How to add slide numbers in PowerPoint (The Right Way!)

See how to add your slides numbers in PowerPoint so they show up correctly (it's harder than it should be).
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Have you ever asked yourself "Why can't I get my slide numbers to show up in my PowerPoint Presentation?"
In this tutorial, you will learn how to add page numbers (or slide numbers) to your PowerPoint slide master and have those page numbers automatically populate on all of the slides within your presentation.
Now, even if you already know how to navigate your slide master to add consistent design elements to your PowerPoint presentations, inserting page numbers and having them show up within your PowerPoint presentation often trips people up. Why? Because not only do you need to insert and position them on your slide master, but you also need to use the Header and Footer dialog box in the normal view of your presentation to insert the page numbers on all of your slide.
Step #1: navigate to your slide master, and add the page number to the Parent Slide (larger slide), in your deck
Step #2: navigate to the relevant Child Slide (smaller slide) that all of your graphics are sitting on, and from the Ribbon select footer. This will inherit the page number from your Parent slide.
Step #3: navigate to the Normal view of your deck, from the insert tab, open the footer and header dialog box.
Step #4: select slide number, click apply to all and click okay.
Pro Tip: You can use the insert footer and header dialog box to remove page numbers from your presentation as well. You don't need to navigate back to the slide master to do this.
Shortcuts Covered in this PowerPoint Tutorial: ALT, W, M - for the slide master view

[@braintatoo]

Thank you so much for this life/time/sanity-saving tutorial! Even though I've been creating PPT templates for years, I still come here almost every time to relearn how to insert the page numbers. It's sooo counter-intuitive! Please keep online for as long as Microsoft PPT doesn't evolve :P

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

I agree. Glad it was helpful!

[@JasmineRossol]

YOU'RE A LIFESAVER.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

+Jasmine Rossol Glad it worked out for you and thanks for the note! One other quick tip (a couple of people have emailed me about this)...if you have a deck that is not behaving correctly because people have copied and pasted from a bunch of different presentations, while in the slide master view you might need to cycle through the child slide layouts and remove and add the page number again up in the Ribbon...that will reset all of the slide numbers regardless of what someone has done to them, which you can then get to show up in the normal view like in the video. Just a quick heads up, cheers!

[@JasmineRossol]

You're AMAZING. Thanks so much for being so helpful! Very much appreciated.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

+Jasmine Rossol No sweat, that's what we're here for :). Good luck with your presentations.

[@EducationPineapple]

Thank you. Microsoft made it very complicated for no reason.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Thompson Kong glad that tip helped! Yes, it is overly complicated for some reason. Good luck with your presentations.

[@jsanders1906]

Complicated for no reason at all!

[@andrewrichard3490]

Thanks for not wasting my time. Excellent presentation!

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

+Andrew Richard Glad you enjoyed the pace of the video and thanks for the comment. Good luck with your presentations.

[@laqueenie_art]

OMG Thank you! Just got asked for this, and had no clue. Your tutorial was simple and easy to understand!

[@herbb52]

Short, sweet, and to the point!

[@stelas9307]

Thank you!! Wow, so much complication for such a simple thing. Thanks Microsoft for the user-friendly tools!

[@PianoforPleasure]

years and years of battling with slide numbers - thank you for sharing this trick!

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

One bonus tip on this...sometimes you have to remove them all (take a step back) and then re-add all the page numbers (to get what you want). I have no idea why they are so feisty :)

[@Nadalein84]

This was so helpful! Thank you!

[@anelgarcia5183]

THANK YOU !!! Great video

[@yuenkh78]

you are the man, huge thanks!

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad to hear that helped you out (page numbers can be a pain in PowerPoint).

[@dominikgyarmati8757]

I love the energy, thank you!!!

[@yams1121]

Really helpful. Since a long I'm trying to place page number in my place. Thanks a lot.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad the video helped you out, page numbers in PowerPoint can be a real pain! If you ever get stuck with them, you can check out my other slide number trouble shooting video here on KZbin: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqKWcmCriLtqp7M

[@lorieann911]

Thank you!! This is a Great Mystery SOLVED as I so appreciate this video as it helps so much!!!

[@Popemobile_]

Omg thank you. This was so helpful

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad it was helpful! I've also listed out all of these steps (and things that can go wrong) in the following blog post if you ever need it. nutsandboltsspeedtraining.com/powerpoint-tutorials/how-to-add-slide-numbers-in-powerpoint/

[@graphicflame7874]

There is no escaping saying you thanks. Thanks a lot man.

