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Combining powerpoint files using the reuse slides option, copying and pasting powerpoint slides.

It's difficult for two or more people to work on a PowerPoint presentation simultaneously, as Office doesn't have the same collaboration features offered by Google Slides . One way around this problem is to combine PowerPoint presentations into a single file.

Merging two PowerPoints can be done by either importing the slides using the "Reuse Slides" option or by using the copy-and-paste method instead. These instructions are designed to work for the latest versions of Office , including Office 2016 and 2019, as well as Office 365 and Online. You may find the instructions vary for older versions of PowerPoint.

Related: What's the Latest Version of Microsoft Office?

The "best" method for merging PowerPoint files, or at least the method that PowerPoint officially supports, is to use the "Reuse Slides" option. This feature merges the content of one presentation file into another, matching the theme of the new presentation file in the process.

To do this, open your PowerPoint presentation file---this is the file you're looking to merge into. In the "Home" tab on the ribbon bar, select the "New Slide" button and then click the "Reuse Slides" option at the bottom of the drop-down menu that appears.

A menu will appear on the right. Click the "Browse" button to locate the PowerPoint presentation file that you want to merge into your open file.

Locate your second PowerPoint file and then click the "Open" button to insert it.

A list of slides from your second presentation will appear in the "Reuse Slides" menu on the right.

First, you'll need to decide on the formatting for your inserted slides. If you want to keep the format (including the theme) from the original presentation, make sure that the "Keep Source Formatting" checkbox is enabled at the bottom of the "Reuse Slides" menu. If you don't check this, your inserted slides will have the style of the open presentation applied to them.

To insert individual slides, right-click a slide and then select the "Insert Slide" option. Otherwise, click the "Insert All Slides" to copy all of the slides into your open PowerPoint presentation.

Your slide (or slides) will then be inserted into the open presentation, immediately underneath the currently selected slide. With your PowerPoint files combined, you can then save your merged file by clicking File > Save or Save As.

While the "Reuse Slides" method allows you to change the format of your slides before you insert them, you can also combine PowerPoint files by copying the slides from one open PowerPoint file and inserting them into another.

To do this, open a PowerPoint presentation and select the slides you want to copy from the slide selection menu on the left. From there, right-click on the selected slides and then press "Copy" to copy them to your clipboard.

Switch to the PowerPoint presentation you're looking to paste your slides into and then, in the slide selection menu on the left, right-click at the position you want to stick your slides.

To paste the slides and apply the theme of the open presentation file to them, click the "Use Destination Theme" paste option.

To keep the original theme and formatting, select the "Keep Source Formatting" paste option instead.

The slides you paste will then appear in your new presentation at the position you selected. You can then save the merged file by clicking File > Save or Save As.

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How to Combine PowerPoint PPT Presentation Files Quickly

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Ever find yourself working with many slide decks at once? Chances are, you may want to use content from one slide deck in another presentation.

But, you don't want to recreate your work. That's why it helps to learn how to combine multiple PowerPoints into one.

Believe it or not, there are a variety of ways of combining PPT files. Some help you keep your slide styles separate. Other methods of how to combine PowerPoint's merge styles. You learn all these combining PPT techniques in this tutorial!

We also have a helpful complement to this tutorial. Download our FREE eBook:  The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations .  Grab it now before you read on. 

How to Combine Multiple PowerPoints Into One (Quickstart Video)

If you want to learn how to merge PowerPoints with a screencast, we've got you covered. The video below covers how to combine PPT files in a variety of ways. You'll learn that combining PPT files saves you time and avoids re-work.

If you'd prefer to learn how to combine multiple PowerPoints into one with a written guide, read on. You'll see how to combine PPT files with other methods below.

How to Combine PPT Presentation Files

Microsoft PowerPoint offers several ways to merge slides from several decks into one. This saves time and effort, giving you the ability to be creative without getting lost in the details. It lets you share content from across your presentation library. 

When you know how to combine PowerPoints, you can use slides you already have to make new presentations. It’s a powerful way to pull in content from many sources to build a winning slide deck in 2023. 

Let’s dive in and learn how to merge PowerPoints quickly. To show you, we’ll use the premium Aura PowerPoint Template from Envato Elements. It’s a sleek modern template with dozens of slides inside. With two presentations built using the template, we’ll explore many ways to combine them into one.

Here’s how to combine multiple PowerPoints into one, using several of my favorite techniques.

Method 1: Copy and Paste Slides

One of the simplest ways of combining PPT slide decks is to paste slides from one presentation to the other. Let's learn how to combine PowerPoints with copy and paste.

To get started, open both presentations in PowerPoint. If you can, this is a great time to use two displays to streamline the process of merging PowerPoints.

Navigate to the PowerPoint deck that you want to paste slides from. Notice the slide preview sidebar on the left side. In it, you’ll see thumbnails of each slide in the deck. To copy and paste slides, begin by clicking on the first slide that you want to work with.

Now, you've got three options as you learn how to combine PowerPoints:?

• To copy only a single slide, right-click and choose Copy.
• To copy several slides in a row, click on the first slide thumbnail. Then, hold down Shift on your keyboard, and select the last slide that you want to copy. All slides in the range are selected. Right-click and choose Copy.
• If you've got several slides to copy that aren't in a row, click on the first thumbnail. Then, select later slides by holding down Control on your keyboard, and clicking other thumbnails. Again, right-click and choose Copy when you’re done.

With a slide or slides selected, open the destination PPT deck. Return to the sidebar with the slide previews. Scroll until you find the location where you want to paste your selected slides. For example, here we’d like to place them between slides 3 and 4 in the deck.

Click into the open space between the thumbnails for slide 3 and 4. You’ll see an orange line appear, indicating your selection. Right-click here, and you should choose from the first two key combining PPT options in the Paste Options group:

• Use Destination Theme. This converts the slides you're pasting to match the theme of your destination presentation. It’s a good way to ensure slides are stylistically the same, with an identical theme and appearance. 
• Keep Source Formatting. This pastes slides into the deck, but keeps their appearance the way it was in the prior presentation.

Both of these are great choices. I like to choose Use Destination Theme, because it makes my slide deck look the same throughout. 

Scroll through the pasted slides to be sure their layouts converted correctly. You may need to spend a few minutes rearranging some slides to ensure content is in the right place.

Copying and pasting slides offers several key advantages. It’s often your best bet. It’s remarkably easy to pick and choose exactly what slides you want to copy and paste into a new slide deck. Learning how to merge PPT presentation includes these style merge options.

Now, let’s move on and explore other ways of combining PPT decks.

Method 2: Use the Reuse Slides Menu

The Reuse Slides menu in PowerPoint is how to merge PPT presentation decks quickly, without having to open another file. To get started, be sure that you’re working in the presentation where you want to add slides. 

Then, repeat the earlier step of choosing a position for new slides in the sidebar. For example, click between slides 8 and 9 to add slides to that spot. 

Now, navigate to the Home tab on PowerPoint’s ribbon. You’ll find it at the top of your screen, between File and Insert . Click on the Home tab, and then choose the New Slide dropdown arrow.

With the dropdown open, you’ll see a list of options. The one you want here is Reuse Slides. Go ahead and click on it.

PowerPoint opens the Reuse Slides sidebar menu on the right side of your screen. Click on Browse , then navigate to a stored PPT file on your computer. Click on it, then choose Open .

When you click Open , you’ll see thumbnail previews of each slide in the other deck. To add them into your combined PPT, simply click on their thumbnails. Watch as the slide or slides you choose appear in the deck.

By default, their formatting will be merged to match your new design. To change this, check the Keep Source Formatting box at the bottom of the sidebar menu. 

This is how to combine PowerPoints using the Reuse Slides feature. It’s a top choice for 2023 and beyond, but let’s keep moving to explore even more great ways to merge PowerPoint decks.

Method 3: Compare and Combine PowerPoint Presentations

A third way of merging PowerPoint decks is the Compare and Combine feature in PowerPoint. This is a powerful tool that allows you to merge two presentations into one slide deck. 

It stands out because it also highlights the differences between the original presentations. This is very useful when working with presentations created by multiple authors.

To use Compare and Combine , open the presentation that you want to merge slides into. Then, find the Review tab on PowerPoint’s ribbon and open it up. In the Compare group, find and click on the Compare button.

When you click Compare , the Choose File to Merge with Current Presentation browser opens. Find the PPT deck that you want to merge into your current presentation, click on it, and then choose Open. 

PowerPoint merges the two presentations. You’ll see a new sidebar launch on the right, labeled Revisions .

This shows you any changes made by PowerPoint when the presentations were merged. These are grouped into the Slide Changes and Presentation Changes groups.

