There is a way to get close to what you want. But you will not be able to get a copy you can alter (while leaving the original as it was). This workaround is based on creating background pages that build as "children/ parent" items. This takes some planning/ forethought.



First, how do Background pages work?

Right-click on a tab (bottom of the screen) and select "Insert". The Page Setup dialogue box will come up with the Page Properties tab selected. The first choice you will have a radio button selection for Foreground or Background. Select Background.

When creating a new page in this way, I recommend naming them based on their "parent" (you can change the name later by double-clicking on the tab, like in Excel).

After "Name", you will see a selector for "Background". This is where you select a slide to build from as the "parent" for this one. The first time you do this there will not be a background slide available (only choice for a background will be "none"). Select "Background" to create the first background page. You will build out a base that other pages will use for their starting point.

(Note, changes in a base "parent" page will propogate to a "child" page if you want to modify them later. But this can frustrate you also if you don't plan it well.) You can build multiple levels of background pages that are "phases" of what you want to copy and reuse.

Second, regarding the exact issue of copying a page, you will

1. Right-click on an existing page and change it's type at the top of the Page Setup dialogue box to "Background" from Foreground. Select OK.
2. Insert a new page (Select the tab with an asterisk, or Right-Click on the tab again and select "Insert")
3. Select "Foreground" page type
4. Give it a name
5. On the next selection (Background) , select the dropdown, then the background tab you just created in step 1 above.
6. Select OK

This will give you an exact copy of the original page. Note, however, that you will not be able to change anything on this "child" page that came from the "parent". You will only be able to add elements to it. (See discussion above on how background pages work.)

Hope that helps.