microsoft powerpoint presentation shortcut keys

Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver PowerPoint presentations

Many users find that using an external keyboard with keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint helps them work more efficiently. For users with mobility or vision disabilities, keyboard shortcuts can be easier than using the touchscreen and are an essential alternative to using a mouse.

For a separate list of shortcuts to use while creating your presentation, go to  Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations .

The shortcuts in this topic refer to the US keyboard layout. Keys for other layouts might not correspond exactly to the keys on a US keyboard.

A plus sign (+) in a shortcut means that you need to press multiple keys at the same time.

A comma sign (,) in a shortcut means that you need to press multiple keys in order.

This article describes the keyboard shortcuts and some other common shortcut keys that apply while you're delivering your presentation with PowerPoint for Windows.

To quickly find a shortcut in this article, you can use Search. Press Ctrl+F, and then type your search words.

If an action that you use often does not have a shortcut key, you can record a macro. For step-by-step instructions to record a macro, refer to the section “Record a macro” in Automate tasks with the Macro Recorder to create one.

During the presentation, to open a list of shortcuts, press F1. Use the arrow keys to move between the tabs in the Slide Show Help dialog box.

Get the PowerPoint 2016 keyboard shortcuts in a Word document at this link: PowerPoint 2016 for Windows keyboard shortcuts .

In this topic

Frequently used shortcuts, control the slide show, control media in the slide show, pointer and annotations in the slide show, rehearse the presentation, maneuver in presenter view.

This table lists the most frequently used shortcuts in PowerPoint for Windows.

Top of Page

You can use the following keyboard shortcuts while you’re delivering your presentation in Slide Show (full-screen) mode, with or without  Presenter View .

Control media in the slide show 

These keyboard shortcuts work with video files imported from your computer or other device. They don't work with online video files.

Use the following keyboard shortcuts to control the pointer and to use it to create annotations during your presentation.

You can use these keyboard shortcuts when you are rehearsing your presentation.

You can use the following keyboard shortcuts while you’re delivering your presentation using Presenter View  in newer versions of PowerPoint.  Presenter View lets you look at your presentation with your speaker notes on one screen (your laptop, for example), while the audience views the notes-free presentation on a different screen.

When you are connected to a second display, Presenter View is shown automatically when you start the slide show. To start a presentation in Presenter View even if you have only a single display, press Alt+F5.

Tip:  If Presenter View does not start automatically with two displays, go the Slide Show tab, select the Use Presenter View checkbox, and select the preferred monitor.

PowerPoint help & learning

Screen reader support for PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations

Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate PowerPoint

This article describes the keyboard shortcuts and some other common shortcut keys that apply while you're delivering your presentation with PowerPoint for macOS.

The settings in some versions of the Mac operating system (OS) and some utility applications might conflict with keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft 365 for Mac. For information about changing the key assignment for a keyboard shortcut, refer to Mac Help for your version of macOS or your utility application.

If you don't find a keyboard shortcut here that meets your needs, you can create a custom keyboard shortcut. For instructions, go to Create a custom keyboard shortcut for Office for Mac .

Many of the shortcuts that use the Ctrl key on a Windows keyboard also work with the Control key in PowerPoint for macOS. However, not all do.

To quickly find a shortcut in this article, you can use the Search. Press Command+F, and then type your search words.

During the presentation, to open a list of shortcuts, press forward slash (/).

Pointer and annotations in the slide show

Navigate the presenter view on macos 10.15 (catalina) and later.

This table lists the most frequently used shortcuts in PowerPoint for macOS.

You can use the following keyboard shortcuts while you’re delivering your presentation in Slide Show (full-screen) mode, with or without the Presenter View .

Use the following keyboard shortcuts to control media during a presentation.

You can use the following keyboard shortcuts while you’re delivering your presentation using the Presenter View on macOS 10.15 (Catalina) and later, and when the keyboard control navigation is turned on. For instructions, refer to Turn on the keyboard control navigation .

Use the shortcuts in the table below to move in the Presenter View in PowerPoint for macOS.

Skip ahead in your presentation

You can use your keyboard to skip ahead several slides without the audience seeing the slides as you transition to the new slide.

Press the Tab key until you reach the Slide Navigator control (filmstrip).

Press and hold down the Option key and press the Left or Right arrow key repeatedly until you find the slide you want to skip to.