You can work through these, clicking Accept on the ribbon to approve changes made. You can also reject changes. When you’re finished, choose End Review. Just like that, you’ve merged two PowerPoint slide decks into one - fast.

The Best Source for Versatile PowerPoint Templates (With Unlimited Downloads)

Envato Elements is your best source for the very best premium PowerPoint templates . For a flat monthly fee, you can access and download as many PowerPoint templates as you want. Plus, Elements includes fonts, music, stock photos, and so much more. All these can combine to work in your next project. 

Elements is the ultimate value for creatives in 2023. Unlimited downloads fuel unlimited possibilities. With the flexibility to try as many templates as you want, you’re sure to arrive at the perfect option for every project. 

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You may find free PowerPoint templates online. But these simply can't match the features and styling that you’ll enjoy with Envato Elements templates.

When you choose Envato Elements, you’ll enjoy:

• Designs built by experts. Choose your favorite premium layouts, and merge them together effortlessly, using PPT’s built-in features.
• Stylish layouts. Slide designs are studio-quality and easy to adapt to your own topics.
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• Ease of use. Premium templates are incredibly easy to work with. Simply drop in your own content!

As you can see, Envato Elements is the best choice for creatives today. What are you waiting for? Join today and start downloading from the vast library of premium creative assets! 

Learn More About Microsoft PowerPoint

Now that you know how to combine PowerPoints, you might be hungry for more knowledge. PowerPoint is a powerful app. That means you need resources that show you how to use it.

We've built a guide to help you do just that. Our resources will help you build on your new combining PPT skills. Check out a few favorite tutorials below from How to Use PowerPoint (Ultimate Tutorial Guide.)

More Top Templates For Microsoft PowerPoint

In this tutorial, we featured a PowerPoint template. It illustrates that great designs save you time and give you great results. And best of all, now you know how to merge PowerPoints. That means you can use the best elements from more than one template.

We feature top PowerPoint templates on Envato Elements. Check out some of our favorites in articles below. You can use the best of all these templates now that you've learned how to combine PPT files!

Make Great Presentations ( Free PDF eBook Download )

We also have the perfect complement to this tutorial, which walks you through the complete presentation process. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully.

Download our eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It's available for free with a subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter.

Now You Know How to Combine PowerPoints Like a Pro

Learning how to combine multiple PowerPoints into one is a time saver. Combining PPT files gives you a new presentation without building it from the bottom up. You learned how to merge PowerPoints in a variety of ways in this tutorial, and each method has its place.

Here's my challenge to you: practice how to combine multiple PowerPoints into one. Take two presentations you've developed about similar topics. Then, merge together the best of both files. You're sure to create your most informative presentation yet.

How to Combine Multiple PowerPoint Presentations

Do you have multiple PowerPoint presentations that you need to combine or merge into one presentation? I’ve had to do this myself a couple of times and one of the most important aspects when merging presentations is whether you want to maintain the format and theme of the inserted presentation or have it match the theme of the main presentation. The second most important factor is whether you need to maintain any animations and transitions that might be included in the inserted presentation.

Depending on how you want the inserted slides to appear in the main presentation, you will need to choose between two different methods for joining the presentations. In this article, I’ll mention both methods along with the advantages and disadvantages for each method.

The first method uses the Reuse Slides option in PowerPoint and the second method uses the Insert Object option.

Reuse Slides Method

If you want the inserted slides to match the theme of your main presentation, then you have to use the Reuse Slides option. The inserted slides will simply take the slides exactly as they are in the external presentation and add them to the main presentation.

However, there is one big caveat: none of the animations or transitions will be carried over. Whatever you see on the slide in the normal viewing mode is what will get imported into the main presentation.

If you need to maintain all the animations or transitions, then skip down to the Insert Object method.

To get started with this method, open the main presentation and then click between the two slides you want to import the slides into. It’s worth nothing that this method also lets you pick and choose which slides you want to insert from an external presentation, whereas the Insert Object method will insert the entire presentation.

Now click on the Insert menu and then click on the words New Slide  and you’ll see a menu appear. At the very bottom of that menu is an option called Reuse Slides .

When you click on that, a tab will appear on the right hand side. Click on the Browse button and then select Browse File . Check the Keep source formatting  box if you want keep the theme and text formatting of the external presentation.

If you uncheck that box, then when you go to insert the slides into the main presentation, the original formatting will not be kept. Instead the slides will use the theme and formatting of the main presentation.

Select the PowerPoint Presentation you want to insert and then click OK. Immediately, you should see a small thumbnail and the title of each slide displayed.

As you can see above, the second presentation has a different theme than my first presentation. There are a number of things you can do at this point. Firstly, if you just want to insert one slide or a couple of slides from your external presentation, simply click on the slide and it will be inserted!

The formatting will depend on whether you checked the Keep source formatting box like I explained above. As shown below, I inserted just one slide from the external presentation and kept the source formatting.

It will be inserted wherever you had clicked earlier with the red line. If you want to insert all the slides, just select the Insert All Slide s option that comes up when you right-click on any of the slides.

Lastly, you can apply the theme used in the external presentation to your main presentation by right-clicking and choosing Apply Theme to All Slides . This will apply the external presentation theme to the main presentation.

As mentioned earlier, you lose all animations, effects, transitions, etc when using this method. Now let’s talk about the other way to merge two presentations.

Insert Object Method

The second method will insert the entire external presentation into one slide as an object. You then have to configure some settings so that when you run your slideshow, it also runs through all the slides in the external presentation.

There are a couple of things that need to be mentioned before we get into how to use this method:

1. When you insert the presentation as an object, it is not a link to the presentation, but an actual full copy into the main presentation. This means that if you open the external presentation later after inserting it into the main presentation and make changes to it, those changes will not be reflected in the imported version inside the main presentation.

2. If you do want to make changes to an already inserted presentation, you can edit it inside the main presentation. Again, those changes are only made to the version inside the main presentation.

In my opinion, this method is better than the Reuse Slides method because it lets you keep all your animations and transitions and it allows you to change or keep the theme of the inserted presentation.

To get started, open the main presentation and then insert a new slide. Make sure to delete any default text boxes or anything else on the new slide so that it is completely blank.

Now click on the Insert tab and then click on Object .

Select the Create from file radio button and click the Browse button. Select the external presentation you want to insert into your main presentation.

You’ll now see the first slide of the presentation inserted as a selectable object. All of the other slides are there, but you just can’t see them.

The next step is to move your cursor to the upper left corner of the inserted object until it turns into a double sided arrow. Click and then drag the corner to the upper left corner of the main slide. Now do the same thing with the bottom right corner of the object and drag it to the bottom right corner on the main slide.

Now the inserted object should be the exact same size as the slide that it was inserted onto. You want to do this so that there won’t be any change in the size of the slides when you are playing the presentation.

Once that is setup, we have to configure the second presentation to play when we hit that slide that we inserted the presentation into. To do this, select the object, click on the Animations ribbon, click on Add Animation and then scroll all the way to the bottom where it says OLE Action Verbs .

Another dialog will pop up and you want to choose Show . If you were to play the presentation at this point, you would notice that when you reach the slide with the inserted presentation, it will show all the slides in the inserted presentation, but it will also include a still slide of the first slide at the front and back of the inserted presentation.

This was kind of annoying to me and luckily you can almost get rid of it. First, click on Animations again and then click on Animation Pane , which will show up at the right.

In the Animation Pane, you will see the inserted object listed as Object 1 or Object 2, etc. and when you select it, there will be a small black arrow you can click on. This will bring up a few options and then first one you want to select is Start With Previous .

Now when you play the presentation, it won’t show you that still image of the first slide but will actually play the first slide from the external presentation. To get rid of the still image at the end of the presentation, you have to select Effect Options from the menu above and then select Hide After Animation from the After animation dropdown box.

It’s not perfect because it still shows you the empty slide that the inserted presentation was put once before the presentation ends. Luckily, I found a simple hack for this too that works really well. Simply add something to the slide that has the external presentation object like a text box or whatever you like and then right-click on the object and choose Send to Back .

This will effectively hide the object behind the presentation object. Now when you play your presentation, it will hide the presentation object after the last slide because that is what we chose in the After animation option. When the presentation object is hidden, you’ll see any content that was hidden under it. It’s a great way to avoid having that blank slide show up during the presentation.

One last thing I wanted to mention was about editing the inserted presentation. You can right-click anywhere on the object and choose Presentation Object – Edit to edit any slide in the inserted presentation directly within the main presentation.

Hopefully, this was a detailed enough tutorial for anyone wanting to merge, combine or insert one PowerPoint presentation into another. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. Read Aseem's Full Bio

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3 Ways to Combine Multiple PowerPoint Presentation Files

So you made two different PowerPoint presentations and are stuck with merging them together? Don’t worry. You want to match their themes or keep them original? Covered. You want to drop/keep transitions? Cool.PowerPoint got it all covered for you. However you want to merge slides, you can do it all in PowerPoint itself. This article will take you through different methods and options that will let you combine multiple PowerPoint Presentation files the way you please.

