How to Change Where Slide Numbers Start in Powerpoint 2010

Powerpoint presentations are often a collaborative work that can be broken into multiple parts. The individual parts can then be combined into one large slideshow that is presented as a group.

But it can be confusing for your Powerpoint audience if the page numbering continues to reset at 1 for each section, so you will need to customize the page numbering sequence.

Fortunately, you can elect to have your numbering start at any number in Powerpoint 2010, which will make it much simpler for both the presenters and the audience to follow along.

Change the Starting Slide Number in Powerpoint 2010

The steps in this guide will adjust the settings for your Powerpoint presentation so that the slide numbers start with a number that you specify.

This is commonly used when you are working on a presentation that is part of  larger presentation, such as one that is being compiled by a team of people. So the first slide in your specific presentation may in fact be the 10th slide of the overall presentation.

Step 1: Open your presentation in Powerpoint 2010.

Step 2: Click the Design tab at the top of the window.

click the design tab

Step 3: Click the Page Setup button in the Page Setup section at the left end of the navigational ribbon.

click the page setup button

Step 4: Click inside the Number slides from field, then enter the starting number that you would like to use. You can then click the OK button at the top-right corner of the window to apply your changes.

change the starting slide number

Are you unclear about how to add page numbers to your presentation, or would you like to skip numbering the title slide? Learn more about how to work with page numbers in Powerpoint 2010 so that you can specify page numbering behavior as needed.

Now that you know how to change where slide numbers start in Powerpoint, you can use this setting and others on this menu to customize their appearance.

Are you creating a Powerpoint presentation that isn’t fitting well on letter sized paper? Powerpoint 2010 will allow you to change the page size to dimensions that you specify. This is helpful if you need to print a presentation on legal paper, or if your information is not ideal for the default page size.

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