Create a new presentation

Every new Keynote presentation begins with a theme. A theme is a predesigned set of elements—placeholder text and images, fonts, layouts, coordinated colors, and so on—for creating a presentation. Placeholders give you an idea of what a presentation created with this theme might look like when you use its text and object styles.

Create a new presentation

Open Keynote, then click New Document at the bottom of the dialog.
If you don’t see a dialog with a New Document button, choose File > New (from the File menu at the top of your screen).
Double-click a theme for your presentation.
Tip: You can set a preference in Keynote to always open a new presentation in a particular theme.
When the new presentation opens, do any of the following to build your presentation:
- Click in the toolbar to add slides.
- Double-click placeholder text to add your own.
- Drag an image from your Mac or a webpage onto a placeholder image or anywhere on the slide.
- Click in the lower-right corner of a placeholder image to add an image from iPhoto or Aperture.
Choose File > Save, then enter a name and choose a location for your presentation.

Always create new presentations from a specific theme

You can set a preference in Keynote to always open a new presentation in a particular theme instead of from the theme chooser.

Choose Keynote > Preferences (from the Keynote menu at the top of your screen).
Click General at the top of the preferences window, then select the “Use theme” button.
The first time you set this preference, the Black theme is selected. If you changed this setting before, the last theme you chose is selected.
Do one of the following:
- Use the currently selected theme: Verify that the theme you want to use is shown after “Use theme,” and close the preferences window.
- Choose a different theme: Click the Change Theme button, click a theme, click Choose, then close the preferences window.

After this preference is set, if you want to open a new presentation with a different template, hold down the Option key, then choose File > New from Theme Chooser (from the File menu at the top of your screen).