Table of Contents

Method 1: Reuse Slides

When to use:

• If you do not want to keep the transitions and animations of the inserted presentation after merging it into the main presentation.
• If you want to merge only a few slides of inserted presentation and not the whole presentation.

How to use:

1.Open the main presentation in which you want to insert another presentation.

2.Decide the two slides between which you want to insert the new slides and click between them.

3. A red line will appear.

4.Click on the ‘ Insert ’ menu.

5.Open the drop-down menu by clicking on ‘ New Slide ’.

6.At the bottom of the menu, click on ‘ Reuse Slides ’.

7.On the right-hand side, the Reuse Slides tab will appear.

8.If you want to keep the theme of the inserted presentation, check the ‘ Keep source formatting ’ checkbox at the bottom of the tab. Else, if you want it to take the theme of the main presentation, uncheck the box.

9.Now, browse the file you want to insert and click on OK.

10.You can now see all the slides of the presentation to be inserted.

11.If you want a few particular slides from this presentation to appear in the main presentation, simply click on the thumbnail . Else, right-click on any thumbnail and click on ‘ Insert all slides ’.

12.Adding a slide while having ‘ Keep source formatting ’ checked you will get something like this.

And unchecking ‘Keep source formatting’ will give you.

13.If you want the whole presentation with the theme of the inserted presentation, right-click on any thumbnail in the ‘ Reuse Slides ’ tab and click on ‘ Apply theme to all slides ’ and you will then get:

14.If you want to insert the new slides at different positions in the main presentation, then before clicking on any particular slide to be inserted in the ‘Reuse Slides’ tab, just click on that main slide thumbnail (on the left-hand side of the window), below which you want your inserted slide. You can do this for every inserted slide to get this:

Method 2: Insert Object

• If you want to keep the transitions and animations of the inserted presentation after merging it into the main presentation.
• If you want to merge the whole presentation into the main presentation.

2. Add a blank slide at the position you want your inserted slide to be. You can do this by clicking on ‘ New Slide ’ in the insert menu and then clicking on ‘ Blank ’.

3.Click on ‘ Object ’ in the insert menu.

4.Select ‘ Create from file ’ radio button and browse the presentation you want to be inserted and click on OK.

5.You will see the first slide of the inserted presentation in the center of the blank slide you had inserted.

6. Resize the inserted slide to fit the main slide completely by dragging the corners of the inserted slide.

7.Click on the Object.

8.Go to the Animations menu and click on ‘ Add Animation ’.

9.Click on ‘ OLE action verbs ’ at the bottom of the drop-down menu.

11.In the dialog box, select ‘ Show ’ and click on OK.

13.Go to the ‘ Animations ’ menu and click on ‘ Animation Pane ’.

14.On the right-hand side, a tab will open. You can see the inserted object in the tab.

15.Click on the downward pointer beside the object name and a list will open.

16.Select ‘ Start With Previous ’.

17.Now, s elect the object in the tab and click on the downward pointer again.

18.Select ‘ Effect Options ’. A dialog box will open.

19.In the ‘After Animation’ drop-down list, click on ‘ Hide After Animation ’.

20.Now insert some object like a text box or an image on the main slide containing the inserted presentation object.

21.Right-click on it and select ‘ Send to Back ’.

22. You now have your presentations merged.

Method 3: Copy-Paste

If you want to keep animations of the inserted presentation and want to keep/change the theme and transitions.

1.Open the presentation you want to insert and select the slides that you want to insert into the main presentation.

2.Press ‘ Ctrl+C ’ to copy them.

3.Open the main presentation.

4.Right-click in the left pane wherever you want to insert the slides.

5.Here you get two paste options:

1.USE DESTINATION THEME:

Selecting this will cause the inserted slides to adopt the theme and transitions of the main presentation while keeping the animations of inserted slides intact.

2.KEEP SOURCE FORMATTING:

Selecting this will keep the theme, transitions, and animations of inserted file itself.

6. Select the option you want and you are done.

There you go! You can now merge your presentations with any possible combinations.

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I hope the above steps were helpful and now you can easily Combine Multiple PowerPoint Presentation Files, but if you still have any questions regarding this tutorial then feel free to ask them in the comment section.

About The Author

Aditya Farrad

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How to Combine Multiple PowerPoints into One

PowerPoint is one of the most widespread and widely used Microsoft tools in the world, allowing you to make high quality presentations in a simple, fast and super visual way. Maybe that's why presentations have triumphed in the world of business and education! 

Whether you're a professional or a student, you surely must have had to make more than one presentation throughout your career. That's a piece of cake when you have Slidesgo and its templates! In this post we want to lend you a hand and help you become a true master of this program: today you will learn how to combine different PowerPoint presentations .

How to merge PowerPoint presentations

If you want to join two or more different presentations in the same file, you want to add some extra slides or you need to merge the collaborative work of different teams, all you have to do is follow these steps: 

• Open the first presentation. For this example we are going to use the template Minimalist Grayscale Pitch Deck .
• Go to the Start menu > New Slide. Click on the drop-down, not on the button. A menu will open with different options, select "Reuse slides".
• A menu will open on the right with recommended presentations. To add yours, click on Browse. We are going to add slides from the presentation Investment Business Plan .
• Go to the place in the presentation where you want the new content to appear.
• Choose which slides you want to add and add them one by one by clicking Insert Slide. You can also add the whole presentation by clicking on Insert All.

Pro tip : We recommend that you keep the "Use source formatting" checkbox checked. This feature makes the presentation you are adding keep its original style instead of adapting to the layout of the new one. 

Simple, isn't it? There is also another method, just as quick and easy, using the ancient technique known as "copy and paste". It consists of the following:

• Open the presentation where you want the new slides to appear.
• Open the other presentation and choose the slides you want to add. You can select more than one by pressing Control and clicking on them or you can select all of them by pressing Control + E. For this example we are going to add three slides from the Business Plan with Elegant Backgrounds template.
• Right click and press copy or press Control + C.
• Now go to the first presentation, choose the location and right click > Paste or press Control + V. Remember to select "Keep source formatting", this will keep the slides from losing their layout.

Now that you know how to put together your favorite presentations and slides, take a look at our website and download the ones that best suit your needs. You can choose resources from different designs and put them together to create the perfect presentation. 

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Merging files in PowerPoint is a handy skill to have when you’re looking to combine information from different presentations or when you’re collaborating with others on a project. It might sound like a tricky task, but it’s actually pretty straightforward. In just a few simple steps, you can have all your slides together in one impressive presentation.

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Before we dive into the steps, let’s understand what we’re about to do. Merging files in PowerPoint is all about bringing slides from different presentations into one. This can be very useful when you’re working on a group project or need to consolidate information. So, let’s get started!

Step 1: Open Your Main PowerPoint Presentation

Open the PowerPoint presentation where you want to add slides from another presentation.

When you’ve opened your main PowerPoint file, make sure it’s the one where you want all the merged slides to end up. Think of it as the ‘mother ship’ that’s about to welcome all the ‘little ship’ slides into its deck.

Step 2: Select the Slides You Want to Merge

Go to the “Home” tab, click on “New Slide,” and then choose “Reuse Slides” from the drop-down menu.

A pane will appear on the right side of the PowerPoint window. This is where you’ll be able to browse and select the slides you want to add to your main presentation.

Step 3: Browse and Choose the Presentation File

Click on “Browse” and then “Browse File” to select the PowerPoint file you want to merge with your main presentation.

You’ll need to navigate to the location of the PowerPoint file you want to merge. Once you find it, click on it and then click “Open” to bring up the slides in the Reuse Slides pane.

Step 4: Insert the Slides

Click on each slide you want to insert into your main presentation or check “Keep source formatting” and click “Insert All.”

You can select individual slides by clicking on them or insert all the slides from the secondary presentation. If you want to maintain the original design and formatting of the inserted slides, make sure to check “Keep source formatting.”

Step 5: Save Your Merged PowerPoint

Save your newly merged PowerPoint presentation by clicking on “File” and then “Save As.”

After you’ve merged all the slides you need, don’t forget to save your presentation. You can choose to overwrite the original file or save it as a new file with a different name.

After completing these steps, you’ll have a single PowerPoint presentation with slides from different files merged together. Now, you’ll be able to present all your information seamlessly without having to switch between different files.

