Templates

Where a layout is one slide's shape, a template is a whole presentation kept to start from. The quarterly review that has the same eight sections every time. The customer pitch where only the name and the numbers change.

Making one

Save a presentation as a template once it has the structure you want. Starting from it gives you a copy to work in, so the template itself stays as it was.

Treat it as a starting point rather than an empty form: what you saved is what you get, text included, and you replace what needs replacing.

Finding one again

The library filters, searches and sorts, and can be grouped into folders. Worth using once you pass a dozen: a template you cannot find is a template you rebuild from scratch, which was the thing templates were for.

Template or layout?

If you are about to save something, the question is how much of it you want next time:

One slide

A layout. Available in every presentation built in the same frame shape from then on.

A whole deck's structure

A template. You start a new presentation from it.

Saving a whole deck to reuse one good slide is the common mistake, and it makes the template library harder to use for everyone.