PowerPoint Retires “Reuse Slides” Feature
Ever spotted a software change that feels more like a step backwards than an improvement?
Microsoft has confirmed that it’s retiring PowerPoint’s well‑used Reuse Slides feature – and for anyone who builds presentations on a regular basis, this one stings a little.
If you’ve never used it, Reuse Slides was one of those subtle but incredibly useful tools tucked neatly inside PowerPoint. It allowed you to open a small panel, browse through an existing presentation, and select only the slides you wanted to pull across. You could even keep the original formatting intact.
For many businesses, it was ideal for maintaining consistent branding – ensuring your logo, colours and layouts stayed uniform across client proposals, training decks and internal reports. And, of course, it saved a huge amount of time.
Rather than rebuilding every presentation from the ground up, teams could simply lift the relevant slides from older decks. It streamlined workflows and helped maintain a polished, professional look across all materials.
But earlier this year, that helpful shortcut quietly disappeared.
According to Microsoft, the feature was removed because PowerPoint already offers other ways to duplicate content, and maintaining overlapping tools no longer fits into their design approach.
While that might be technically accurate, it’s not particularly reassuring for those who relied on the ease of clicking one simple button to get moving.
The good news? You can still reuse slides – it just takes a couple more steps.
One quick workaround is to open both presentations at the same time and drag and drop slides between them. In most cases, PowerPoint will preserve your animations, layout, and formatting.
Another handy method is using View > New Window, which opens a second version of your current deck. This is especially useful if you want to work on a fresh version while keeping your original file untouched.
Both approaches work, but they lack the precision and simplicity that Reuse Slides offered. Drag and drop is often fine, but occasionally it can introduce small formatting issues that you’ll need to tidy up afterwards.
Still, software evolves – even when we’d prefer certain favourites to stay put. Microsoft’s push for a more streamlined interface means some long‑standing tools will inevitably fall away.
If your business relies heavily on PowerPoint for sales pitches, client meetings or employee training, make sure your team knows about this change. Helping them get comfortable with these alternative methods now will prevent frustration later.
And if you’d like assistance adjusting to this update – or navigating any other Microsoft changes – GZD is here to help. Contact us for guidance tailored to your business’s needs.