Tips: Making the Most of Merging Files in PowerPoint

• Ensure that the presentation you’re adding slides to is saved before you start merging, just in case something goes awry.
• Use the “Keep source formatting” option if you want to retain the original design of the slides you’re merging. This is especially helpful if they come from a presentation with a different theme or layout.
• Consider the sequence of the slides. Make sure they are in the order that best supports your presentation’s flow.
• If you’re merging files from multiple team members, check for consistency in font, size, and color to maintain a professional look.
• It’s a good idea to review the final presentation to check for any formatting issues or duplications that may have occurred during the merge.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i merge powerpoint presentations with different themes.

To merge presentations with different themes, use the “Keep source formatting” checkbox when inserting the slides. This will preserve the original theme and formatting of the slides being merged.

Can I merge multiple PowerPoint files at once?

While you can’t select multiple files to merge simultaneously, you can repeat the process of merging for each file you want to add to your main presentation.

What happens if I don’t select “Keep source formatting”?

If you don’t select “Keep source formatting,” the inserted slides will adopt the theme and formatting of your main presentation, which might change their original look.

Can I merge specific slides from a presentation?

Yes, you can choose individual slides to merge by clicking on them in the “Reuse Slides” pane instead of selecting “Insert All.”

Will animations and transitions be preserved when merging slides?

Yes, if you check “Keep source formatting,” animations and transitions should be preserved. However, it’s always good to double-check the final presentation.

• Open your main PowerPoint presentation.
• Select “Reuse Slides” from the “New Slide” drop-down menu.
• Browse and choose the PowerPoint file you want to merge.
• Click on individual slides or “Insert All” to merge.
• Save your newly merged presentation.

Merging files in PowerPoint is a straightforward process that can save you a ton of time and hassle. Whether you’re pulling together a group project or consolidating your work, knowing how to merge presentations effectively can make you the PowerPoint guru among your peers. Remember to save your work frequently, check for consistency, and review your final presentation for any mishaps that might have occurred during the merging process. With this new skill in your back pocket, you’re ready to tackle any presentation challenge that comes your way. Happy merging!

Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master’s degree in 2003. While he still does some consulting work, his primary focus now is on creating technology support content for SupportYourTech.com.

His work can be found on many websites and focuses on topics such as Microsoft Office, Apple devices, Android devices, Photoshop, and more.

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How to Combine PowerPoints: A Step-by-Step Guide

Table of Contents

If you’re in sales, customer service, or work independently, you probably use similar slides in different presentations. But redoing them every time can be a hassle. That’s why learning to merge PowerPoint slides can be super useful.

When you merge slides in PowerPoint, you can take slides from other presentations and put them into one new presentation. This helps you update content, reinforce ideas, or include important information from previous presentations.

It’s pretty easy to do. Let us show you how to merge multiple PowerPoint presentations into one.

How to Combine Powerpoints ?

Here are five ways to combine PowerPoint slides:

• Copy and Paste Slides
• Reuse PowerPoint Slides
• Use Insert Object to Merge PowerPoint Files (Limited Functionality)
• Drag and Drop Slides
• Merge with Compare Function

Method 1: Copy and Paste Slides

The easiest way to put together multiple PowerPoint slides is by copying and pasting. Here’s how you can merge two PowerPoint presentations using this method:

1. Open both presentations:  Launch Microsoft PowerPoint and open the two presentations you want to merge.

2. Navigate to the slides to copy:  In the presentation containing the slides you want to transfer, go to the slide thumbnail pane on the left side of the window.

3. Select slides:  Click on the desired slide(s) to copy. You can hold down the Ctrl key to choose multiple non-consecutive slides or Shift for consecutive slides.

4. Copy slides:  Right-click on the selected slides and choose “Copy” from the context menu. Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C.

5. Navigate to the destination presentation:  Switch to the other presentation where you want to insert the copied slides.

6. Choose insertion location:  Click on the slide thumbnail where you want the copied slides to appear after. This will determine their order in the final presentation.

7. Paste slides:  Right-click on the chosen location and select “Paste” from the context menu. You can also use Ctrl+V.

8. Adjust formatting (optional):  If the pasted slides don’t match the formatting of your destination presentation, you can manually adjust them using the options in the “Home” and “Format” tabs.

Method 2: Reuse PowerPoint Slides

You can also combine PowerPoint slides using the “Reuse” option. It’s straightforward and lets you choose which slides you want to add and where you want them. Here’s how you do it:

1. Open the target presentation:  Launch PowerPoint and open the presentation where you want to include slides from another presentation.

2. Access the “Reuse Slides” pane:  Go to the “Home” tab in the ribbon. Click on the “New Slide” button and select “Reuse Slides” from the dropdown menu.

3. Browse for the source presentation:  In the “Reuse Slides” pane on the right, click on “Browse” and locate the presentation containing the slides you want to reuse. Select the file and click “Open.”

4. Choose slides to reuse:  In the “Reuse Slides” pane, you’ll see thumbnails of all slides from the source presentation. Click on the checkbox(es) next to the slides you want to include.

5. Insert the slides:  Click on the “Insert” button at the bottom of the “Reuse Slides” pane. The selected slides will be inserted at the current location in your target presentation.

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Method 3: Use Insert Object to Merge PowerPoint Files

Note:  This method has limitations. It inserts the entire source presentation as an object within the target presentation. You cannot edit the content of the inserted slides directly, only their position and size.

2. Go to the “Insert” tab:  Click on the “Insert” tab in the ribbon.

3. Navigate to “Object”:  In the “Insert” tab, click on the “Object” button.

4. Select “Create from File”:  In the “Insert Object” window, choose the “Create from File” option.

5. Browse for the source presentation:  Click on “Browse” and navigate to the presentation containing the slides you want to insert. Select the file and click “Open.”

6. Insert the presentation (as an object):  Click “OK” in the “Insert Object” window. The entire source presentation will be inserted as an object on the current slide of your target presentation.

Method 4: Drag and Drop Slides

Another simple way to merge PowerPoint presentations is by dragging and dropping slides. This is handy if you’re working on different presentations or collaborating on a project. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open Both Presentations:  Launch the presentations containing the slides you want to merge.

2. Arrange Side-by-Side:  Resize and position the presentation windows so you can view both presentations simultaneously.

3. Select and Drag:  In the presentation you’re copying from, click and hold the thumbnail of the desired slide in the left-side navigation pane.

4. Drop into New Location:  Drag the selected slide thumbnail and release it onto the preferred position within the other presentation’s navigation pane. The slide will be copied to the new location.

5. Repeat for Additional Slides:  Continue dragging and dropping any other slides you want to transfer between presentations.

Method 5: Merge with Compare Function

This feature helps you merge your slides while keeping the formatting consistent. Here’s how to use it:

1. Open Destination Presentation:  Open the presentation where you want to merge all the slides from another presentation.

2. Access Compare Function:  Click on the “Review” tab from the top menu bar. Locate the “Compare” button within the “Compare” section and click on it.

3. Browse for Source Presentation:  A new window will appear. Click the “Browse” button and navigate to select the presentation containing the slides you want to merge.

4. Choose Merge Option:  From the “Compare” dropdown menu, select the “Merge” option.

5. Review and Select Slides (Optional):  A new pane will appear on the right, displaying slides from both presentations. You can choose to include or exclude specific slides from the merge process using the checkboxes beside each slide.

6. Complete the Merge:  Click the “Merge” button at the bottom of the pane. This will combine all selected slides from the second presentation into the first presentation.

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Closing Thoughts

Learning to merge PowerPoint slides is a useful skill that can save you time and effort. With the different methods we covered, you can easily combine content from various presentations, keep formatting consistent, and create strong presentations that get your point across. So, the next time you’re putting together a presentation, remember that merging slides can be a valuable tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the overall look change if i put ppt slides together.

Usually, the look stays the same. But you can choose to keep the style or not when you merge them.

How can I put many locked PowerPoints into one?

To do this, you need to unlock the PowerPoints first. Then, open each one and go to File > Info > Protect Presentation > Encrypt with Password. Delete the password, click OK, and now you can mix the slides into one presentation.

Can I make one PDF from several PowerPoints?

Yes! Just copy and paste the slides from each PowerPoint into one big presentation or use the Reuse Slide option. After that, save it as a PDF by going to File > Save as > PDF or File > Save & Send > Create PDF/XPS Document > Publish .

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How to Merge PowerPoints

It’s easy to merge your PowerPoint presentations

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Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA-certified technologist with more than 10 years of experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek.

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What to Know

• In your primary PowerPoint: Home > New Slide > Reuse Slides > Browse .
• In your secondary PowerPoint: Open . Right-click individual slides and choose Insert Slide , or select Insert All Slides .

This article explains how to combine two or more PowerPoint presentations into one presentation. Whether you’re using Mac or PC versions of PowerPoint, it’s easy to combine PowerPoint presentations.