[@Pulse22]

Perfect tutorial. Really helped.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that helped you out! If you ever need a quick refresher, You can check out my How to Add Slide Numbers Blog post (which includes a variety of other Slide Number issues you might face in PowerPoint). nutsandboltsspeedtraining.com/powerpoint-tutorials/how-to-add-slide-numbers-in-powerpoint/

[@estycki]

I spent way too long trying to do this on my own. Was baffled why I could have my footer show on top of all my content but not my page number, and the page number kept showing up as . This finally worked!!!

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad you finally got it sorted and thanks for the comment. If you ever get stuck again, I did a follow up video showing all the ways PPT slide numbers get stuck (and how to fix them). You can check it out on youtube here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqKWcmCriLtqp7M

[@estycki]

Got it, thanks! But why only 430p?!

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

You mean the resolution of the video? Probably an export error on my end...better than than not up :)

[@estycki]

No worries, I got the gist of it

[@kivinduvirajitha5094]

Thank you

[@mungbean60]

Thanks, just stopped me from jumping off a bridge :)

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that saved you a long fall. Cheers!

[@manu10raj]

Thank You Brother

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

You are welcome.

[@villageapparelllc4739]

Thank you!

[@ricardocardenas186]

Thaaaaaaank youuuuuu!!!!!

[@dhsbajhang5501]

Thank you for knowledge sharing

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that worked out for you. Thank you for the kind comment.

[@Delston05]

You, sir, Rock. Thanks.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

+David Elston Thanks for the kind comment and glad you enjoyed the video! Good luck with your presentations.

[@Tzepesch]

Thank you. I find the two step process very unintuitive, and I wouldn't have figured this out without your help. :)

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Tzepesch Thanks for the comment and I'm glad that solved your problem...I agree it's not very intuitive the first time around. You can also launch that head footer dialog box with with the ALT+SHIFT+D shortcut. I just pulled together a new video with this technique that you can check out below:. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKrWhHl8aK2njqs

[@muhammadhasan3601]

Thank You :) it helped

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that helped you out, thanks for the comment!

[@simerpreet2]

Thanks for your help

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Simer Preet Glad you enjoyed the video! Let us know if there is anything else you'd like us to make a tutorial for...we're always open to suggestions :)

[@sraynitjsr]

Thanks

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that helped you out!

[@patriciamaebanday974]

THANKYOU SO MUCHHHHHHHHHH

[@pradoshtv]

thank you..

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

You're most welcome

[@malihaalman6535]

thank you!

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

You're welcome!

[@VikashKumar-ko1qs]

Thank you bro

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that helped, thanks for the comment!

[@victorjcook]

Thank you.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that helped you out, thanks for the comment.

[@janeahern5158]

Many thanks Taylor! Dear Microsoft - it is completely ridiculous that this very elaborate multi-step process is required to simply add a page #!!

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Yes, it's one of those things that seems like it should be A LOT easier than it is :). Glad the video helped you out and thanks for the comment.

[@shafrazbop1]

Thank You..

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that helped get you sorted! Thanks for leaving a comment.

[@sercanbuyukyldz1459]

Why is it so complicated like this? Thank you for clear explanation..

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

This is one of those things that SHOULD be easier, but it isn't. Glad you now know how to do it.

[@adityakhanna113]

How to display slide numbers such that they appear in the (current slide)/(total slides) format?

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

PowerPoint slide numbers don't work like they do in Word. To create a slide number of total slides, you have to manually set that up. I show you how to do that in my video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6Grn36Gpc-qack

[@HerLovesBooks]

You saved me.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that worked out for you! One other quick page number tip, if you apply the page numbers and they DON'T show up, simply go back to your slide master for the slide layout in question and toggle the page numbers off and then back on again...that will reset them correctly :). You can also check our our latest free mini-series for more great tricks. You can see the trailer here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIazg52jfbyqa5Y

[@glecyrelsalas2186]

AWESOME

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that worked out for you! Thanks for the comment and good luck with your presentations.

[@amalaysian1514]

Still doesn't work for me. For some reason, all I see is just a hashtag in parenthesis like this (#). I did all the steps in this video and still can't get numbers to appear. What could have gone wrong? I don't want to manually label the slides as there are 60+ slides in my deck.

