Powerpoint 2007 mult-level list formatting (font size)

[angus.rouse]

Hello all,

I'm normally good at fixing problems by myself however this one has me stumped.

I have a powerpoint theme supplied by the company I work for that features a number of different slide layouts. A number these layouts include a placeholder for a bulleted list and I will often create new slides using these layouts purely to copy the bulleted list and ensure the formatting is consistent.

The items created at level 1 of these lists is formatted correctly with size 14 text and a good sized square grey bullet point. If I now attempt to create a level 2 item (new line and hit tab to indent) the font size of this new, level 2, line is reduced to 2.

Changing to a different theme produces the same results.



How can I change the settings to control the font size of my lists across all presentations (with or without this theme)? Where is the font size even controlled? I've looked to edit the slide master however the formatting of the multi level lists in this is already correct so I con't understand by it's not working in "actual" slides

[JohnWilson]

Did you check the formatting of each of the custom layouts as well as the large master?

[angus.rouse]

Adding text placeholder to the large master gives me the following list formatting:

Level 1: Arial (Body), 16, No bullet
Level 2: Arial (Body), 28, Green Square Bullet (100% size)
Level 3: Arial (Body), 16, Green Square Bullet (100% size)
Level 4: Arial (Body), 16, Green Square Bullet (100% size)
Level 5: Arial (Body), 16, Green Square Bullet (100% size)

-----------------------------------------------------------

Checking the list formatting for an individual custom layout slide gives the following:


Level 1: Arial, 14, Grey Square Bullet (100% size)
Level 2: Arial, 14, Green Square Bullet (100% size)
Level 3: Arial, 14, Grey Square Bullet (100% size)
Level 4: Arial, 14, Green Square Bullet (100% size)

----------------------------------------------------------

Checking list formatting for an actual presentation slide created using the aforementioned layout gives the following:

Level 1: Arial, 14, Grey Square Bullet (100% size)
Level 2: Arial (Body), 2, Green Square Bullet (100% size)

"Tabbing" from level 2 to create levels 3 and 4 does add the indent however the list no longer functions like a typical bullet point list and attempting to "Shift-tab" to reduce the list level does not work. The formatting of what would be levels 3 and 4 is a size 16 Arial font with no bullets. Attempting to press tab to go to level 5+ does not do anything.

[JohnWilson]

Sounds weird!

Does the reset button do anything?

Are you sure the text is in a placeholder?

Could you maybe post a slide or two (remove any sensitive data)

[angus.rouse]

Hi John,

Thanks for your help so far.

Are you sure the text is in a placeholder?

Honestly I'm not sure any more. They appear to act like placeholders when compared to a regular text box as they allow dynamic text input when I create a new slide, rather than the static text of a regular text box.

When I select the text box on the Slide Master view however, both the "Drawing Tools" tab and the "Picture Tools" tab become available on the ribbon bar whereas when I manually add a placeholder of a similar style, I only get the "Drawing Tools" tab so I am doubtful if this really is a placeholder.

Placeholder or not, I would still expect the formatting of an object in a presentation slide to match that in the Slide Master view.

Adding an actual placeholder to the layout does give me the correct formatting when I create a presentation slide but I'd rather avoid having to update all the layout slides replacing text boxes with place holders if possible.

I've attached an example slide and some images (pelase excuse the large image size - I don't want to downscale incase it loses clarity).

[JohnWilson]

Well the good news is I get 2 point font as well!

It is a custom text placeholder but when you look at the XML code it bears no resemblance to what it should be! I can only guess the original author has copy pasted something in instead of formatting properly.

Your only answer I think is to go to the relevant layout(6) and delete that placeholder and add it again from insert placeholder this time formatting it properly.

I quickly tested this but it will not be exactly correct (but not 2 point I hope)