Release the Option key to move to the slide you want to skip to.

Turn on the keyboard control navigation

To use your keyboard to move between and activate controls on your Mac, turn on the keyboard control navigation.

If you're not using VoiceOver, on your computer, select System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts , and select the Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls checkbox.

If you're using VoiceOver, the control navigation should be on by default. To check the setting, do the following:

On your computer, press Control+Option+M to access the Apple menu bar item. To open the Apple menu, press Control+Option+Spacebar.

Press Control+Option+Down arrow key until you hear "System preferences ellipses," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.

The System Preferences window opens. The focus is in the Search text box.

Type Keyboard , and then press Return. The Keyboard dialog box opens.

Press Control+Option+Right arrow key until you hear "Shortcuts tab," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.

Press Control+Option+Right arrow key until you hear: "Use keyboard navigation to move focus between controls." VoiceOver also announces if the option is selected or unselected. To toggle the option on or off, press Control+Option+Spacebar.

To close the Keyboard dialog box, press Command+W.

This article describes the keyboard shortcuts that apply while you're delivering your presentation with PowerPoint for the web.

If you use Narrator with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, you have to turn off scan mode in order to edit documents, spreadsheets, or presentations with Microsoft 365 for the web. For more information, refer to Turn off virtual or browse mode in screen readers in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update .

When you use PowerPoint for the web, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because PowerPoint for the web runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in the desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not PowerPoint for the web.

This table lists the keyboard shortcuts you can use to control the slide show.

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk .

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91 PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

Download PowerPoint Shortcut Keys PDF

Table of Contents

• 1.1 Most Used PowerPoint Shortcuts
• 1.2 Edit Text Shortcuts
• 1.3 Tab Selection Shortcuts
• 1.4 Navigation Shortcuts
• 1.5 Outlining Views Shortcuts
• 1.6 Presentation Windows Shortcuts

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Most Used PowerPoint Shortcuts

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Edit Text Shortcuts

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Navigation Shortcuts

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Outlining Views Shortcuts

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Presentation Windows Shortcuts

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Freedos, the open-source ms-dos, is now 30 years old (and still going), 4 reasons you should wait until 2025 to buy a gaming laptop, quick links, general program shortcuts, selecting and navigating text, objects, and slides, formatting and editing, helpful slideshow shortcuts.

Even if you’re familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint, you might be surprised by the number and variety of keyboard shortcuts you can use to speed up your work and generally make things more convenient.

Now, does anyone expect you to memorize all these keyboard combos? Of course not! Everyone’s needs are different, so some will be more useful to you than others. And even if you pick up a few new tricks, it’s worth it. We’ve also tried to keep the list clean and simple, so go ahead and print it that helps!

Also, even though our list of shortcuts here is pretty long, it’s by no means a complete list of every keyboard combo available in PowerPoint. We’ve tried to keep it to the more generally useful shortcuts. And, you’ll be happy to know that almost all of these shortcuts have been around for a long time, so they should be helpful no matter what version of PowerPoint you’re using.

Note: We present keyboard combos using the following convention. A plus means you should press those keys together. A comma means you should press keys in sequence. So, for example, "Ctrl+N" means to hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the N key and then release both keys. On the other hand, "Alt+N,P" means you should hold the Alt key down, press the N key, release the N key, press the P key, and then release all keys.

First, let's review some general keyboard shortcuts for opening, closing, and switching between presentations, as well as navigating the Ribbon.

• Ctrl+N: Create a new presentation
• Ctrl+O: Open an existing presentation
• Ctrl+S: Save a presentation
• F12 or Alt+F2: Open the Save As dialog box
• Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4: Close a presentation
• Ctrl+Q: Save and close a presentation
• Ctrl+Z: Undo an action
• Ctrl+Y: Redo an action
• Ctrl+F2: Print Preview View
• F1: Open the Help pane
• Alt+Q: Go to the “Tell me what you want to do” box
• F7: Check spelling
• Alt or F10: Turn key tips on or off
• Ctrl+F1: Show or hide the ribbon
• Ctrl+F: Search in a presentation or use Find and Replace
• Alt+F: Open the File tab menu
• Alt+H: Go to the Home tab
• Alt+N: Open the Insert tab
• Alt+G: Open the Design tab
• Alt+K: Go to the Transitions tab
• Alt+A: Go to the Animations tab
• Alt+S: Go to the Slide Show tab
• Alt+R: Go to the Review tab
• Alt+W: Go to View tab
• Alt+X: Go to the Add-ins tab
• Alt+Y: Go to the Help tab
• Ctrl+Tab: Switch between open presentations

You can use keyboard shortcuts to navigate throughout your presentation easily. Try these shortcuts for quick and easy ways to select text within text boxes, objects on your slides, or slides in your presentation.