Method 1: Reuse Slides

Microsoft PowerPoint provides the option to Reuse Slides . This method doesn’t require you to open all of your PowerPoint presentations, so it’s the fastest and easiest way to combine presentations.

Open your main PowerPoint presentation. You can choose the largest presentation, or whichever one has formatting you want to keep.

When you insert slides, they’ll be inserted after the slide you have currently selected. Keep this in mind before inserting slides.

Go to the Home tab in the upper-left corner.

Click New Slide . A drop-down menu will open.

Newer versions of PowerPoint have a dedicated Reuse Slides button.

Select Reuse Slides , located at the bottom of the menu.

Click Browse .

Find your second PowerPoint file and click Open . The slides from your second presentation will appear in the Reuse Slides menu.

Make sure Keep source formatting is checked if you want your slides to keep their formatting. If it isn’t checked, the formatting of your main PowerPoint will be applied to the slides when you insert them.

If you want to insert individual slides, select them and click Insert Slide .

If you want to reuse all slides in the PowerPoint presentation, click Insert All . If you don't see this, right-click one slide and choose Insert All Slides .

After your slides are merged into your presentation, Save your work.

Method 2: Copy slides

If you need to combine slides from several different PowerPoint presentations, copying PowerPoint Sides is another quick method. It’s easy to choose where each batch of slides ends up in your final presentation.

Open the PowerPoint presentation with slides you want to move.

Select the slides you want to copy from the slide viewer on the left.

Right-click the selected slides and copy them.

Open your main PowerPoint presentation.

Right-click where you want your slides to be inserted. The Paste Options menu will appear.

You can also use CTRL + V to paste the slides. On Mac, use command + V . The Paste Options menu will still appear.

If you want your inserted slides to match your main PowerPoint, click Use Destination Theme on the left. This will adapt the copied slides to your main presentation.

If you want your inserted slides to maintain their theme, click Keep Source Formatting . Your slides will keep their original appearance.

After moving all of your slides, save your project.

First, combine PowerPoint presentations by copying and pasting slides into the primary presentation or using the  Reuse Slide  option. After combining slides into one merged document,  save your PowerPoint as a PDF . Go to  File  >  Save as  >  PDF  or  File  >  Save & Send  >  Create PDF/XPS Document  >  Publish .

To merge multiple locked PowerPoints, you need to know the passwords to unlock them. Once you have password access, open the PowerPoints and select  File  >  Info  >  Protect Presentation  >  Encrypt with Password  > delete the content in the  Password  field > and select  OK . Now you can reuse or copy slides into one main presentation.

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How to combine multiple PowerPoint Presentations

How to merge multiple powerpoint presentations, 1] reuse slides method, 2] vba code method, 3] copy paste slides, how do you link two powerpoint presentations together, how do i combine multiple powerpoints into one pdf, ashishmohta@twc.

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How to Merge Two PowerPoint Presentations Together and Maintain the Format

By Anni Martin

Awkward transitions between Microsoft PowerPoint presentations can be a deal breaker. After your own presentation finishes and you sit down, your client can lose interest in what your company has to offer while your colleague’s presentation loads. By combining two presentations into one seamless whole, the transition is smooth and you both look professional. In PowerPoint, you pull together individual presentations using the Reuse Slides feature and maintain original formatting for each presentation. You can also use the Merge feature to compare two presentations and choose what to keep or discard.

Reuse Slides

Open PowerPoint and one of the presentations. In the Slides pane, scroll through your slides and then click where to add the slides from the second presentation.

Click the “Home” tab, click the “New Slide" down arrow and then click “Reuse Slides” to open the Reuse Slides pane.

Click “Open a PowerPoint File” in the Reuse Slides pane.

Browse and select the presentation you want to add to the first presentation and then click “Open.” The slides from the presentation open in the Reuse Slides pane.

Select the “Keep Source Formatting” check box at the bottom of the Reuse Slides pane. Right-click on any of the slides in the Reuse Slides pane. Click “Insert All Slides” to combine slides from the second presentation with the first and maintain the formatting from each presentation. You can also add individual slides by clicking on the slide to add it to the presentation.

Save the combined slides by clicking the “File” tab and then “Save.” If you want to give the combined presentations a different name, click the “File” tab and “Save As.” Type a new filename in the File Name box and click “Save.”

Merge the Documents

Open PowerPoint and one of the presentations. Click the “Review” tab.

Click the “Compare” button in the Compare group. Browse and select the second presentation to combine. Click “Merge.” The presentations merge and the Revisions pane opens to the right of the merged presentations. The Revisions pane shows the differences between the two documents and allows you to accept or reject changes.

Scroll through the Presentation Changes section in the Revisions pane. This area shows slides from the second presentation to add to the first presentation. Click a slide title to display a revision check box. Select the revision check box to accept the proposed revision.

Scroll through the Slide Changes section in the Revisions pane. This area shows the differences between the two slide presentations. Click a slide change in the Slide Changes section to display a revision check box. Select the revision check box to accept the proposed revision.

Click “File” and then click “Save As” to save the presentation once you are done with changes to the two documents. Type a filename and then click “Save” to save the merged documents.

• Microsoft Office: Reuse (Import) Slides from Another Presentation
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Translating technical jargon into everyday English is one of Anni Martin’s specialties. She is an educator and writer who spent over 13 years teaching and creating documentation at the University of Missouri. She holds a Master’s Degree in educational technology as well as Bachelor’s degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Missouri.

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How to Merge Two or Multiple PowerPoint Presentations

If there are 2 or even more related PowerPoint presentations, and you want to merge them into one to make the presentation more informative, there’s a simple method to insert the slides from different files.

1. Open PowerPoint and create a new blank presentation.

2. Click Home > New Slide > Reuse Slides…

3. Hit Browse button on the Reuse Slides pane and choose Browse File… in the drop-down menu.

4. Find the PPT presentation you want on the computer and Open it.

5. Check the option of Keep source formatting on the bottom of Reuse Slides .

6. Right-click any of the slides and choose Insert All Slides in the menu. Then all the slides from the selected file will be inserted to the presentation.

7. Now you can click Browse > Browse File… to insert the slides from another presentation in the same way.

8. Similarly, you can insert the slides from more PowerPoint presentations to merge them into one. You just need to save the file after finishing all the settings.

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How To Merge Two PowerPoint Presentations? Detailed Guide On How To Combine PowerPoints

If you work in sales, customer service, or as an independent consultant, you may need to utilize the same templates in many of your presentations. Of course, you don’t want to keep making the same slides for different presentations. That’s why you should consider learning how to combine PowerPoints slides.

That’s where merging slides in PowerPoint comes in handy when creating presentations from previously generated slideshows. In your current presentation, you can reuse slides from prior presentations to modify content, strengthen concepts, debunk ideas, or reference facts.

It’s all quite simple. Allow us to demonstrate how to combine multiple powerpoints into one.

How To Merge PowerPoints?

Consider the following five approaches and their associated stages to know how to combine powerpoints:

• Copy and Paste slides
• Reuse PowerPoint Slides
• Use Insert Object to Merge PowerPoint Files
• Drag and Drop PowerPoint Slides
• Merge with Compare Function

1. Copy and Paste Slides

The easiest option to combine multiple slides is the copy-and-paste option. Follow the below steps to learn how to merge two PowerPoint presentations:

• Open both the slides that you want to combine.
• Right-click on a slide and select “copy.” You can also copy it by using the Ctrl+C command.
• Now, open the slide on which you want to combine this slide.
• Choose a location in between your slides where you want to add the slide. You can do this from the left-side navigation pane. 
• Right-click and choose “Paste”. Or you can use the “Ctrl+V” command. You can select “Use Destination Theme” or “Keep Source Formatting” to meet your needs.
• Repeat this step for multiple slides.

2. Reuse PowerPoint Slides

Let’s learn how to combine powerpoints using the Reuse option. Reusing slides is the simplest technique for incorporating slides from one presentation into another. This strategy allows you to manage what slides you add and where you place them. The reuse slides approach appears in this example. Follow the below steps to understand how to merge powerpoints:

• Open PowerPoint, then open the document to which you wish to add slides.
• Select where you wish to add a slide or slides. Then, click between two existing slides.
• In the ‘Main Menu,’ click the ‘Insert’ tab.
• Then, on the left side of the menu, click the ‘New Slide’ option.
• Then choose ‘Reuse Slides.’
• Click the ‘Browse’ button to access the ‘Reuse Slides’ dialog box. If you click the option next to ‘Keep source formatting,’ the newly added slides will keep their original formatting. When you uncheck the box, their formatting will match the main presentation.
• Insert your slide here. Browse the presentations, choose the one from which you wish to add the slides, and then click ‘Open.’
• You will see the thumbnails of the available slides. Browse and pick the ones you want to include in your main document. You can import all slides from the external presentation by clicking ‘Insert All Slides.’
• When choosing the slides to include, click the ‘Apply Theme to All Slides’ option to replace the theme of the primary presentation with that of the secondary presentation.

