Choosing the Right Theme for Your Presentation

Themes control your presentation's entire visual style—colors, fonts, layouts, and backgrounds. The right theme makes your content professional and engaging.

Time: 3 minutes
Level: Beginner
Prerequisites: You've created a presentation

What Themes Control

A theme determines how your presentation looks and feels.

Colors: Background colors, text colors, and accent colors throughout your slides.

Typography: Font families, sizes, and text hierarchy for headings and body text.

Layouts: How content is positioned and spaced on each slide.

Backgrounds: Solid colors, gradients, or images that set the tone.

Result: One theme selection affects your entire presentation instantly.

Browsing Available Themes

Outline offers 100+ professionally designed themes for every use case.

During presentation creation:

1. On the outline step, look at the right sidebar
2. You'll see 3 AI-recommended themes based on your content
3. Click View all themes to see the complete library

After creation:

1. Open your presentation in the editor
2. Click Theme in the top toolbar
3. Browse thumbnails of all available themes

Tip: AI picks themes that match your topic. A tech presentation gets modern themes, while a formal report gets professional ones.

Previewing Themes

See how themes look before applying them.

1. Hover over any theme thumbnail
2. The preview shows a mini slide with that theme's style
3. Click the theme to apply it instantly
4. Your slides update in real-time

What to look for:

• Does the color scheme match your brand or topic?
• Is the text readable against the background?
• Does the style feel appropriate for your audience?

Result: You can try unlimited themes without commitment—switching is instant.

Theme Categories

Themes are organized by style and use case.

Professional: Clean, corporate themes for business presentations. High contrast, readable fonts, minimal decoration.

Modern: Contemporary designs with bold colors and geometric elements. Great for tech and startup content.

Creative: Artistic themes with unique layouts and vibrant colors. Perfect for design, marketing, and creative pitches.

Minimal: Simple, elegant themes that let your content shine. Ideal for data-heavy or academic presentations.

Bold: High-impact themes with strong colors and large typography. Use for sales, keynotes, and persuasive content.

Tip: Match your theme to your audience. Corporate clients expect professional themes, while creative teams appreciate bold designs.

Changing Themes Mid-Project

You can change themes at any time without losing content.

1. Open the theme selector in your editor
2. Click any theme to preview it
3. Your content adapts to the new theme's layout
4. All slides update simultaneously

What stays the same:

• Your text content
• Your images
• Your slide order
• Your block structure

What changes:

• Colors and backgrounds
• Font styles
• Layout spacing
• Visual accents

Result: Experiment freely—your content is safe.

Customizing Theme Colors

Some themes let you adjust colors for branding.

1. Select a theme
2. Look for the Customize option in theme settings
3. Adjust primary colors, backgrounds, or text colors
4. Changes apply across all slides

Tip: If you have brand colors, choose a theme with a similar palette, then customize to match exactly.

What You've Learned

• How themes control your presentation's look
• Browsing and previewing theme options
• Understanding theme categories and when to use them
• Changing themes without losing content

Next Steps

• Add visual interest: Learn to generate and customize images in Working with AI-Generated Images
• Fine-tune your content: Master editing in Customizing Your Presentation
• Share your work: Export and present in Exporting and Sharing

Pro tip: Save time by picking the right theme early. Most users choose a theme, generate slides, then make small edits rather than redesigning later.