How to Find and Replace text in the Master and Layout slides?

Solution 1:

Turns out that you can do the search/replace with a bit of VBA:

' Use this to test the replacement
' Usage:  Call ReplaceTextInLayouts (text to replace, text to replace it with)
Sub TestReplace()
    Call ReplaceTextInLayouts("BETTER", "WORSE")
End Sub

Sub ReplaceTextInLayouts(sSearchFor As String, sReplaceWith As String)

    Dim oSh As Shape
    Dim oLay As CustomLayout
    
    With ActivePresentation
        For Each oLay In .SlideMaster.CustomLayouts
            For Each oSh In oLay.Shapes
                If oSh.HasTextFrame Then
                    With oSh.TextFrame.TextRange
                        If InStr(.Text, sSearchFor) > 0 Then
                           Call .Replace(sSearchFor, sReplaceWith)
                        End If
                    End With
                End If
            Next
        Next
    End With
End Sub