This strategy is perfect if you want to merge ppt slides. Use it for adding a slide or two to your PowerPoint presentation. It is also the best approach for including bits and pieces from other presentations in your primary presentation. Although you can use this approach to insert all slides from an external presentation, using the ‘Insert Object’ option is preferable.

3. how to combine powerpoints using Insert Object Methods?

The insert object method is best if you wish to insert all slides from an external presentation while keeping the animations and transitions between them.

Remember that after you include the slides in your new presentation, they will no longer be connected to the original file. As a result, any modifications you make to the original file will not affect the slides you include in your primary presentation.

Now that we’ve addressed that let’s examine how to merge powerpoints using the insert object technique. Follow the below steps to learn how to combine multiple powerpoints into one:

• Open MS PowerPoint and the main presentation.
• Go to the slide where you want to add another slide
• In the Main Menu, choose the ‘Insert’ tab.
• In the “Text” group, Select the ‘Object’ option.
• The ‘Insert Object’ dialog box will appear. Choose the ‘Create from file’ option there.
• Click “Browse” and select the slide you want to add.
• Following that, you will only view the first slide of the imported presentation. The remaining slides are below, though you can’t see them now.
• To prevent changes in the size of the slides after the presentation is played, stretch the added object to suit the size of the slide of your main presentation. After inserting the complete item into your main presentation, you can alter and tweak it to ensure its good performance.

4. Drag And Drop PowerPoint Slides

Let’s understand how to combine powerpoints using the drag & drop method. A drag-and-drop approach is one of the simplest methods of integrating two presentations. This feature is useful if you have two different presentations that you want to combine with PowerPoint or are working on a collective project. Follow the below steps to learn how to combine two powerpoints into one:

• Open both presentations on your PC or Mac, and minimize the PowerPoint software so that you can view both simultaneously.
• Long-press the slide you want to relocate and drag it to its new location with your mouse. You should do this for each slide; luckily, you can select all of them by clicking on the first slide, holding down the ‘Shift’ key, and then clicking on the final slide.
• The slide’s position will be highlighted with a red line. Your final presentation will be updated to match the design of the receiving document. Of course, you can always change the document’s overall look by clicking the ‘Design’ button at the top of your presentation.

5. how to combine powerpoints with compare function

This compare function combines your multiple slides with uniform formatting. Follow the below steps to learn how to merge PowerPoint presentations:

• Open the presentation in which you want to add another slide.
• Select the “Review” Tab from the Top Menu.
• Click on the “Compare” function.
• Browse the presentation you want to combine and select “Merge.” It will combine all the slides from both presentations.

It’s great to learn how to combine powerpoints into one slide to increase the usability of slides and save time in creating new slides from scratch. The techniques described in this blog will assist you in taking your PowerPoint abilities to the next level. In minutes, you can combine and merge PowerPoint presentations like an expert.

Does the formatting change if I combine ppt slides?

The formatting isn’t usually affected. However, you can choose to keep formatting or not while merging.

What are some tips for effectively merging slides?

Organize your slides beforehand, ensure consistent formatting and styling across all slides, remove duplicate content, and thoroughly review the merged presentation to ensure accuracy and coherence.

Is there a limit to the number of presentations I can merge?

Usually, there is no limit to the number of presentations to merge.

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Home » Tech Tips » Apps » How to Merge PowerPoint Presentations?

How to Merge PowerPoint Presentations?

Whether you are a company manager, a member of the project team, a student or a teacher, making presentations is something you have to deal with from time to time. In such a situation, Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT) is a powerful tool for creating a captivating and accurate presentation for your audience. However, even when you have prepared your slides perfectly, you can easily confuse and lose your audience during the presentation, especially when you need to fetch your content from multiple presentations or presenting as a team. In this guide, we will show you how to merge multiple PPTs to prevent errors when making presentations.

Related: How to fix slow PowerPoint and speed up your presentations?

Why Merge PowerPoint Presentations?

Learning how to combine presentations into a single seamless file offers several benefits including:

• You look organized and professional – Organizing your presentation into a single neat file improves the flow of the presentation, and is a sign of professionalism and organization.
• Avoids time wasting – Merging individual PPTs into one saves time as you don’t have to switch between files/slides looking for the correct content.
• It is a sign of teamwork – You can create a master presentation as a team to avoid the awkward pause as the next presenter tries to load their part of the presentation.
• It gives you flexibility – It allows you to deliver your content clearly using different themes or layouts as well as maintain the formatting of the original presentation.

There are several ways of combining individual presentations to enhance the flow of ideas during a PPT presentation.

Method 1: Using “Hyperlink” to Merge Presentations in PowerPoint

One of the simplest ways is to combine by linking the main/master presentation to the other individual presentations.

• First, it is a good practice to save your presentations on the same computer, preferably the same storage drive/folder.
• Now open the master presentation and create a new slide where you want to insert the content from the other file.
• Type something in the new slide to describe the presentation that follows.
• Highlight the text and under the “Insert” tab click on “Actions”.

• The “Action Settings” dialogue will appear. Check the “Hyperlink to” option and click the arrow to expand the options.

• Select the “Other PPT…” option and on the resulting pop-up, browse to select the PPT file that you want to merge with and click “Ok”.

• You can choose the slide where you want the presentation to pick from. If you want to merge the entire presentation, select the first slide and click “Ok”.

• Your description will now appear as a link that upon click will open the specific slide you selected above.

Related: PowerPoint tips to improve your productivity .

Method 2: Merging Presentations with Reuse Slides Feature

The Reuse Slides method comes handy when you want to match maintain the theme of the master presentation all through, as well as when you want to selectively insert slides from another PPT file.

• Click the space between the two slides where you want to import the slides and then under the “Insert” tab click the “New Slide” arrow.
• At the bottom of the resulting menu, select “Reuse Slides…”.

• From the pop-up that appears, click the link to open a PPT file or the “Browse” button to choose a file from your PC storage .

• This will display thumbnails of the slides from the second presentation where you can click a particular slide to add it into the main presentation.
• The added slides will automatically take the theme of the master presentation, but you can retain the original theme by checking the “Keep source formatting” box at the bottom of the pop-up.
• Once done, close the Reuse Slides pop-up.

Method 3: Embedding a Presentation into Another

Another way you can combine separate presentations is by embedding the PPT file as an object. Unlike method 2 above, embedding a presentation will maintain its animations and transitions effects.

• Add a new slide, go to “Insert” and select “Object” from the ribbon .
• On the resulting dialogue, check the option to create an object from file and click the “Browse…” button.
• Select the file that you want to embed and then click “Ok”.

• This will add the first slide of the external presentation into the current slide. You may need to drag the embedded PPT to fit the size of the current slide.

• You can also set the embedded presentation to play when you get to that slide.
• To do so, select the object and go to the “Animations” tab. Click the arrow to expand the animation options and select “OLE Action Verbs” at the bottom of the menu.

• Select “Show” on the resulting pop-up and then click “Ok”.

Note: With the hyperlink method, if you edit the content of the original presentation, it will automatically update the slides in the master PPT but if you used the insert object method, you can edit embed and the original PPT independently.

When presenting from multiple PPT files or when making a team presentation, combining the various presentations into a single master presentation can save you time and help you avoid errors. Besides, this makes your presentation look professional and neat. Fortunately, MS PowerPoint enables users to merge presentations using the above three options depending on objectives and taste.

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• Note that the resulting file will be deleted from our servers after 24 hours and download links will stop working after this time period.

Aspose.Slides Merger App is an online app to effectively merge a set of presentation files of PowerPoint formats one into another. The flexible interface of the app allows to create various merge scenarios like following: 1. merge PowerPoint files of the same format into one file; 2. merge Slide Master file into a presentation file to change the style of the resulting presentation ; 3. change the style of multiple presentations in one click, by merging Slides Master file into them; 4. choose the order of merged presentations; 5. merge PowerPoint of different file formats into one presentation format; 6. merge PPT files into PDF, DOC(X), JPEG, HTML and others. Aspose Slides Merger App is a free app based on Aspose.Slides API for processing presentations automatically in any popular programming language and platform: C#, Java, C++, Android, Xamarin, etc. If you need to create a presentation merging solution, take a look at the possibilities of API. Some of API features are represented in Aspose.Slides Merger app, and to find code examples on them visit Aspose.Slides Documentation . Aspose.Slides API for merging presentations is good for large corporate solutions with a need to process big numbers and variety of file formats. For individual developers, Aspose.Slides Cloud SDK is the best solution. It supports a simplified version of presentations merging functionality, which is available in Python, GO, Perl, SWIFT as well as .NET, Java, etc. Other Aspose Apps you may want to try: Collage web app for making collages and merging JPG photos; PowerPoint to Word converter for converting presentations to Word documents.

