Add Slide Numbers in PowerPoint, Title Slide Excluded

To add slide numbers in PowerPoint, go to Insert > Slide Number, check Slide number on the Slide tab, and click Apply to All. That part takes ten seconds. Where people get stuck is everything after it: the title slide shows a "1," the first real slide starts at 2, a few slides show no number at all, or a report split across two files starts over at 1 in the appendix. In a meeting where 20 people are flipping through a printed copy, "turn to slide 12" only works if everyone's slide 12 is the same page.

The basic steps

Microsoft's guide to slide numbers, dates and footers gives the steps:

1. On the Insert tab, select Slide Number. Header & Footer in the Text group opens the same dialog.
2. On the Slide tab, check Slide number.
3. To keep the number off the title slide, also check Don't show on title slide.
4. Select Apply to All.

Apply affects only the selected slides; Apply to All affects the whole presentation. If the number shows up on just one slide, you clicked Apply.

Once numbering is on, adding, deleting or reordering slides renumbers everything automatically. Where the number appears depends on the theme; each theme has a default position, and you change it on the slide master.

Here is where each common request is handled:

Skip the title slide and start at 1

Don't show on title slide hides the number on the cover, but the cover still counts as slide 1, so your first content slide shows 2. To start content at 1, change the starting number:

1. On the Design tab, select Slide Size > Custom Slide Size.
2. Set Number slides from to 0 and click OK.

The cover becomes slide 0 (and stays hidden), and numbering starts at 1 on the next slide. The title-slide option only works on slides that use the Title Slide layout. If your cover uses a different layout, switch it with Home > Layout, or select the cover, uncheck Slide number and click Apply.

The same Apply trick removes the number from an agenda or divider slide. The count continues underneath, so if slide 3 is hidden from numbering, viewers see 2 followed by 4. Keep unnumbered slides to covers and dividers so nobody thinks a page is missing.

Move and restyle numbers on the slide master

Never fix the number's position slide by slide. Do it once on the master:

1. On the View tab, select Slide Master.
2. Click the slide master thumbnail at the top of the pane.
3. Drag the number placeholder (it contains <#>) to the new position and set its font, size and color on the Home tab.
4. Select Close Master View.

Layouts inherit the change unless someone moved the number on a specific layout; check those too. A size two or three steps smaller than body text, in a gray, keeps numbers readable without competing with content. For printed decks stapled on the left, the bottom right is where people look as they flip.

To change the format, type around the <#> code in the placeholder: - <#> - shows "- 5 -" on every slide. PowerPoint has no field for the total slide count, so for "5 / 24" you type "/ 24" after <#> on the master and update it when the count changes.

Number notes pages and handouts

Printed notes and handouts are numbered separately. The Header & Footer dialog has a Notes and Handouts tab next to the Slide tab, with its own page number, header, footer and date options. Handout page numbers count sheets of paper, while slide numbers count slides; with three slides per page, slides 7 to 9 sit on page 3. Turning both on confuses readers, so pick one for anything you hand out.

A worked example: a quarterly quality report split into two files

Northgate Supply sends Crestview Foods a quarterly supplier quality report: a main file with a cover and 23 content slides, and an appendix file with 12 slides of lab results and lot inspections. Crestview's quality team prints both and binds them together, so numbering has to run continuously from the first content slide to the end of the appendix.

In the main file, the analyst turns on Slide number and Don't show on title slide, clicks Apply to All, then sets Number slides from to 0 under Custom Slide Size. Content runs 1 through 23.

The appendix has no cover, so she turns on Slide number and sets Number slides from to 24. The appendix runs 24 through 35, and the printed set reads straight through. Any "see appendix, slide 30" references in the main file get checked once numbering is final.

Before sending, she opens File > Print and checks three pages in the preview: no number on the cover, 1 on the first content slide, 24 on the first appendix slide. She also confirms that Print Hidden Slides is off, so the page count matches what the customer expects.

👉 Slide Master in PowerPoint: How to Edit and Use It

When slide numbers won't show

The footer is switched off on the layout. This is the most common cause. Microsoft's footer troubleshooting guide says footers that don't appear are usually turned off in Slide Master view. Select the problem slide's layout there and check Footers in the Master Layout group. If the layout won't accept it, the setting is off on the parent master: select the master, open Master Layout, turn on Date, Slide number and Footer, then repeat for the layout.

The layout has no number placeholder. Layouts like Blank, or custom layouts, may not have one. Switch to a layout that does from Home > Layout.

The placeholder was moved off the slide or behind a shape. Select the slide and click Reset in the Slides group to restore the layout's placeholder positions.

Someone typed numbers into text boxes. Inherited decks sometimes have numbers typed by hand on each slide. They break the moment slides are reordered. Delete them and use automatic numbers.

The number is there but invisible. Its color matches the background, or Hide background graphics is on for that slide.

Version differences

The steps above are the same in PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 and PowerPoint 2016 through 2024 on Windows. Some current Microsoft 365 builds open a Footer pane on the right from Insert > Footer > Slide Number instead of a dialog; the checkboxes and Apply to All are the same. In PowerPoint for the web, Insert > Slide Number handles both turning numbers on and the starting number.

FAQ

Q. I hid the number on the title slide, and the next slide says 2.

The title slide still counts. Set Number slides from to 0 under Design > Slide Size > Custom Slide Size.

Q. Can I show "Page 5" instead of just "5"?

Yes. On the slide master, type "Page " before the <#> code in the number placeholder. Don't delete <#> itself, or the number disappears.

Q. How do I add the date as well?

In the same dialog, check Date and time. Update automatically changes to today's date whenever the file is opened; Fixed keeps the date you type. Use Fixed for reports sent to customers.

How inline AI keeps numbering right

inline AI takes the report you have open, hides the number on the cover, starts content at 1, continues numbering into the appendix file, and updates every "see slide" reference to match. For suppliers sending quality and delivery reports to customers each quarter, inline AI also pulls the lot and shipment records those reports are built from.