Tutorial: Adding Placeholders in PowerPoint

This tutorial is intended to supplement the Understanding PowerPoint Accessibility article.

Placeholders in PowerPoint allow you to add text or multimedia content to a slide. Adding a text box (Home > Insert > Text Box) is not recommended because text boxes are not consistently readable by assistive technology. It is best to choose a pre-formatted slide layout that has as many placeholders as you will need.

Selecting a layout with a sufficient number of placeholders is not always possible, however, particularly if you need additional placeholders to describe complex images offscreen for individuals with vision impairments.

There are two ways to increase the number of placeholders available on a slide. The first is to import a template with many extra placeholders available, such as our 5 Content Placeholder Template. This process is described below. Alternatively, you can use Microsoft’s tutorial to learn how to add additional content placeholders with Slide Master. 

Import a Template

1. Download the 5 Content Placeholder Template to your computer.
2. Go to the Design tab in the ribbon at the top of the screen
3. Select the dropdown arrow below the preset templates.
   
4. Select “Browse for Themes”
5. Find the 5 Content Placeholder Template file on your device and select it.
6. If you have already created your slide, you will need to re-apply the layout template.
   • Go to Home on the ribbon.
   • Select “Layout”, and select the design you want to use.
7. When successfully applied, the template will show 5 content placeholders that say "Click to add text" arrayed around the edges of the slide.