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• Merge PowerPoint and OpenOffice documents.
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• Set theme to PowerPoint presentation.
• What is PowerPoint Merger app? PowerPoint Merger takes presentations uploaded and merges them together into one document of PowerPoint, Word, image, html or other format.
• Which presentation formats can be merged? You may merge any presentation formats all together: PPT(X), POT(M), PPS(M), ODP, etc.
• What is the order of presentation merge? Presentations are merged in the order of their upload. After you upload presentations, you may see their merge order in upload page section.
• Can I merge PPT with style master file? You may add presentations into first upload section and slide master file into second upload section. The presentations will be merged and style master will be applied to them.

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Other supported mergers.

You can also merge other file formats. Please see the list below.

• Merge PPT to PDF (PowerPoint Presentation)
• PowerPoint Merger (PowerPoint Presentation)
• PPT Merger (PowerPoint Presentation)
• PPT to PPT Combiner (PowerPoint Presentation)
• PPT to PPT Merger (PowerPoint Presentation)
• PPT to PPTX (PowerPoint Presentation)
• PPTX Merger (PowerPoint Open XML Presentation)
• PPTX to ODP (PowerPoint Open XML Presentation)
• PPTX to ODP (OpenDocument Presentation File Format)
• PPTX to PPT Merger (PowerPoint Open XML Presentation)
• PPTX to PPTX Merger (PowerPoint Open XML Presentation)
• Presentations Merger (PowerPoint Presentation)
• Two PPT Merger (PowerPoint Presentation)

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Two ways to consolidate PowerPoint slides and save time

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Trying to create a presentation quickly is unpleasant, because they take time! If you’re lucky, you can piece together parts of other presentations, add a few new slides, and save the day. In this article, I’ll show you two ways to use what already exists to create new presentations. Even when you’re not pressed for time, you’ll want to use these time-saving features:

Reuse Slides

Custom slide show.

PowerPoint’s Reuse Slides feature lets you quickly add slides from one presentation into another. In addition, you can use the Custom Slide Show to define multiple shows within the same presentation file.

There’s no demonstration file for this article; I’ll be working with two templates, Open House and Classroom Expectations. You can work with these two templates or existing presentations of your own. In addition, I’m working with PowerPoint 2013, but PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 support both features.

Repurposing content is an efficient way to work by reusing what you already have. Why recreate what you already have? You could cut and paste slides from one presentation into another, but that’s a bit awkward at best. Fortunately, there’s an easier way–Reuse Slides. I’ll illustrate this feature’s value by adding a slide from the PowerPoint template Classroom Expectations.pptx into the Open House.pptx template as follows:

• Open Open House.pptx (or any presentation) in Normal view.

• Click the Open A PowerPoint File link.

I kept the original formatting so you could more easily see the inserted slide. If you enable the Keep source formatting option and change your mind, do the following:

• Click the Design tab.
• Click the appropriate theme in the gallery.

That’s it! Next, I’ll show you how to turn one presentation file into many presentations.

You can create several presentations, but if you’re reusing many of the same slides, you might consider consolidating all of your slides into one presentation. Then, you can use the Custom Slide Show feature to run different shows. Working with one file is certainly easier than working with several.

Once you have all the slides you need in one presentation file, you’re ready to start building your custom shows. Fortunately, the process is simple, as you’ll see:

• I added the remaining slides from the Class Expectations template to the Open House template using Reuse Slides, but you can work with any presentation. With the Open House.pptx (or any) presentation open, click the Slide Show tab.
• In the Start Slide Show group, click Custom Slide Show and choose Custom Shows.
• In the resulting dialog, click New.
• In the Slide show name control, enter a meaningful name, such as Open House Custom Show.

This custom slide show contains all of the original Open House.pptx slides plus the Student Behaviors slide from the Class Expectations.pptx presentation file. Repeat this same process to create a second slide show for students, as shown in Figure F . Notice that this show contains only the slides that were in the original Class Expectations.pptx presentation file. After adding the appropriate slides, I used the Up button (to the right) to reposition the first and second slides. To run a custom show, choose the show from the Custom Slide Show drop-down.

Create a second custom slide show.

Working smarter.

The examples are simple on purpose, but you can see how convenient both of these features are. With just a few clicks, you can add existing slides into another presentation. The alternatives would be to recreate slides or to open multiple presentations and cut and paste. In addition, maintaining a single presentation for different groups is certainly easier than maintaining multiple files. Be careful when creating custom shows that contain confidential or proprietary information–you don’t want to accidentally display information to the wrong audience!

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• Upload PPT files to merge them online for free.
• Specify the parameters and press the "MERGE" button to merge PPT.
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How to merge Microsoft PowerPoint and other files?

Just use our online merger . It is fast, easy to use and entirely free. It is designed to quickly merge documents and images online.

Which formats does your merger support?

How many files can i merge at a time, what is the maximum allowed file size for merging, how can i get the merged result, for how long are my files stored on your servers, are my files safe on your servers, why does the merging process run so long, learn about different file formats.

Indulge yourself into learning more about well-known document and image file formats.

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A file with PPT extension represents PowerPoint file that consists of a collection of slides for displaying as SlideShow. It specifies the Binary File Format used by Microsoft PowerPoint 97-2003. A PPT file can contain several different types of information such as text, bulleted points, images, multimedia and other embedded OLE objects. Microsoft came up with newer file format for PowerPoint, known as PPTX, from 2007 onwards that is based on Office OpenXML and is different from this binary file format.

The most popular file formats to merge

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Work together on PowerPoint presentations

When you save your presentation to OneDrive or SharePoint in Microsoft 365 , you can work on it concurrently with your colleagues. 

Share your file with others

To invite other people to access your PowerPoint file and collaborate, take these steps:

Use the drop-down list to indicate whether a recipient can edit the file or only can view the file. Optionally add a note.

To proceed, select Send .

Note:  The Share dialog box offers an alternative option: Use the Copy link button and share the link. Anyone with the link can access the document with default permissions. 

Collaboration 

As others join you in working in your shared document, you can see evidence of their presence and activity. 

To enable automatic display of full names (i.e., for Accessibility purposes) go to File > Options > Advanced > Display > Show presence flags for selected items

When you’re done working, simply save your file. If there are no conflicts in the revisions, they will be automatically merged.

Reviewing changes and resolving conflicts

When you close/exit your shared PowerPoint presentation file, you can review the recent changes and resolve any difference across the team’s edits. 

Review all changes 

Upon saving your file, all non-conflicting changes are automatically merged into your presentation. You can see these in the My Changes view.

Choose either My Changes or Changes by Others .

When you are done resolving conflicts, select  Done .

More detail about conflicting changes 

Communicate in the shared file via Comments, Tasks, and Chat

In addition to seeing each other’s slide revisions in real time, PowerPoint enables various team interactions within the presentation file. 

Comments. To create, view, or respond to comments, use the Comments icon.   You can reply to, resolve, or mark comments as complete. To learn more, see Add comments . 

Tasks. A Task is a special kind of Comment that can be assigned and tracked to closure. To learn more, see add Tasks .  Chat. (Microsoft 365 only) You can instantly chat with other people who are working in a presentation stored on OneDrive for work or school or SharePoint in Microsoft 365. 

On the toolbar, at the right end, click the icon (picture or initials) of a collaborator who is currently working in the file.

Use the chat window to interact with everyone who is currently in the file. 

Note:  If another person subsequently opens the file to edit it, they can also join the chat. However, they will see only the new messages from that time forward, not the chat history. 

Notifications upon reopening a changed file 

See others’ recent revisions

Select the thumbnail to open the full-size slide.

Note:  Recently revised slides are highlighted, but all revisions may not be indicated on the slide. Non-indicated revision types include notes pane changes, deletion of shapes, comment additions, and animation changes. 

Access prior versions of a presentation

While you are working on files stored via OneDrive and OneDrive for work or school, Office preserves prior versions of them. For a specific file, you can view the list of prior versions and optionally restore a prior version. 

View the prior-versions list

With the file open, take these steps: 

Select the file name in the title bar of the app window.

Select Version History.

Open a prior version 

In the Version History pane, select a previous version.

Select Open version .

View the read-only copy now displayed in a separate window.

More information about revision highlighting 

Several factors can affect the extent to which revision highlighting occurs. 

Revision highlighting works on shared documents that are stored in OneDrive and SharePoint.

Changes are not highlighted if the file is encrypted or password protected.

Changes are not highlighted if the file is in .odp format or the older PowerPoint .ppt or .pps format.

