Lorem ipsum in PowerPoint
To put lorem ipsum in PowerPoint, make it in the generator below, copy it and paste it into a text box or placeholder on your slide. It starts on five short bullet points, the usual shape of slide text. Microsoft documents the =lorem() and =rand() sample text functions for Word, so for slides the reliable way is to paste.
Lorem ipsum generatorUpdated 3 min read
Make slide-sized text
Lorem ipsum generator
Open the full tool- For bullet slides, keep List items selected and set the number of points. Each item is 3 to 8 words, short enough for a bullet.
- For a text-heavy slide, such as speaker notes or a quote, switch to Sentences and pick two or three.
- Leave HTML off. PowerPoint wants plain text.
Paste it into a slide
- Click inside the text placeholder ("Click to add text") on your slide.
- Paste the text.
- If the bullets look doubled, the paste kept the "- " at the start of each line. Delete those characters, or paste paragraphs or sentences instead.
To keep the slide's own font and size, choose Keep Text Only from the paste options button that appears after you paste.
What "placeholder" means in PowerPoint
In PowerPoint, a placeholder isn't text. It's a box. Microsoft describes placeholders as "the dotted-line containers on slide layouts that hold such content as titles, body text, tables, charts, SmartArt graphics, pictures, clip art, videos, and sounds."
The grey prompt inside an empty placeholder, like "Click to add title", is the placeholder text. It never appears in a slide show and it disappears once you type. Lorem ipsum is different: it's real text that stays until you replace it, which is why it's useful for judging how a full slide looks.
Change the placeholders on every slide
Placeholders come from the slide layout. To change them for the whole deck, open View > Slide Master, select a layout master in the thumbnail pane and edit its placeholders. Microsoft notes that Slide Master view isn't available in PowerPoint for the web.
To apply a different layout to one slide, select the slide, then Home > Layout.
Dummy text in a template you share
If you're building a template for other people, leave the layouts' own prompts ("Click to add text") in the master, and use lorem ipsum only on example slides. People then see both: what goes where, and what a full slide looks like.
Make it in Word, then paste
If you have Word open, you can make the text there. Type =lorem(5,1) at the start of an empty paragraph and press Enter for five one-line paragraphs, then copy them into PowerPoint. Microsoft explains that the first number is paragraphs and the second is lines per paragraph.
Before you present
Search the deck for "lorem" with Home > Find before you share or present it. Dummy text left on one slide in fifty is easy to miss.
Sources
- How to insert sample text in Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Support, checked 2026-11-02
- What is a slide layout?, Microsoft Support, checked 2026-11-02
Questions
How do I type lorem ipsum in PowerPoint?
Make it in the generator on this page, copy it and paste it into a text placeholder on your slide. Microsoft documents the =lorem() function for Word, not for PowerPoint.
What is the shortcut for lorem ipsum?
There's no keyboard shortcut. In Word you can type =lorem() and press Enter; for PowerPoint, copy the text from a generator.
What is placeholder text in PowerPoint?
The prompt inside an empty placeholder box, such as "Click to add title". It isn't shown in a slide show, and it disappears once you type into the box.
How many bullet points should a slide have?
There's no official number. Start with the count of points you really plan to make, so the dummy slide shows a realistic amount of text.