• Ctrl+A: Select all text in a text box, all objects on a slide, or all slides in a presentation (for the latter, click on a slide thumbnail first)
• Tab: Select or move to the next object on a slide
• Shift+Tab: Select or move to the previous object on a slide
• Home: Go to the first slide, or from within a text box, go to the beginning of the line
• End: Go to the last slide, or from within a text box, go to the end of the line
• PgDn: Go to the next slide
• PgUp: Go the previous slide
• Ctrl+Up/Down Arrow: Move a slide up or down in your presentation (click on a slide thumbnail first)
• Ctrl+Shift+Up/Down Arrow: Move a slide to the beginning or end of your presentation (click on a slide thumbnail first)

The following keyboard shortcuts will save you time so you can edit and format in a snap!

• Ctrl+X: Cut selected text, selected object(s), or selected slide(s)
• Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Insert: Copy selected text, selected object(s), or selected slide(s)
• Ctrl+V or Shift+Insert: Paste selected text, selected object(s), or selected slide(s)
• Ctrl+Alt+V: Open the Paste Special dialog box
• Delete: Remove selected text, selected object(s), or selected slide(s)
• Ctrl+B: Add or remove bold to selected text
• Ctrl+I: Add or remove italics to selected text
• Ctrl+U: Add or remove underline to selected text
• Ctrl+E: Center a paragraph
• Ctrl+J: Justify a paragraph
• Ctrl+L: Left align a paragraph
• Ctrl+R: Right align a paragraph
• Ctrl+T: Open the Font dialog box when text or object is selected
• Alt+W,Q: Open the Zoom dialog box to change the zoom for the slide
• Alt+N,P: Insert a picture
• Alt+H,S,H: Insert a shape
• Alt+H,L: Select a slide layout
• Ctrl+K: Insert a hyperlink
• Ctrl+M: Insert a new slide
• Ctrl+D: Duplicate the selected object or slide (for the latter, click on a slide thumbnail first)

When you're ready to start a presentation, the following keyboard combos should come in handy.

• F5: Start the presentation from the beginning
• Shift+F5: Start the presentation from the current slide (this one is great when you want to test out how the slide your currently working on will look in your presentation)
• Ctrl+P: Annotate with the Pen tool during a slideshow
• N or Page Down: Advance to the next slide during a slideshow
• P or Page Up:  Return to the previous slide during a slide show
• B: Change the screen to black during a slideshow; press B again to return to the slideshow
• Esc: End the slideshow

The more you use keyboard shortcuts, the easier they are to remember. And no one expects you to memorize all of them. Hopefully, you've found a few new ones you can use to make your life in Excel a little better.

Need more help with keyboard shortcuts? You can access Help anytime by pressing F1. This opens a Help pane and allows you to search for help on any topic. Search for "keyboard shortcuts" to learn more.

• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft PowerPoint

The 48 best PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts for making great presentations quickly and easily

• There are many PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts that you can use to work faster and more efficiently on the platform.
• You can use a long list of keyboard shortcuts for common tasks, along with PowerPoint's Access Key shortcuts.
• Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories .

Microsoft PowerPoint is a complex program with a vast number of features, so it's worth your time to learn all its secrets. Some of these secrets include keyboard shortcuts, which can seriously speed up your workflow.

Not only can keyboard shortcuts save you a lot of time, but knowing important shortcuts when delivering a presentation can help everything run more smoothly. 

Here's a guide to the most useful keyboard shortcuts in the Windows 10 version of Microsoft PowerPoint .

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Windows 10 (from $139.99 at best buy), acer chromebook 15 (from $179.99 at walmart), microsoft office (from $149.99 at best buy), how to use powerpoint's access key shortcuts.