Changes are highlighted only when the person making the change is using PowerPoint for the web, or PowerPoint for Microsoft 365. (More specifically, at least version 1707 of Current Channel or version 1803 of Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel). Here is a link to Find your Office version .

Changes are not highlighted if revision data has been turned off for the document in the Trust Center Privacy Options .  Privacy options NOT turned on  If the privacy options are not turned on, the presentation will store the user's name and the time of the most recent edits to an object. If needed, you can remove that information via Document Inspector. Learn how in this article: Remove hidden data and personal information by inspecting documents, presentations, or workbooks .  Privacy options ARE turned on  If the privacy options are turned on, the revision highlighting gets turned off. Thus, there is no storage of person-related data (usernames and their recent access timing.)

Where the data is stored

In order to make revision highlighting possible, data about the read/unread status of individual slides is stored separately by PowerPoint. Where that data is stored depends on which version and channel of PowerPoint is in use. 

Note:  We are in the process of shifting towards storing that data in an online Microsoft service designed for saving user settings. 

This table lists versions of PowerPoint and where each one stores the read/unread status data specific to each person who opens the file. Use this link to Find your Office version . 

Do you miss Slide Libraries? 

If you’d like to see Slide Libraries in PowerPoint, please send us your feedback. See How do I give feedback on Microsoft 365 . Your input will help us prioritize which features to include in future updates. 

Share your presentation with others and collaborate on it at the same time

Note:  If you'd rather not upload your presentation to your OneDrive or SharePoint, you can share it via an email attachment by selecting Send a Copy instead.

Enter the email address of the person you'd like to share the presentation with. If you already have the person's contact info stored, you can just enter the name. The control at the top lets you determine whether your invitees can edit the file or only can view the file.

Click Share . An email will be sent to your invitees.

See where others are working in your shared presentation

Open the presentation and start working in it.

If someone else is viewing or working in the presentation, their thumbnail picture appears in the top-right corner of the ribbon. PowerPoint alerts you when people enter or leave your presentation.

You'll also see the name of anyone viewing or editing the presentation in the Share pane. There's an indicator—on the thumbnail of the slide and in the actual slide—that shows where someone is working in the presentation. Hover over or select that indicator to find out who is editing.

(For accessibility, PowerPoint also allows you to turn on automatic display of the editor's name. Turn it on by selecting PowerPoint > Preferences > View > Show presence flags for selected items .)

When you’re done working, save your file.

If your updates and other authors’ updates don't conflict, they'll be merged automatically, and you don’t need to do anything else.

Notifications when you open a changed file

After other people make changes to a shared presentation file, PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac notifies you when you re-open the file. A small banner tells you who has made changes to your presentation while you were away.

Tracking changes: Revisions by others are highlighted

PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac automatically keeps track of changes made in online documents.

When you re-open a changed presentation (or are in a file being actively edited by someone else), changed slides are highlighted in turquoise in the thumbnail pane. A tooltip says, "Slide has unread changes."

Select a thumbnail to look at the full-size slide. You'll see the changed portion of the slide outlined in turquoise. An accompanying notation tells you who made the change, and when. By looking at the revised slide, you clear away the turquoise highlighting and the "slide has unread changes" notation on that slide.

(There are some cases where a revised slide is highlighted, but the kind of change that has been made isn't outlined on the individual slide. Examples of such changes include: Changes in the Notes pane, deletion of a shape, addition of a comment, and animation changes.)

What determines whether changes are highlighted:

This feature works on shared documents stored in OneDrive and SharePoint.

Changes are highlighted only when the person who makes the change is using PowerPoint for the web, or PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac—at least version 16.11. Find your Office version

Changes aren't highlighted if the file is encrypted or password-protected.

Changes aren't highlighted if the file is in .odp format or the older PowerPoint .ppt or .pps format.

Communicate by using Comments

You can add a new comment or reply to or resolve existing comments.

( Microsoft 365 only ) Tag a colleague in a comment by using the @-sign followed by the person's name. That person receives an email message with a link to your comment. Clicking the link brings them into the document and into the conversation.

See previous versions of the file

Office preserves prior versions of your SharePoint, OneDrive, and OneDrive for work or school files while you’re working on them.

To open the list of the prior versions of a file, select the file name in the title bar of the app window, then select Browse Version History .

Version History is for viewing, not editing. You can see any prior version of a file.

To open a prior version:

In the Version History pane on the right, select Open Version in one of the version-history items.

A read-only copy of that version is opened in a separate PowerPoint window.

You can copy content from a prior version. You can also Save A Copy of a prior version so that you can edit it separately from the file you're currently working on.

Share a presentation with others

Add a message to your colleagues if you like.

Click Send .

When multiple people work in a file at the same time, indicators show you where they are:

Towards the top right corner of the window you'll see a badge - with their profile picture or initials - for each person who currently has the file open. Select that badge to see where in the slide deck they currently are.

On the thumbnail pane you'll see a label appear at the top right corner of the slide thumbnail with the name of the person currently on that slide.

See revisions made by other people

When you open a presentation that someone else has changed, PowerPoint tells you in two ways:

A While You Were Away message appears on the right side of the window.

In the slide thumbnail pane on the left, slides that have been revised are highlighted with a turquoise background.

When you open that slide, you'll also see a turquoise outline around the revised slide element. By looking at the revised slide, you clear away the turquoise highlighting and the "slide has unread changes" notation on that slide.

Confer by using Comments or Chat

Tag a colleague in a comment by using the @-sign followed by the person's name. That person receives an email message with a link to your comment. Clicking the link brings them into the document and into the conversation.

Use File > Info > Version History to open the list of the prior versions of a file.

Version History is for viewing, not editing. You can see any prior version of a file. You can copy content from a prior version. You can also Save A Copy of a prior version so that you can edit it separately from the file you're currently working on.

Rename a presentation file

You can rename a file in PowerPoint for the web while you're co-authoring with others.

Type a new name for the file. Or use the arrow keys to position the insertion point within the title, and then type your changes to the file name.

Press Enter when you're done.

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Combine PowerPoint File Online: Fast & Secure PPT Merger

Combine PowerPoint files with our advanced PPT merger effortlessly. Merge your presentations securely and quickly while maintaining original formatting.

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Combining PowerPoints from different sources is a common task in modern workplaces. However, merging presentations can be time-consuming and complex, often risking your carefully crafted designs. Our innovative online tool solves this challenge. It helps you merge PowerPoint files quickly and securely, while maintaining your original formatting; all within your web browser – no software installation required.

Introducing Our Free PowerPoint Merger Tool

Our PPT merger is a powerful, free online tool that can merge PowerPoints quickly and easily. It works right in your web browser, processing files locally on your device. This means it’s fast, secure, and efficient, unlike many other online options.

Key Features:

• 100% Free: No hidden costs or premium versions
• Local processing: No need to upload files to external servers
• One-click merging: Instantly combines your PowerPoint files
• Secure: Your files never leave your device
• Efficient: Ability to merge PowerPoint files in one go
• No file size limits: Combine even your largest presentations
• Format maintenance: Keeps original slide layouts and designs intact
• Multi-device access: Use on your computer, tablet, or smartphone

Key Takeaway: Our free online PPT merger offers local processing on any device, ensuring fast, secure, and efficient combination of your PowerPoint files.

Why Choose Our PowerPoint Merger?

When it comes to merging PowerPoints, our tool stands out from the crowd:

Benefits of Our Online Merger Tool:

• Streamline Presentations: Easily combine multiple PowerPoints into one cohesive presentation
• Save Time: Quickly merge files without the need to manually copy and paste slides
• Preserve Formatting: Maintain the original layout and design of each presentation during merging
• Collaborate Efficiently: Combine work from multiple team members into a single file
• Organize Content: Arrange slides from different presentations in your preferred order
• Reduce File Clutter: Consolidate related presentations into one comprehensive file

Key Takeaway: Our free, local PowerPoint merger offers a faster, more secure, and more efficient way to merge PowerPoint files compared to online alternatives.

How to Merge PowerPoint Presentations Using Our Tool?

Follow these simple steps to combine PowerPoint files:

• Upload Files: Drag and drop or choose the PowerPoint files you want to merge
• Set Order: Arrange the files in the desired order
• Click Merge files: Our tool immediately begins processing
• Download: Once complete, download your merged PowerPoint file

Pro Tip: Before merging, ensure all presentations have a consistent theme or design for a more cohesive final product.

Frequently Asked Questions

Try our free online PowerPoint merger today and experience effortless file combination that maintains your original formatting. Whether you need to merge PowerPoint files for a big presentation or combine PowerPoints from your team, our tool makes it simple, secure, and visually consistent – all from the convenience of your web browser.