How to Make Six PowerPoint Handout Slides Larger on a Printed Page
Question details
The user wants to print six PowerPoint slides per page as a handout but needs the slide thumbnails to be larger by minimizing the unnecessary white space around them.
- Product
- PowerPoint
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Printing a presentation handout with multiple slides per page for an audience or personal review.
- Observed behavior
- Default handout settings in PowerPoint leave too much white space, making the 6 slide thumbnails too small to read effectively.
Before modifying slide size or print dimensions, ensure your presentation content is finalized, as altering slide aspect ratios can unintentionally distort your graphics and text.
Export to PDF and Print Using Adobe Acrobat (Recommended)
Since PowerPoint's native handout master has limited layout control, exporting to PDF allows you to use a PDF reader's advanced multi-page scaling to maximize slide size.
PDF readers like Adobe Acrobat provide custom scaling options that bypass PowerPoint's restrictive default handout margins, allowing you to fill the page much more effectively.
In PowerPoint, go to File > Save As or File > Export, and choose PDF as the file format. Save the file to your computer.
Open the newly created PDF file using Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Click File > Print. Under the 'Page Sizing & Handling' section, select the 'Multiple' button.
Set 'Pages per sheet' to Custom and enter 2 by 3. Adjust the page orientation to Landscape or Portrait based on which option maximizes the preview size, then click Print.
Adjust Printer Layout Settings Instead of Handout Settings
Print standard full-page slides but tell your printer driver to shrink them to fit 6 per page, which often reduces the white space compared to PowerPoint's handout mode.
Modify Custom Slide Size in Handout Master
You can force a dimension change in the Handout Master to stretch the slides, though this is less recommended as it may affect your overall presentation layout.
Print Custom Handouts Easily with WPS Presentation
WPS Office provides highly customizable print layouts, making it easier to print 6 slides per page with minimal white space without needing third-party PDF workarounds.
- 1. Open Your File: Launch WPS Presentation and open your PowerPoint document.
- 2. Access Print Settings: Click the Menu icon in the top left corner and select Print.
- 3. Choose Handout Layout: Under the 'Print what' dropdown, select 'Handouts' and choose 6 slides per page.
- 4. Scale to Fit: Check the 'Scale to fit paper' option to maximize thumbnail sizes and automatically reduce excessive white space.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I remove all white space between slides on a printed handout?
Completely removing white space is difficult due to the aspect ratio differences between widescreen slides (16:9) and standard paper sizes (like A4 or Letter). However, using a PDF reader's 'Multiple' print layout or enabling your printer's borderless printing feature minimizes the gaps significantly.
Why are my 6-slide handouts so small by default in PowerPoint?
Default handout templates in PowerPoint reserve large margins for headers, footers, and page numbers. The application restricts the size of the thumbnails to ensure all elements fit well within the standard printable area of the page without altering the slide's aspect ratio.
Does changing the Handout Master affect my actual slides?
Adjusting standard placeholders (like moving the date or header) in the Handout Master doesn't change your slides. However, if you change the 'Slide Size' dimensions from within the Handout Master tab, it will resize your actual slides and potentially distort your presentation.
