In business meetings, you can use Microsoft PowerPoint slideshows to highlight important information and capture audiences’ attention. During a slideshow, clicking through various options with the mouse can throw off your timing. Plus, the audience can see you perform these actions.
A better approach is to use keyboard shortcuts. Besides being faster, you will look like a more experienced presenter. Here are 10 keyboard shortcuts that you can use when presenting slideshows using PowerPoint 2016, 2013, 2010, or 2007. You can also Google some other keyboard shortcuts!
1. F5
Pressing the F5 key begins the slideshow from the first slide.
2. Shift+F5
To begin the slideshow from the current slide, press Shift+F5. In other words, press the Shift and F5 keys at the same time.
3. Spacebar, N, or Right Arrow
When you are ready to advance to the next slide or perform the next animation, you can press any of the following: the Spacebar, the N key, or the right arrow key.
4. Backspace, P, or Left Arrow
If you need to backtrack, press the Backspace, P, or left arrow key to go back to the previous slide or animation.
5. Ctrl+P
Pressing Ctrl+P changes the mouse pointer from an arrow to a pen. You can then use the pen to add a note to a slide or call attention to an item.
6. W or Comma
During a presentation, you might want to pause the slideshow so that you can discuss a certain point. Pressing the W or comma key pauses it and displays a white screen. Pressing the W or comma key again resumes the slideshow. When the slideshow is paused, you can use the pen to write on the white screen. If you do not already have the pen activated, though, you will need to do so with the mouse (Pressing Ctrl+P to activate the pen does not work – it simply prompts the slideshow to resume.) Anything you write on the white screen will not be saved when you resume the slideshow.
7. B or Period
Pressing the B key or period key pauses the slideshow and displays a black screen, which you can write on. Press the B or period key again to resume the slideshow.
8. Ctrl+E or E
If you need to erase a mark you made with a pen on a slide, you can change the pointer to an eraser by pressing Ctrl+E. You can erase all the marks you made to a slide at once by pressing the E key. (The pointer will not change in the latter case.) You cannot use Ctrl+E or E to erase marks on a white or black screen created when pausing a slideshow.
9. Ctrl+A
Pressing Ctrl+A changes the pointer to the default arrow.
10. Esc
Another way to change the pointer to the default arrow is pressing the Esc key. If the pointer is already an arrow, pressing Esc exits the slideshow.
Microsoft PowerPoint delivers eye-popping presentations, animations and visuals that thousands of businesses rely on. If you need to start a presentation over, there are multiple ways to do this on both PC and Mac computers. Once you learn these shortcuts you will have more control over your presentation and can focus on more important aspects like speaking and engaging the audience.
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Press "1" and "Enter" during the slide show to return to the first slide on both Mac and PC computers. This is input for the slide selection. Replace the "1" with another slide number to jump to that slide.
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Press and hold the left and right mouse buttons down for two seconds to jump to the first slide. Make sure you press them both down at the same time or the slide will jump only one ahead or one backward.
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Press "S" twice to restart the production of an automatic slide show. This will restart any audio, animations and videos from the beginning of the slide show. On a Mac, press the Mac key and "Enter" to restart an automated slide show.
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Press "F1" to display a menu and select "Restart Slide Show" with the mouse. On Macs, hold down the "Control" key and click once to load this menu. Then click "Restart Slide show."
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Scroll up on the mouse wheel to quickly navigate to the first slide. The slides quickly jump and will stop on the first slide no matter how much you scroll because there's nothing before it. If your PowerPoint presentation is in Kiosk Mode, this method won't work.
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Press the Right arrow key.
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Mouse: Click once anywhere on a slide to move to the next one.
Note: If you have a custom animation effect on your slide, clicking the slide starts the animation effect, rather than moving to the next slide. Use Go to a specific slide below to move to a specific slide and avoid triggering the animation effect.
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Press the Left arrow key.
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Mouse: Right-click a slide, and then click Previous on the shortcut menu.
Note: If you have a custom animation effect on your slide, clicking the slide starts the animation effect, rather than moving to the next slide. Use Go to a specific slide below to move to a specific slide and avoid triggering the animation effect.
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Type the slide number, then press Enter.
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Mouse (version 2013 or newer): Right-click a slide, select See All Slides, and then click the slide you want to display to the audience.
Mouse (versions 2010, 2007): Right-click a slide, point to Go to Slide, and then click the slide you want to display to the audience.
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Press the Home key on the keyboard.
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Mouse (version 2013 or newer): Right-click a slide, select See All Slides, and then click the first slide in the set.
Mouse (versions 2010, 2007): Right-click a slide, point to Go to Slide, and then click the first slide in the list.
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Press the End key on the keyboard.
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Mouse (version 2013 or newer): Right-click a slide, select See All Slides, and then click the last slide in the set.
Mouse (versions 2010, 2007): Right-click a slide, point to Go to Slide, and then click the last slide in the list.
See Rehearse and time the delivery of a presentation for details.
Read these other articles for instructions on making hyperlinks:
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Add a hyperlink to a slide
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If you're a Microsoft 365 subscriber, you can use Zoom for PowerPoint to create a table of contents or to create visual links to a section or to individual slides. See Zoom for PowerPoint for more information.
For a detailed list of keyboard shortcuts you can use when delivering your presentation, see the article Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver your presentation.
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Press N, Right arrow, Down arrow, or Spacebar.
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Mouse: Click once anywhere on a slide to move to the next one.
Note: If you have a custom animation effect on your slide, clicking the slide starts the animation effect, rather than moving to the next slide. Use Go to a specific slide below to move to a specific slide and avoid triggering the animation effect.
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Press P, Left arrow, Up arrow, or Delete.
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Mouse: Right-click a slide, and then click Previous on the shortcut menu.
Note: If you have a custom animation effect on your slide, right-clicking the slide starts the animation effect, rather than moving to the previous slide. Use Go to a specific slide below to move to a specific slide and avoid triggering the animation effect.
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Type the slide number, then press Return.
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Mouse: Right-click a slide, point to By Title on the shortcut menu, and then select a slide by title or slide number.
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Type 1, then press Return.
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Mouse: Right-click a slide, point to By Title on the shortcut menu, and then select a slide by title or slide number.
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Type the number of the last slide, then press Return.
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Mouse: Right-click a slide, point to By Title on the shortcut menu, and then select the last slide in the list.
For instructions on adding hyperlinks to your slides, see Add a hyperlink to a slide.
For a detailed list of keyboard shortcuts you can use when delivering your presentation, see the article Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver your presentation.
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Press the Right arrow key.
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Mouse: Click once anywhere on a slide to move to the next one.
Note: If you have a custom animation effect on your slide, clicking the slide starts the animation effect, rather than moving to the next slide. Use Go to a specific slide below to move to a specific slide and avoid triggering the animation effect.
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Press the Left arrow key.
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Mouse: Right-click a slide, and then click Previous on the shortcut menu.
Note: If you have a custom animation effect on your slide, clicking the slide starts the animation effect, rather than moving to the previous slide. Use Go to a specific slide below to move to a specific slide and avoid triggering the animation effect.
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Mouse: Right-click a slide, select Go to Slide on the shortcut menu, type the slide number, and then click OK.
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Mouse: Right-click a slide, point to Go to Slide on the shortcut menu, and then click the first slide in the list.
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Mouse: Right-click a slide, point to Go to Slide on the shortcut menu, and then click the last slide in the list.
For instructions on adding hyperlinks to your slides, see Add a hyperlink to a slide.
For a detailed list of keyboard shortcuts you can use when delivering your presentation, see the article Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver your presentation.