Preview of Default Theme not showing in PowerPoint

Elizabeth 21 Reputation points
2022-05-23T17:30:36.36+00:00

I updated the default theme for PowerPoint by saving a new Blank.potx file. The file works great, but the preview in PowerPoint > New menu looks like a document rather than what the slide deck actually looks like. How do I get this preview to look correct?

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PowerPoint Management
PowerPoint Management
PowerPoint: A family of Microsoft presentation graphics products that offer tools for creating presentations and adding graphic effects like multimedia objects and special effects with text.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. John Korchok 4,926 Reputation points
    2022-05-23T21:56:11.143+00:00

    Instead of naming the file Blank.potx, call it Default Theme.potx and move it to the Document Themes subfolder of your Templates directory (C:\Users\YourActualUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Document Themes). Then you should get an icon that shows a preview.

    If you're still having problems, open File>Info>Properties>Advanced Properties and make sure that on the Summary tab of the dialog, there is a check mark beside Save preview picture.

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  1. Elizabeth 21 Reputation points
    2022-05-23T22:17:04.69+00:00

    The advanced file properties was exactly what I was looking for. I had seen that suggestion elsewhere on the internet and incorrectly assumed it was a file property set from explorer and not something within the PowerPoint application. Thanks for the quick reply!

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