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By default, PowerPoint creates slides in landscape (horizontal) orientation. To change PowerPoint to portrait mode, go to the Design tab, click Slide Size, select Custom Slide Size, and change the orientation from Landscape to Portrait. This switches all slides in the presentation to a vertical layout.
Portrait slides are useful for creating posters, flyers, infographics, mobile-friendly presentations, and documents meant to be printed on standard letter or A4 paper in vertical orientation. The change applies to the entire presentation — PowerPoint does not support mixing landscape and portrait slides in a single file.
This guide covers the process for PowerPoint 365, 2021, 2019, 2016, PowerPoint for Mac, and Google Slides.
Click Design tab > Slide Size > Custom Slide Size > change Orientation to Portrait > click OK.
Method 1: Change to Portrait in PowerPoint on Windows
This method works for PowerPoint 365, 2021, 2019, and 2016 on Windows.
Open Your Presentation
Open PowerPoint and load the presentation you want to change, or create a new blank presentation.
Go to the Design Tab
Click the Design tab in the ribbon at the top of the screen.
Click Slide Size
In the Customize group on the right side of the ribbon, click Slide Size. A dropdown menu appears.
Select Custom Slide Size
Click Custom Slide Size at the bottom of the dropdown. The Slide Size dialog box opens.
Change Orientation to Portrait
Under Slides, change the orientation from Landscape to Portrait. The preview updates to show a vertical slide. Click OK.
Choose How to Scale Content
PowerPoint asks whether to Maximize (fills the slide, may crop content) or Ensure Fit (scales content to fit without cropping). Choose Ensure Fit for most cases.
Tip: If your existing landscape content looks odd after switching to portrait, it is often easier to start with a blank portrait presentation and recreate or paste your content rather than reformatting every slide.
Method 2: Change to Portrait in PowerPoint on Mac
The process on Mac is nearly identical with minor menu differences.
Open the Design Tab
Open your presentation in PowerPoint for Mac and click the Design tab.
Click Slide Size
Click Slide Size in the ribbon. On older versions, this may be under the File menu.
Select Page Setup
Click Page Setup or Custom Slide Size. The dialog box opens.
Switch to Portrait and Confirm
Change the slide orientation to Portrait and click OK. Choose how to handle existing content scaling.
Method 3: Change to Portrait in Google Slides
Google Slides does not have a one-click portrait option, but you can achieve it by manually setting custom dimensions.
Open Google Slides
Go to slides.google.com and open your presentation.
Go to Page Setup
Click File > Page Setup in the top menu.
Select Custom Dimensions
Click the dropdown and select Custom. Set the width to 7.5 inches and height to 10 inches (or 19.05 cm x 25.4 cm) for a standard portrait layout.
Click Apply
Click Apply. All slides switch to portrait orientation. Existing content may need repositioning.
Method 4: Set Custom Portrait Dimensions
For specific use cases like posters, A4 documents, or mobile screens, you may need exact custom dimensions rather than the default portrait size.
Open Custom Slide Size
Go to Design > Slide Size > Custom Slide Size.
Enter Custom Dimensions
Common portrait sizes: A4 Paper: 7.5 x 10 inches. US Letter: 7.5 x 10 inches. Poster: 24 x 36 inches. Mobile Screen: 9 x 16 inches (or set to a 9:16 aspect ratio).
Apply and Adjust Content
Click OK and reposition your slide elements to fit the new dimensions.
Warning: Changing slide orientation applies to ALL slides in the presentation. PowerPoint does not support having some slides in landscape and others in portrait within the same file. If you need both, create two separate files and link them.
Why Would You Use Portrait Mode in PowerPoint?
Portrait orientation suits specific use cases better than the default landscape. Posters and flyers are typically designed vertically. Infographics present data in a top-to-bottom flow that fits portrait naturally. Mobile-first presentations display better on phones when held upright. Documents intended for printing on A4 or letter paper should match the paper orientation. Resume and CV templates use portrait layout. Newsletter and brochure designs follow vertical reading patterns. Choosing the right orientation before designing saves significant reformatting time.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, PowerPoint requires all slides in a presentation to have the same orientation. To combine both, create separate files and use hyperlinks to navigate between them during a presentation.
Yes, content designed for landscape will need repositioning. PowerPoint offers Maximize or Ensure Fit options, but manual adjustment of text boxes, images, and layouts is usually required.
The default is Widescreen 16:9 (13.33 x 7.5 inches) in landscape orientation. Older versions defaulted to Standard 4:3 (10 x 7.5 inches).
You cannot change a single slide's orientation in PowerPoint. The workaround is to use a custom slide size that accommodates your content or to link to a separate portrait-oriented file.
For US Letter paper, use 7.5 x 10 inches. For A4 paper, use 7.5 x 10.83 inches. Leave margins by not placing content too close to the edges.
PowerPoint Online has limited slide size options. For full control, use the desktop version of PowerPoint to set custom dimensions, then save to OneDrive.
Change the slide size to your poster dimensions (common: 24 x 36 inches portrait). Design your content on a single slide and export as PDF for printing.
Yes, through custom page setup. Go to File > Page Setup > Custom and enter portrait dimensions like 7.5 x 10 inches.
Text boxes retain their landscape-width dimensions. After switching, manually resize text boxes to be narrower and taller to match the portrait layout.
Save a portrait-oriented file as a template (.potx). Then when creating new presentations, use this template to start in portrait mode by default.