iWork '09: The Missing Manual

Saving Custom Themes

After you’ve gone to all the trouble of modifying or creating your own master slides, they still exist only within that one Keynote document. But if you save them as a theme, they’re available whenever you want them, right in the Theme Chooser.

Before you save your theme, though, take a few minutes to put together some sample slides in the document. These slides show up in the Theme Chooser when you skim your theme’s thumbnails for a preview. As you build up your theme collection, these preview slides become invaluable reminders of just what the theme looks like. For example, previews for the Apple-designed themes all include a slide with a sample table and another with a chart to show the theme’s default style for each.

When you’re ready to go, choose File → Save Theme and give your new theme a name. If your theme’s master slides contain sounds or movies, turn on the “Copy audio and movies into theme” checkbox at the bottom of the Save dialog box. Turning on this checkbox can make your theme’s file size much larger, but it ensures that if you move your theme to a different computer or plan to share it with others, the audio and video files tag along for the ride.

Keynote’s standard spot for saving themes is in a folder named Themes buried deep in your hard drive. Themes saved there automatically show up at the bottom of the Theme Chooser. You don’t have to save your themes in Keynote’s Themes folder, though. From the Save dialog box, select any destination folder ...