Theme Fonts in PowerPoint 2008 for Mac

Each Theme contains several unique facets such as Theme Fonts, Theme Colors, and Theme Effects that set each Theme apart from other Themes. Figure 1 below shows examples of the same slide with different Themes applied. Note that all the slides differ in terms of colors, fonts, and effects applied. Yet the text content is still the same.

Figure 1: Variations of the same slide with different Themes applied

When a different Theme is applied to your PowerPoint presentation, the fonts, colors, and effects applied to your slides change. Unless you override this on a per slide basis, these changes show up in all slides in the presentation. The resulting slides all look consistent.

In this tutorial, we'll explore how Theme Fonts work in your presentation. Theme Fonts are pre-decided pairs of fonts: one of these fonts is used for titles (known as the Theme Headings font), and other font is used for everything else (known as the Theme Body font). When you select any text in your PowerPoint presentation, and then access the Fonts list within the Formatting toolbar you'll notice the Theme Headings and Theme Body font that's allocated for the active Theme right at the top of the Fonts drop-down gallery, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2, below.

Figure 2: Theme Headings and Them Body fonts being displayed within the Fonts drop-down gallery

Not that you are not limited to use the default Theme Fonts for your presentation. You can always scroll down the Fonts drop-down gallery and select another font for any individual text object, but doing so will override the active Theme of your presentation. For that matter, you are not even limited to the default Theme Fonts associated with the active Theme applied to the presentation. There are many ready-to-use Theme Fonts sets available within PowerPoint that you can switch to. Follow these steps learn more:

1. Create a new presentation and apply a Theme to it, or open an existing presentation which has a Theme applied. For this tutorial we have created a new presentation and applied the Metal Theme, as shown in Figure 3 below. You can apply any other Theme.
2. 
   Figure 3: Presentation with a Theme applied
2. Now, access the View menu, and select the Formatting Palette option, as shown in Figure 4.
3. 
   Figure 4: Formatting Palette option to be selected
3. This opens the Formatting Palette tab of the Toolbox, as shown in Figure 5. Within the Formatting Palette tab, locate the Fonts option (highlighted in red within Figure 5).
4. 
   Figure 5: Fonts option within the Formatting Palette
4. Click the downward pointing arrow located next to Fonts option to bring up a drop-down list, as shown in Figure 6. Choose any of the Theme Fonts sets within the Fonts drop-down list. Figure 6 below shows a different Theme Fonts set called Goudy Old Style being selected. When you have decided which Theme Fonts set you prefer, click on that Theme Fonts set to apply it to your presentation.
5. 
   Figure 6: Fonts drop-down list
5. This will change the Theme Font set for your presentation slides, as shown in Figure 7 (compare with Figure 3). Note that the overall Theme is not changed. The slide still sports the same layout, colors, effects, etc. It's just the fonts that have changed.
6. 
   Figure 7: Theme Font changed
6. Now, select some text and access the Fonts drop-down list within the Formatting toolbar. You'll notice the Theme Headings and Theme Body fonts that are allocated for the active Theme right at the top of the Fonts drop-down gallery are now changed, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 8, below. Compare it with Figure 2, above.
7. 
   Figure 8: Changed Theme Headings and Theme Body fonts
7. Save your presentation often.