How editing works

None of the steps below need a plugin, a script or a design background. To add one of these maps to a presentation, open the .pptx and copy the slide across; to make your own version, edit the shapes. The map is made of ordinary PowerPoint shapes, so working with it is the same as working with any other shape.

1. Ungroup the map

The map arrives as a single group, which keeps it aligned while you position it. To reach an individual area:

Click the map once to select the group.
Right-click and choose Group → Ungroup, or use Shape Format → Group → Ungroup.
The map becomes one shape per area.

Once the map is positioned as you want it, select the shapes and regroup them. A group moves and scales as a single object, which saves adjusting every shape.

2. Find an area

A district map holds several hundred shapes, so clicking through them is impractical. Use the Selection Pane instead:

Home → Select → Selection Pane.
Every shape is named after its area — Powys, Fife or Harborough.
Click a name to select that shape. Shift-click or Ctrl-click builds a multiple selection.

3. Change the colours

Select one or more areas, then set the fill from Shape Format → Shape Fill. The data slide in every template carries the theme's palette as colour swatches, which keeps a shaded map inside the theme.

For a single flat footprint, fill the areas you are highlighting with the accent colour and the rest with the muted tone. That is the treatment the spotlight slide uses.

4. Use your own figures

Every shape carries the ONS GSS code, which stays with the area when boundaries are reviewed or an authority is renamed. Names do not, which is why the code is the field to join on.

Paste your values next to the GSS code list on the data slide.
Classify into five classes. Quintiles suit skewed data.
Colour each class from the palette swatches.

Keep the number of classes to five or fewer. Beyond that the shades stop being distinguishable on a projector. The aim is a readable map rather than decoration: one class per colour, and a legend that says what each shade means.

Working in Keynote and Google Slides

Both applications open the .pptx directly. In Keynote, importing converts each map into a group of native shapes.

Typography is limited to Arial, which exists on both platforms, so no font substitution occurs on import.
Shape names are part of the file, which is what lets PowerPoint's Selection Pane list every area by name.
Keynote has no "Shape Fill" dropdown; use the Style tab of the Format inspector.
If a file is slow to open on an older Mac, delete the slides you do not need. Each slide is independent.

Google Slides imports the same file: upload the .pptx to Drive, or use File → Import slides to bring it into a presentation you already have. Nothing has to be converted first. The files carry no animation, SmartArt, chart or embedded media, which is what an importer normally has to drop or flatten, and the type is Arial throughout. The map is held as a single group of shapes, and Google Slides supports ungrouping and recolouring individual shapes.

Printing and presenting

Because the artwork is vector, contrast is the only significant constraint. In each theme the lightest shade still separates from the slide background on a dim projector, and the same file prints without pixelation at any size. For black-and-white printing, Mono is the appropriate choice.