Title Footer Page Number Consistency

---
name: title-footer-page-number-consistency
description: Aligns titles and makes footers, dividers, and page numbers consistent so a long deck reads as one document.
---

# Title, Footer and Page-Number Consistency

## When to use

Use this skill when titles jump position and footers or page numbers are inconsistent. Symptoms include a title that sits at a different height on every slide, a footer with the project name on some slides and blank on others, page numbers that are present, missing, or in a different spot, and section dividers that do not match. Run this first in Stage 4, before the full audit, because these are the repeated elements a reviewer notices immediately.

## What it does

It makes the deck's persistent furniture consistent: titles at one position and style, a footer with the same content and placement throughout, page numbers present and uniform, and dividers that share one design. The result is a deck that reads as a single, finished document rather than a stitched-together file.

## Method

Persistent elements belong on the slide master and layouts, not hand-placed per slide. The job is to get them onto the master and uniform across the deck.

1. **Fix titles to one position.** Confirm every title is in the Title placeholder at the layout's position (the Grid skill handles drift; here confirm the result). Titles should share one top edge, one left edge, one size, and one case rule across the deck.

2. **Standardize the footer.** Decide the footer content from the brand: typically the confidentiality note, the project or client name, or a copyright line. Set it once via Insert then Header and Footer (or on the master) and apply to all, so it is identical on every slide. Remove per-slide manual footers.

3. **Enforce page numbers.** Turn on the slide-number placeholder and confirm it appears on every content slide in the brand's position and style. Decide the convention: whether the title slide and dividers carry a number, and whether numbering is "n" or "n of N." Apply it uniformly.

4. **Unify dividers.** Make every section divider use the same layout, the same background, the same title treatment, and the same numbering ("Part 1," "Part 2") so sections feel parallel.

5. **Handle the title slide and closing exceptions.** The title slide and closing slide usually omit the footer and page number by design. Set these exceptions deliberately rather than leaving them inconsistent by accident.

6. **Check the running header if present.** If the brand uses a running header or a section label that updates per section, confirm it reflects the right section on each slide and is in the same place throughout.

7. **Confine furniture to the safe zone.** Keep footers and page numbers inside the safe zone and out of the trim, and keep the footer logo's clear space (coordinate with the Logo skill).

## Inputs

- The deck.
- The brand rules for footer content, page-number convention and position, and divider design. If undocumented, ask, or state a single convention and apply it.

## Output format

A consistency report:

- The chosen conventions: title position and case, footer content and placement, page-number convention and position, divider design, and the title or closing exceptions.
- A per-slide list of furniture that deviates and the fix (move title, set footer, add page number, restyle divider).

Close with a confirmation that titles, footers, page numbers, and dividers are uniform across the deck.

## Example

Input: a 30-slide deck where page numbers appear on about half the slides and the footer text varies.

Output:

- Conventions: title at the layout position, sentence case; footer "Confidential. Project Atlas." bottom-left; page numbers "n" bottom-right, off on the title and dividers; dividers on the Section Header layout numbered "Part n."
- Set the footer and page number on the master and apply to all; turn off on the title and dividers.
- Restyle two dividers that used the wrong layout.
- Result: uniform titles, footer, page numbers, and dividers.