Presenting is the moment people worry about most. It comes down to one key to start, one key to move on, and one key to get out.
Press F5 to start from the very beginning, or Shift+F5 to start from the slide you are looking at. The slide fills the whole screen and the ribbon disappears. Press Esc at any time to come back to editing.
- What the audience sees on the projector
- Speaker notes — only you see these
- Presenter View also shows what's next
If a projector or second screen is connected, PowerPoint offers Presenter View: the audience sees the slide, while you see the slide, your notes, a timer and a preview of what comes next. It is the single most useful feature for nervous speakers.
Try it yourself
Click in the notes area under the slide and type what you want to say.
Speaker notes never appear on the projected slide. They exist only for you, in Presenter View.
Press F5.
The show starts at slide one, full screen. Nothing you press now can change the file's content.
Press Space, then the right arrow, then the left arrow.
Space and right go forward; left goes back. Clicking also advances, which is why an accidental click can jump you ahead.
Type a slide number and press Enter.
This jumps straight to that slide, which is far calmer than clicking through ten slides to answer a question.
Press Esc to end the show.
You return to exactly where you were editing, with nothing changed.
Words people use
Check yourself
If you can say yes to each of these, you are ready for the next lesson.
- I can start a slideshow with F5 and leave it with Esc
- I can move forward and back with the arrow keys
- I can add speaker notes and use Presenter View
- I know how to jump to a slide by number