Have you ever created a gradient in one slide that you’d love repeating in several other slides? Custom gradients can’t be saved, unfortunately, and so you have to use the Copy screen to repeat the gradient layer in, for instance, slides 8, 15, 20, and 32. If you hate the copy screen as much as I do, here’s an alternative, the instructions using the example given above:
Add a blank slide immediately following the one with the gradient.
- Highlight the layer with the gradient, and use Copy End to Next Slide to place the gradient in the blank slide.
- Select the gradient slide and press Control+C to copy it.
- Right-click slide 8 and choose Paste Into. Do the same with slides 15, 20, and 32.
The results are the same as when using the copy screen–the gradient will land in the top layer, and just as with the copy screen, you’ll move the gradient down to where you want it.
These directions take as long as the Copy screen, but it’s nice to have alternatives. I use Paste Into when developing styles, sometimes isolating a masking setup in its own slide so that whenever I need to repeat it, I can use Paste Into and bypass both the Copy screen and even the Options screen.
