How to Make an Orientation Change from Landscape to Portrait in PowerPoint

What is Slide Orientation?

Slide orientation controls the shape of your slide.

• Landscape: It is the default layout. It looks like a wide layout and is great for screens and presentations.
• Portrait: It is a tall and vertical layout. It is useful for content like infographics, long lists, or documents intended to be printed.

 

How to Change Slide Orientation

Portrait to Landscape

STEP 1: Open your presentation in PowerPoint.

STEP 2: Click on the Design tab at the top.

STEP 3: Click on the Slide Size > Custom Slide Size.

STEP 4: From the dropdown, select the ‘Standard (4:3)’ option for a traditional layout or ‘Widescreen (16:9)’ for a more modern look.

A dialog box may pop up asking if you want to maximize your content or ensure fit. Choose the option that best suits your needs.

Your slides will now be set to landscape orientation.

Switching to Portrait Mode

STEP 1: Open your PowerPoint presentation and navigate to the ‘Design’ tab at the top of your screen.

STEP 2: Within the ‘Design’ tab, click on ‘Slide Size’ located in the ‘Customize’ group.

STEP 3: From the ‘Slide Size’ dropdown, choose ‘Custom Slide Size…’ to open a new dialog box.

STEP 4: In the ‘Slide Size’ dialog box, select ‘Portrait’ under the ‘Slides’ section for the orientation.

STEP 5: You will then be prompted to decide how you want to apply the changes, similar to when you switch to landscape—’Maximize’ or ‘Ensure Fit’.

Upon making your choice, all your slides will adopt a portrait orientation.

Best Practices

How to Combine Landscape and Portrait Slides

• Create two separate presentations. One in a landscape layout and the other in portrait.
• In your main presentation, identify the point where you want to switch to a portrait slide.
• Insert a hyperlink on the landscape slide that links to your secondary portrait presentation.

Maintain Design Consistency

• Use a common colour scheme across all slides.
• Consistent fonts and font sizes.
• Keep logos, headers, or footers in the same position on each slide.
• Standardise the layout of similar elements, like bullet points, text boxes, and images.
• Implementing master slides and slide templates can save time.

 

Tips & Tricks

• Manually adjust elements by selecting them and using the corner handles to scale proportionally.
• For text boxes, you can resize the box or adjust the text size.
• Review images and graphics to make sure they are not stretched or squished.
• Reposition elements on the slide to utilise the new space.
• Use the ‘Align’ tools to position your content.

Default Slide Orientation

STEP 1: Open a new PowerPoint presentation.

STEP 2: Go to the ‘Design’ tab and select ‘Slide Size’ to choose your preferred orientation and size as your starting point.

STEP 3: Once you’ve adjusted these settings, save the presentation as a template by going to ‘File’ > ‘Save As’ and selecting ‘PowerPoint Template (*.potx)’ from the ‘Save as type’ dropdown menu.

STEP 4: Name your template and save it in the designated Templates folder or a personal directory.

 

FAQs

What is the default orientation in PowerPoint?

In PowerPoint, landscape is the default orientation.

When to use portrait orientation?

You can use the portrait orientation for long content, reports, or vertical designs.

Will my content change after switching orientation?

If you change the orientation, some elements may shift or resize.

How to use both orientations in one presentation?

You cannot directly use both orientations in one presentation. You need to create separate files and link them.

Which orientation is better for online presentations?

Landscape works better for most screens.