The ribbon at the top of PowerPoint gives you access to virtually all the program's countless features, and you don't need to use your mouse to use it – every ribbon command has its own keyboard shortcut. 

To use the ribbon entirely using your keyboard, do this:

1. Press and release Alt. You should see an overlay called Access Keys appear. 

2. Press the Access Key indicated to switch to the Ribbon tab you want to use.  

3. Press the Access Key for the command you want to use. Some Access Keys are more than one key press – just press the keys in sequence. If there is yet another layer of choices, continue to press the appropriate keys. For example, if you wanted to rehearse the timing of a presentation, you would press Alt and release it, then press S, and then press T. 

Every PowerPoint keyboard shortcut you need to know

You can use the ribbon shortcuts to perform virtually any task in PowerPoint, but you might often find the more traditional keyboard shortcuts more convenient to use. 

Here are the most important keyboard shortcuts in PowerPoint.

Delivering a presentation

Start a presentation from the beginning: Press F5 to start playing a presentation from the first slide. 

Start a presentation from the current slide: Press Shift + F5 to start playing a presentation from whatever slide is currently on screen.

Start a presentation in Presenter View: Press Alt + F5 to start a presentation in Presenter View, which lets you see your notes on the main computer screen while the audience sees only the slides on a separate screen. 

Go to the next slide or start the next animation: To advance to the next slide, you have several options. You can press any of these keys: N, Enter, Spacebar, Right Arrow, or Down Arrow.

Go back to the previous slide or animation: To go back to the previous slide, you also have several options. You can press any of these keys: P, Page Up, Left Arrow, or Up Arrow.

Go to the first slide: Press Home to restart the presentation at the first slide.

Go to the last slide: Press End to go directly to the final slide. 

Stop or start an automatic presentation: Press S to toggle an automatic, timed presentation between start and stop. 

Go to a specific slide: To go to a specific slide within the presentation, enter the slide number followed by Enter, such as 15 + Enter to go to slide number 15. 

Open the All Slides dialog box: To see a list of all the slides in your presentation, press Ctrl + S.

End a presentation: Press Esc to exit a presentation. 

Toggle between presentation and a blank screen: To temporarily display a blank screen in the middle of a presentation, press B to see a black screen or W to see a white screen. 

Start the laser pointer: Press Ctrl + L to change the pointer into a virtual laser dot. 

Draw on the presentation with a pen: Press Ctrl + P to change the pointer into a pen that you can use to annotate the screen. 

Hide the pointer and navigation controls: Press Ctrl + H to hide the pointer (or laser dot or pen) and the navigation controls. 

Erase annotations: Press E to erase any annotations you've made with the pen.

Creating a presentation

Open a presentation: Press Ctrl + O to open an existing PowerPoint presentation. 

Create a new presentation: Press Ctrl + N to create a new presentation. 

Add a new slide: Press Ctrl + M to add a new slide to a presentation in progress. 

Save the presentation: Press Ctrl + S to immediately save a presentation with its current file name. 

Save a presentation with a new filename: Press F12 to open the Save As dialog box and save your presentation. 

Close a presentation: Press Ctrl + W to close the current presentation. If it hasn't been saved, PowerPoint will give you the opportunity to save it first. 

Editing slides

Copy a slide, text, or other object: Press Ctrl + C to copy the selected item, which can be text, a graphic, or even an entire slide. 

Cut a slide, text, or other object: Press Ctrl + X to cut the selected item, which can be text, a graphic, or even an entire slide. 

Paste a slide, text, or other object: Press Ctrl + V to paste the content of the clipboard at the cursor location. 

Delete a selected slide, text, or other object: Select the item you want to remove and then press Delete.

Insert a hyperlink: Select text or object in a slide and then press Ctrl + K to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box to turn it into a link. If you press Ctrl + K without selecting anything first, then you will need to specify the link text as well. 

Go to the next or previous slide: Press Page Down to advance to the next slide; press Page Up to go back to the previous slide. 

Change the order of a slide: Press Ctrl + Up Arrow to move the selected slide one position earlier in the presentation; press Ctrl + Down Arrow to move it one later in the presentation. 

Move a slide to the start of the presentation: Press Ctrl + Shift + Up Arrow to move the selected slide to the start of the presentation. 

Move a slide to the end of the presentation: Press Ctrl + Shift + Down Arrow to move the selected slide to the end of the presentation.

