Forum Discussion
Powerpoint customizing theme fonts on Mac OS
I'm trying to create a Microsoft Powerpoint Template for my client so they can use it to design slides in future. I've managed to save their colour palette, update the master slides and change the fonts I can see, but when I add text boxes to the slides it still shows the old "theme fonts" and I'm unable to update it.
I've tried editing in variants (not available) and in Design > Fonts and it only shows the default font options not a "customization" option outlined in the support documentation. I also don't seem to have access to any them font updates in the Master Slide area as well.
Is there a way to change the theme fonts to my default font choices from Powerpoint on a Mac?
1 Reply
You’re not missing the button: PowerPoint for Mac doesn’t provide the same Create New Theme Fonts dialog as the Windows version. Changing fonts on the master doesn’t necessarily change the theme’s underlying heading/body font pair.
For new text boxes, you can fix the immediate issue on your Mac:
- Insert a text box on a normal slide and type some sample text.
- Apply the font, size and other formatting you want.
- Select the text box’s border, Control-click, and choose Set as Default Text Box.
- Delete the sample box, save the template as .potx, and test a new presentation created from it.
That sets the default for new text boxes, but doesn’t redefine Theme Fonts or existing placeholders.
For a fully reusable client theme, the simplest route is to open the file once in PowerPoint for Windows, use Design > Variants > Fonts > Customize Fonts to set the heading and body fonts, then save it. Mac PowerPoint can use that saved custom theme. Make sure the client has the chosen fonts installed too.
