Phenquestions
When a lot of people work on multiple PowerPoint presentations and then need to merge them in the end, it becomes challenging. The primary reason is the formating. If the teams are not in sync with each other, it will become a painful job to bring them to the same format.
Microsoft PowerPoint offers an in-house solution just like Word and Excel, which will allow you to merge multiple PowerPoint presentations, and still keep the formatting intact. The right way to do this is to ask everyone to use the same theme. Make sure to set up the PowerPoint Theme in one file, and then share it with everyone.
How to Merge Multiple PowerPoint Presentations
We have three ways to merge multiple PowerPoint files. While the first one is good when you have fewer numbers, and preserving the formatting is the primary goal. The second can combine any number of files available in a folder.
- Reuse Slides Method
- VBA Code Method
- Copy Paste Slides.
Each method has its advantage and drawback. Choose wisely.
1] Reuse Slides Method
Microsoft PowerPoint offers an inbuilt tool- Reuse Slides. It allows you to import single or multiple slides to your presentation from another, without having to open the other file. When you use this option, make sure to choose the option for formatting, especially if you want to have the same theme as the source file.
- Open a new Powerpoint file or existing one where you want to merge the slides.
- Select the slide after which you want to insert the slides from the source file.
- Go to Home > New Slide > Reuse Slide.
- Browse to select the file which you want to merge. Then click on the arrow button.
- It will reveal all the sides available on that slide.
- Click on the slide you want to insert, and it will be instantly added to the slide.
- If you want to keep the format exactly as the source slide, check the box which says, “Keep source formatting.”
Any slide you add here is a copy. The source file remains intact, and no changes will be made to it. Any change you make in the merged document will not become available in the original file.
One of the best parts of importing using this method is that it will keep all animations or transitions. It wasn't the case earlier, and one had to use the Object method, followed by multiple configurations to make it work. Object Method is only useful if you want to pack multiple files into one.
2] VBA Code Method
Since there is no native method to merge numerous PowerPoint Presentations, we will have to use a VBA code, just like how we did to merge Excel files. It is straight forward and works better compared to the VBA code we used for Excel. The code worked fine for me well, and I was able to merge 3 PowerPoint files worth 60 slides.
In the new or existing PowerPoint file where you want to merge all the presentations, press ALT + F11
Click in Insert > Module and paste the code inside that module. Do not bother saving it.
Sub InsertAllSlides() ' Insert all slides from all presentations in the same folder as this one ' INTO this one; do not attempt to insert THIS file into itself, though. Dim vArray() As String Dim x As Long ' Change "*.PPT" to "*.PPTX" or whatever if necessary: EnumerateFiles ActivePresentation.Path & "C:\PathtoSlidesYouWanttoImport", "*.PPT", vArray With ActivePresentation For x = 1 To UBound(vArray) If Len(vArray(x)) > 0 Then .Slides.InsertFromFile vArray(x), .Slides.Count End If Next End With End Sub Sub EnumerateFiles(ByVal sDirectory As String, _ ByVal sFileSpec As String, _ ByRef vArray As Variant) ' collect all files matching the file spec into vArray, an array of strings Dim sTemp As String ReDim vArray(1 To 1) sTemp = Dir$(sDirectory & sFileSpec) Do While Len(sTemp) > 0 ' NOT the "mother ship"… current presentation If sTemp <> ActivePresentation.Name Then ReDim Preserve vArray(1 To UBound(vArray) + 1) vArray(UBound(vArray)) = sDirectory & sTemp End If sTemp = Dir$ Loop End Sub
Make the changes that I have marked as bold.
Press F5, and it will execute the code
It will import all the slides from all the files available in that folder. However, it will lose the formating. That is the biggest problem with the code, but it can merge any number of files, which is its most significant advantage. Make sure to remove the VBA code once the import is complete. The code is by PPTFAQ.c0m.
3] Copy Paste Slides
I use this sometimes when there are multiple files, usually less than three, and I need to copy only a few slides from them. While you can use Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V, but you will lose formatting. So after you copy the slide, right-click on the slide list section of the destination file and select keep the format.
I hope all these methods were easy to follow, and you were able to merge multiple PowerPoint files.
Make sure to choose between the number of files to merge and the Theme of the slide as per your need.
Read next: How to Merge Word Documents.
