there are items on an existing slide that you want to repeat on the new slide you insert, just highlight the existing thumbnail for the slide you want to re-use and choose Insert/Duplicate  Slide.

And don't forget the New Slide button lurking in the top right of the menu bar...

By the way, Edit/Duplicate will do the same when you select a slide thumbnail from the Slides Tab.

Right click...right here. A right click anywhere in the slide thumbnail panel will give you the New Slide option.  A single line will appear to indicate the location of the new slide.

If you select (or even hover over) a specific thumbnail, there are even more options available with the right click. See the box that appears when you select a slide thumbnail.

You can also use the right click to add a new slide when you point to a slide layout option.