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I'd like to be able to reuse a resource across multiple slides (multiple instances) and be able to edit the "master instance" and apply changes to all instances. In Illustrator / Sketch this reusability comes by the name of "Symbols". Is there a templating mechanism in PowerPoint that would allow me to achieve this? I know I can go into the Slide Master and modify the used colors and fonts but it seems like that's about it....

Why do I need this functionality? I like to take advantage of the Morph transition since it allows me to easily produce complex animations and at the same time keep the presentation well structured. The major issue with this approach is that once I'm done with the slide sequence that morphs a set of elements I end up copy-pasting stuff for every little change I want to make.

Here's a simple example.

This is my original presentation: https://1drv.ms/p/s!AqErqjP9BQgCw1ex_rzI2npQiQ08

This is a modified version where I swapped out the first image: https://1drv.ms/p/s!AqErqjP9BQgCw1g3nJR0_EkoZkZT

For the second version of the presentation I had to go through every slide and copy-paste the new image on top of the old one. I know I can try to achieve the same effect within a single slide but that's not really an option for me.

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  • Me too. My use case (YouTube video exported from a PowerPoint presentation): The Lifecycle of an IMS Connect Transaction. The presentation contains copies of that transaction flow diagram (with different elements highlighted) across multiple slides. I took great care making sure the original graphic (drawn in CorelDRAW) was correct before animating (er, "transitioning") it. Aug 30, 2018 at 4:09

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  1. Change the file type of your .pptx file to .zip
    • (morph-image-list-example.pptx → morph-image-list-example.zip)
  2. Extract the contents of the .zip file
  3. Open the folder titled "ppt" and then open the "media" folder
  4. Replace the image file but keep the file name the same
  5. Return to the root folder that contains the "ppt" folder
  6. Select the "ppt" folder along with the other files/folders
  7. Right click your selection > Send to > Compressed zip folder
  8. Rename the new .zip file to whatever you want your PowerPoint file to be and change the extension from .zip to .pptx
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  • I would add as a first step: Backup your presentation. :o)
    – Rafael
    Feb 9, 2021 at 16:15

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