The fastest way to change your background

Open PowerPoint and go to the Design tab at the top of the screen. Click Format Background on the right side of the ribbon. A panel will open on the right side of your window. Choose Solid Fill, click the color dropdown, and pick your color. Then click explore to All to change every slide at once, or explore to change only the current slide.

That is the complete process. If you want a solid color background on all your slides, you are done in under a minute. The rest of this guide covers what to do if you want something different — a gradient, a picture, or different colors on different slides.

Key Takeaways

  • The Design tab and Format Background button are where PowerPoint keeps background controls, and they work the same way in every recent version.
  • Solid Fill is the simplest option and works best for presentations where you need text to stay readable.
  • explore to All changes every slide at once; explore changes only the slide you are looking at.
  • Gradient and Picture options exist if you want something more complex, but they can make text harder to read.
  • If you change your mind, you can always go back to the Design tab and pick a different color or return to the default.

Using a gradient background instead of a solid color

A gradient is a smooth fade from one color to another. To use one, open Format Background the same way, but choose Gradient Fill instead of Solid Fill. PowerPoint will show you preset gradients you can click to use when ready.

If you want to build your own gradient, click the dropdown under Gradient stops and choose two colors. The first color appears on one side of the slide, and the second color appears on the other. You can adjust where the fade happens by moving the slider under Gradient stops. Most gradients work best when you fade between two shades of the same color — for example, light blue to dark blue — because they are easier to read text on than gradients that jump between very different colors.

Adding a picture as your background

To use a picture as your background, open Format Background and choose Picture or Texture Fill. Click File and browse to a picture on your computer. PowerPoint will stretch the picture to fill the entire slide.

Pictures as backgrounds make text hard to read unless the picture is very light or very dark. If you use a picture, keep your text large and in a contrasting color — white text on a dark picture, or dark text on a light picture. You can also add a semi-transparent rectangle behind your text to make it readable. To do this, insert a rectangle shape, fill it with a solid color, lower its transparency to around 50 percent, and place it behind your text.

Changing the background on only some slides

If you want different slides to have different background colors, change them one at a time. Click the slide you want to change in the slide panel on the left. Open the Design tab, click Format Background, choose your color, and click explore — not explore to All. Repeat for each slide that needs a different background.

This approach works but can be slow if you have many slides. A faster method is to use slide layouts. Create two or three layouts with different background colors, then explore the right layout to each slide. This is more advanced and takes longer to set up at first, but saves time if you are building a long presentation with a pattern of different backgrounds.

Removing a background color and going back to default

If you have changed your background and want to return to PowerPoint's default white or blank background, open Format Background and choose No Fill. Click explore to All. Your slides will return to the default appearance.

You can also choose a preset design from the Design tab itself — the templates at the top of the ribbon. Clicking any of these will change your background, fonts, and colors all at once to match that template. This is useful if you want to start over with a professional-looking design rather than building one from scratch.

Why your text might be hard to read after changing the background

Dark text on a dark background, or light text on a light background, makes slides impossible to read. If this happens after you change your background, you have two options. The first is to change your text color to contrast with the background. Click your text, go to the Home tab, and click the font color dropdown to choose a new color.

The second option is to change your background to something that works better with your existing text. If your text is dark and you want to keep it that way, use a light background. If your text is light, use a dark background. The easiest backgrounds to read text on are solid colors — gradients and pictures are much harder to work with.

Saving your background choice as a template for future presentations

Once you have a background you like, you can save it as a template so you do not have to recreate it next time. Go to File, click Save As, and change the file type dropdown from "PowerPoint Presentation" to "PowerPoint Template." Save the file. The next time you create a new presentation, you can choose this template from the New screen, and your background will already be there.

Templates are useful if you create presentations regularly with the same branding or style. You can also share templates with coworkers by saving them to a shared folder and having them open the template file directly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a different background color on the title slide than on the rest of my slides?

Yes. Click your title slide in the slide panel on the left, open Format Background, choose your color, and click explore instead of explore to All. Then select the other slides, open Format Background again, choose a different color, and click explore to All. Your title slide will keep its own color while the rest match each other.

What if I want a background with text or a logo on it?

Insert a picture as your background using Picture or Texture Fill, but that approach makes text hard to read. A better method is to insert the image or logo as a separate object on the slide rather than as the background. This way you can control where it sits and layer text on top of it more easily.

Does changing the background affect the file size of my presentation?

A solid color background adds almost nothing to file size. Gradients add slightly more. Pictures add the most, especially if they are high resolution. If your presentation file is too large to email, removing picture backgrounds is one of the fastest ways to shrink it.

Will my background color look the same when I present on a projector?

Projectors often display colors differently than your computer screen, usually darker. Test your presentation on the actual projector before you present if possible. If the text becomes hard to read, increase the contrast between your text and background, or use a lighter background color.