Looking to save time when creating a presentation? PowerPoint templates are a quick and easy way to design a professional slideshow without having to start from scratch. Whether you need a modern, creative, or business-ready design, PowerPoint’s built-in templates offer a great starting point. In this article, I’ll show you how to find and use the Microsoft PowerPoint templates to streamline your presentation creation process.
What Are PowerPoint Templates and Why Use Them?
The built-in PowerPoint template designs provide pre-defined formatting for different parts of a presentation including the background patterns, fonts, colours and general look-and-feel. There is no need to start from scratch. The templates cover specific audiences but also target various design styles. You can find a template for a “modern” presentation right through to a presentation suitable for high schoolers or even an architecture based slideshow. The templates are certainly worth 10 minutes of exploring while you enjoy a cup of coffee (or tea!).
One suggestion I provide to all people who attend one of my training courses is to be inquisitive. You don’t know what you don’t know, so have a sticky-beak around the programs to discover new options and resources.
There are many people who don’t like the template options. Some believe they are overused and that we should steer clear of them. I however am 100% for any feature of the Microsoft products which will save me time and so if a template is going to save me 3 hours of design time then I’m all for utilising them.
Where to Find the Best Free PowerPoint Templates Online
If you’re looking to expand beyond the built-in PowerPoint templates, there are several excellent websites offering free PowerPoint templates for a wide range of topics, industries, and design styles. Whether you’re creating a presentation for business, education, or a creative project, these resources can save you time and inspire fresh ideas. Most sites offer editable templates in both PowerPoint and Google Slides formats, and many don’t even require an account to download.
Here are some top sites to explore:
- Slidesgo – Free PowerPoint and Google Slides templates with modern, professional designs. Limit of 5 downloads/month for free users.
- SlidesCarnival – Offers a wide variety of themed templates, ideal for business, education, and marketing.
- PresentationGO – High-quality templates with editable graphics, charts, and diagrams.
- PowerPoint School – Features creative, animation-rich templates and tutorial videos for building standout slides.
- Access a wide variety of free PowerPoint templates via the Microsoft Create website.
Create a presentation using a template
To create a presentation based on a template, follow these steps:
- Open Microsoft PowerPoint.
- Choose New from the sidebar.
- The built-in templates will now be displayed:
- At the top of the screen, you will see a search box which allows you to search by keywords related to a topic or design style.
- Underneath the search bar, you will see some suggested search terms.
- I always recommend that you spend about 10-15 minutes and have a good browse through the different categories – “you don’t know what you don’t know” and so this provides you with some exploration of what you could utilise.
- Let’s now look for business-related presentations, from the suggested search terms, click Business.
- Browse through the options and single click on a design you wish to use, you will see a preview appear:
- If you would like to proceed and use the template, click Create, otherwise click the X and continue looking through the templates till you find one you like.
- Once you click Create, the template will be downloaded from the Office.com website and displayed in PowerPoint:
- Now that the template is open, you can spend a few moments exploring the different slide layouts plus the design elements such as images, SmartArt graphics, charts, and table which are included in the template.
You have the option of now creating your content directly within the presentation, or use the Reuse slides feature to import slide content from existing presentations where relevant.
More PowerPoint articles
If you are new to using PowerPoint and are not yet comfortable with creating a presentation from scratch, the following posts will provide you with some guidance:
- Introducing the PowerPoint window
- Basics of using placeholders in PowerPoint
- Choosing a slide layout in PowerPoint – why it’s important
- Effective presentation design tips
- Create Speaker Notes in your presentation
- Preview a slide show in PowerPoint
That wraps up this guide on how to create a presentation using PowerPoint templates. Whether you use a built-in design or download one from another source, templates are a fantastic way to save time while still delivering an engaging, well-structured presentation. Let me know in the comments if you have a favourite PowerPoint template or any questions about using them!