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Font Fixing: Using Replace Fonts in PowerPoint

A quick introduction to one of the most fun "toys" in PowerPoint: Replace Fonts

Every once in a while, I find that I need to completely change the look of a presentation, but I don't have time to spend doing it. Articles on this site alteady address using custom shows and color schemes to change the content and the base colors of your presentations. However, there is one other change tool that comes in quite handy: Replace Fonts.

"Replace Fonts" is found under the "Format" menu. Once selected, it brings up the following window:



The top dropdown menu lists the fonts you are currently using in your presentation. The bottom one will be used to select the font you wish to use. In this case, we want to change the following very basic slide:



And change the Times Roman text (the body text) to Abadi MT Condensed, giving us this result:




If we go one step further, we can change the title text as well, giving us a totally new look:




However, if you notice, there is something besides the base font that is changing. Different fonts are different relative sizes. Notice that now the headline is much larger than it was originally? This will be true of any instance of the font you are changing. So, if you used Arial (our original headline font) in your charts, graphs, or autoshapes, you will need to check that those shapes are still appropriately sized for the new fonts you have selected.

One last example, to show how far you can go with this idea. One of the best uses of this tool is to change from plain to fancy presentations. Our original font selection was standard and boring looking. We made the slide more interesting when we changed the title, but what if instead of picking Abadi MT Condensed, we choose Twigs. We would then have a very informal presentation, who's pages would look like this:




Can you see a problem with this? You guessed it: If you aren't careful, you can get so creative that your audience can't read what you have on the screen. You can avoid this by always checking your font changes in Show view.

Copyright 2002