[@elmiranadirova2737]

Thanks a llllott

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad to hear that helped you out!

[@gouthu.x]

How to resize all the number at same time

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

To resize all of your page numbers, you will first need to resize them on your slide master, then use the Header and Footer dialog box to remove all page numbers, then reapply them. If you don't remove them first, the new size you set on your slide master will not be automatilaly applied to them. So you need to remove them first, then reapply them to have it work. I hope that helps.

[@itsalejandroe]

The problem is that if I add an object or an image placed where the page number will be it, it won't be visible since it will be behind of the image or object I just placed, is there a way to make the page number be ALWAYS on top of everything like the text is?

[@LFCEOIN]

Our lecturer has told us to use his template for a presentation but his template is awful and when I go into the master slide to add the page numbers they arent appearing in the actual presentation even though they are selected

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Yikes...that's never fun. Try adding and removing them again and that should fix the error. If they are already on the Parent Slide on the slide master, go to the layout and re-select the footers, to make sure they are on the layout (on the slide master) and then in the normal view, hit ALT+SHIFT+D to open the footer dialog box. First remove them, from all slides, hit okay. Then hit ALT+SHIFT+D again and this time apply them, to all slides. That should fix the issue. Sometimes the page numbers get criss-crossed (not sure why). IF that doesn't work, shoot me an example of the deck and I will take a look and iron it out. It should be a quick fix. taylor (at) nutsandboltsspeedtraing (dot) com

[@bhausahebghuge7683]

Is there way to apply some font or color to one slide number and get it applied to all slide numbers automatically? Please tell.

[@bhausahebghuge7683]

Got it, it can be done in master layout itself!

[@1234saikrishna]

Dear sir, After selecting master layout all the check boxes(title,text etc) are blurred. What to do now

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

krishna Thanks for the note. What do you mean by blurred? Do you mean that there are no checkboxes that you can select? As long as you are on the parent slide (which it sounds like you are) then you should get those options and be able to choose between them. Let me know what you mean by blurred and I'll do my best to help out. If you can send me an example that would be best so I can see what you are looking at: taylor (at) nutsandboltsspeedtraining.com

[@graphicflame7874]

Hi there, Now the page number is not incrementing. What can I do ?

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Sounds like you might have some dead slide numbers. Check out my other video below for trouble shooting them...hopefully that helps get you sorted. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqKWcmCriLtqp7M

[@Immigrantwriter]

doing it all and my page number is still not showing up

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

See my follow up video which goes deeper into fixing them (it is probably something not properly set on your slide master). I hope that solves it for you. Video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqKWcmCriLtqp7Msi=ky7LdGmSpPZsPLLW

[@wildguy8989]

some of us own Mac what do you hit then

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Sorry about that, it's a little bit different on a Mac. I haven't made any Mac tutorials yet.

[@makemoneynow8690]

How to center numbers?

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

To center the page number inside the Page Number placeholder, you'll want to navigate to your Parent Slide on the Slide Master, select the Page Number object and hit Ctrl + E to center it. You can also resize the placeholder if you need to.

[@connorcurtis2718]

what if the slides have different layouts

[@glaceonumbreonsylveon8189]

This is a great video, but I need some help with hidden slides. On my presentation slide 3 is hidden, but the one that would be seen as the 3rd slide (slide 4) is still slide 4. I want that to say slide 3 instead. Anyway of doing this? Other than that this video is great! Never would’ve guessed that it would’ve been so complicated. Btw you guys deserve more likes. So many views, so little likes.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

I never thought about that before with the hidden slide... you are right, that is a major GLITCH. I was going to recommend setting up a custom slide show instead of hiding your slides (which allows you to run different presentations from the same deck of slides), but even then the slide numbers skip. In this case, I think you will need to move the hidden slides to the end of your presentation. I just played around with it and wasn't able to identify a workaround. PowerPoint still wants to count hidden slides. I will update my blog post and call it the Sylveon-Slide-Glitch since you found it :). Cheers!

[@glaceonumbreonsylveon8189]

Nuts & Bolts Speed Training Oh ok. A little odd that this isn’t an option since you can hide slides. I would’ve thought you could’ve set the numbers to change to the number of the slide shown to the audience or have it not count for hidden slides unless chosen. The good news is that this doesn’t matter too much for me.This was for a course on how to use PowerPoint, so I’ll brung this up to the teacher. Pretty sure he’ll be fine with it. Either way, This is still incredibly helpful. Thanks for responding so fast, and naming the glitch after me!