Editing text

Bold: Press Ctrl + B to bold the selected text.

Italics: Press Ctrl + I to italics the selected text.

Underline: Press Ctrl + U to underline the selected text.

Make the font bigger: Press Ctrl + Shift + Right Arrow to increase the size of the selected text a little at a time. 

Make the font smaller: Press Ctrl  + Shift + Left Arrow to decrease the size of the selected text a little at a time.

Center text: Press Ctrl + E to center the selected paragraph.

Left align text: Press Ctrl + L to left-align the selected paragraph.

Right align text: Press Ctrl + R to right-align the selected paragraph.

Justify text: Press Ctrl + J to justify the selected paragraph. This causes the text to auto-fit to the left and right margins of the slide. 

Superscript: Press Ctrl and the Plus sign to turn the selected text into superscript.

Subscript: Press Ctrl + = to turn the selected text into subscript. 

Check spelling: Press F7 to run PowerPoint's built-in spell checker.

General tasks

Search within a presentation: Press Ctrl + F to open the Find dialog box, where you can search for specific text within the presentation. You can also search and replace text using this dialog box. 

Undo: Press Ctrl + Z to undo your last action. 

Redo: Press Ctrl + Y to redo the last action, if possible. If it's not possible for PowerPoint to redo the action, nothing will happen. 

Help: Press F1 to open the Help and Support pane. 

Cancel: Press Esc to abort any task you don't want to complete. In some cases, you may also need to click "Cancel."

Related coverage from  Tech Reference :

How to do a voiceover on a powerpoint presentation and add pre-recorded audio to your slides, how to add a border to slides in powerpoint, and give your slideshow a sleek design, how to change and format the background of your powerpoint slides to custom designs, how to change your language settings in microsoft powerpoint in 3 different ways, how to copy or duplicate a powerpoint slide and put it anywhere in your slideshow.

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• Main content

Microsoft PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts

Below is a listing of common shortcut keys in Microsoft PowerPoint . See the computer shortcuts page if you're looking for a list of shortcut keys used in other programs. Please be aware that some shortcuts may not work in all versions of Microsoft PowerPoint.

If the device you are using does not have function keys (F1-F12) on its keyboard, like a Chromebook , certain shortcuts are unavailable to you.

Some Microsoft PowerPoint shortcut keys listed below may not work in PowerPoint 365.

Also utilize the mouse to perform some common actions. The following section contains examples of mouse shortcuts.

Related information

• Microsoft Word keyboard shortcuts.
• Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts.
• Top 10 keyboard shortcuts everyone should know.
• Microsoft PowerPoint help and support.

Top PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts to Present Like a Pro!

From business consultants to sales reps and entrepreneurs, anyone who works with presentations can benefit from knowing some PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts. Today, I’ll show you 20+ handy commands to help you shine before and during your presentations.

But First, What Are PowerPoint Shortcuts?

PowerPoint shortcuts are keys or keyboard combinations that quickly allow you to perform an action in the program . Otherwise, you’d have to use your mouse or navigate through multiple menus and toolbars until finding the right command. In other words, PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts help you reduce steps and optimize your experience when working in a presentation.

Now, let’s see which are the top shortcut keys you should know:

Useful PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts for Last-minute Changes

Even the most experienced speakers find themselves making last-minute changes in their slides' appearance or presentation structure. It’s just part of the presenter’s life. But there’s no reason to panic, the following keyboard shortcuts will give you a hand in those moments.

PowerPoint Shortcuts for a Quick Formatting

1) use “alt+w+m” to enter slide master view.

For last-minute changes in the layout of your presentation, your slide master is the place to go.

Let’s say you want to replace the logo in your footer, change the color palette, or replace the font of your headlines. When you have only a few minutes available before presenting, this seems like an impossible task but here’s the secret: Anything that you put in your slide master will apply to all your slides so that you don’t need to go fixing them one by one.

If you’re not familiar with this type of slides, we’ve got a complete guide for you on how to create and use your master slides in PowerPoint .

2) Use “Shift” to keep objects in proportion

Have you ever resized a circle in PowerPoint and it ended up looking like an oval? When you resize by sight it’s hard to obtain perfect symmetry but the “Shift” key can help with that.