[@ddankhazi]

Wow. Great tutorial. PowerPoint is truly horrible.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Yes...this should be the simplest thing in the world and it turns out it's a pain. On top of that...sometimes the page numbers get "sticky" and you have to remove and add them a number of times to get them to show up. No idea why. Thanks for the comment.

[@laurenforgoodwill8797]

Have an issue that I cannot find a resolution to anywhere due to Microsoft's terrible products. On the title slide it shows "page " next to the correct "page 1" and all subsequent pages are named accurately. Everything, after much fiddling, appears fine but this one very frustrating issue. When I select "do not show on title slide" is still shows. So there it is, 2 page numbers on the front slide, even though there is only one page numbering element. If you are able to help it would be greatly appreciated. Your videos are solid and they helped me troubleshoot for sure.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Sorry I didn't see your comment earlier, it got put in my Spam bucket. The issue you are facing is your title slide is NOT in the first position on your Parent Slide... PowerPoint counts your title slide as the slide that is in the first position under your Parent Slide in your slide master. For help with this, check out my other KZbin video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/npeygGabea-gpqM

[@laurenforgoodwill8797]

@@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining Thank you! This was driving me crazy. I ended up adding a white box over it to cover it up lol - went back after reading this and was able to fix! Boo Microsoft. Yay Nut & Bolts Speed Training! :)

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

@@laurenforgoodwill8797 Glad that got you sorted. Slide numbers are one of those things that should be SO EASY... yet there are all these little places where they can get messed up. Glad you got your slide numbers sorted now :)

[@LastThai]

When I click master lay out Place holder box Every thing is unclickable Did I do something wrong ?

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Just confirming... you are saying that when you navigate to the Slide Master (View Tab - Slide Master) you are not able to select any of the placeholders there on your Slide Master? usually it is the reverse. You are not able to select those elements in the Normal View, but they should all be editable on your slide master. Double check too you navigate to your Parent Slide (the big one on the left). You might have elements there that are being carried over on your child slide layout. For more help, I recommend watching this series on your Slide Master. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYmmm4KeobSFhdk

[@makemoneynow8690]

My numbers still arn't showing up ?

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

From your other comment, it sounds like someone has done a number on your slide numbers. Sorry my videos weren't able to solve it for you.

[@ahmedhussam9259]

I've applied all these steps but in slide number place it appears a small star like that "*" any way to fix that ?

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

+ahmed hussam Go to your slide master and make sure that the page number field says ‹#›...my guess is it either got over ridden or you have a font format applied to it that cannot show up in the normal view. If that doesn't work shoot me your deck and i'll take a look: taylor at nutsandboltsspeedtraining.com

[@ahmedhussam9259]

PowerPoint for Business Professionals Can I upload the file and publish link for you to see ?

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

+ahmed hussam Sure...that works too. Just make sure I can download it so i can go in and look at the slide master.

[@dpk84]

"navigate back to the layout that all my graphics are sitting on" What the hell does this mean?

[@geekmeee]

Thank you Taylor, but please turn down the music... or better yet, please lose it.

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Yes... we have stopped adding the music to the videos. Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the feedback.

[@MeMe-we8nc]

Doesn't work!!!! :(

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Yikes! One other thing to try in the normal view is(1) go into the header footer dialog box and un-apply all your page numbers (2) close out of the headers footer dialog box (3) go back into the headers footer dialog box and re-apply them to all slides. Sometimes they get stuck when you first fix them on the slide master. That little un-apply, close and re-apply should fix it. Hope that solves it for you!

[@geopat4298]

Doesn't work. I go through all these steps to the tea... Slide numbers don't appear

[@jatinpatel5680]

gant

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that helped you out, thanks for the comment!

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

If you are looking for a good PowerPoint Template for 2019, Camille reviewed 9 of the best ones here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGaVhH-toryml9k

[@dysmayado]

Thank you!

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad that helped you out. If you ever run into other problems with them, check out my other video for some advanced trouble shooting techniques: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqKWcmCriLtqp7M

[@sadhviji7273]

Thanks

[@Nutsandboltsspeedtraining]

Glad you found it helpful, thanks for the comment.