Simply press and hold “Shift” while resizing your elements. This comes in handy to make your objects bigger or smaller without losing their proportions. It works for shapes, images, and any other object in your slides.

3) Align your text

Alignment is essential to provide a clean and professional aspect to your documents. However, as formatting is one of the last steps in the making of a presentation, people tend to forget it. If this happens to you often, these are the PowerPoint shortcuts you need for a quick text alignment before starting your slide show:

• Use “Ctrl + J” to justify your text
• Press “Ctrl+E” to center the text
• Use “Ctrl+L” for left alignment
• Press “Ctrl+R” to right-align your text.

4) Use F7 to check your spelling

Most people don’t know this but you can actually check your presentation’s spelling in PowerPoint. It’s pretty simple: Once you enter the last words in your slides, press F7 . A new section will appear at the right of your screen showing misspelled words and giving you some options you can replace them with.

In some cases, you might need to try with “Fn + F7” to activate the check spelling shortcut.

5) Fix Up your Slides

Not exactly a PowerPoint keyboard shortcut but definitely a hack that will save you time and effort in the making of your slides.

If you work with presentations constantly, you’ll be happy to learn that you don’t need to design them yourself. You can have your deck quickly polished (or completely redesigned!) by professional PowerPoint designers . Check out some examples from the 24Slides team:

Want to get results like these? Learn more about the 24Slides’ presentation design services .

PowerPoint Keys To Edit Your Presentation Structure

1) use “ctrl + m” to insert a new slide.

Sometimes new information appears right before the big moment and you need to quickly update your presentation. Whenever you find yourself in this situation, select a slide and press “Ctrl+M'' to insert a new one. You’ll have a fresh title slide to keep adding content.

2) Use “Ctrl + D” to duplicate

But if you want to have similar slides, use “Ctrl + D” to duplicate them. This way, instead of working from a blank slide, you’ll be able to use one as your base and replace as much information as you want. This PowerPoint shortcut works for slides and objects alike.

3) Move slides

Arrange your presentation structure by using “Ctrl + Up arrow” to move a slide up or “Ctrl + Down arrow” to move it down.

I find this PowerPoint shortcut very useful especially when working with long presentations. Here’s why: Dragging slides one by one makes the thumbnails pass quickly and if you have 30+ slides, you’ll need more than a few seconds to land your slide in the spot that you want. Save yourself some time with this simple trick.

PowerPoint Shortcut Keys to Use During a Presentation

There are other PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts that only work in the slide show mode. We’ll go from my favorite basic commands to some advanced keyboard shortcuts to help you manage your presentation like a pro.

Basic PowerPoint Commands

1) use f5 to start a slideshow.

Done editing and ready to present? Press F5 to start your Slideshow from the first slide.

2) Use “Shift + F5” to start from the current slide

If you want to start from a specific slide, press “Shift+F5” . Let’s say you made a pause in your presentation to review some slides and want to pick up where you left off. Just select the last slide you were at and use this shortcut. It will save you tons of time because you won’t have to go through all your slides again.

3) Zoom in and Zoom out

Whenever you want to show an area of your slide in detail, press “+” to zoom in. You’ll be able to get a closer view of any element in your slide just by dragging the pointer. And when you’re finished zoom out with “-”

Advanced PowerPoint Shortcuts to Wow your Audience

1) annotate in your slides.

Did you know that you can mark up your slides during a live presentation? Yes, PowerPoint has some secret tools that help you grab and hold your audience’s attention while on a slideshow. And here are the shortcuts you need to activate them:

• Use “Ctrl + P” for a Pen Tool

You’ll be able to draw free lines and scribble across your slide. The PowerPoint pen tool comes in handy when you want to explain a process or show how to get from one point to another.

• Use “Ctrl + i” for a Highlighter

The PowerPoint highlighter pen uses a yellow color to help you annotate and draw attention to your slide’s key points.

• Use “Ctrl + L” for a Laser

A laser pointer is always useful to highlight specific aspects of your presentation. But don’t worry if you didn’t bring yours, PowerPoint lets you turn your cursor into a cool laser pointer.

• Extra: The PowerPoint Eraser tool

Now that you know how to annotate in your presentation, it’s fair that I share with you how to erase the marks you made in your slides. Use “Ctrl + E” to activate the Eraser tool. And if you want all the marks to vanish at once, just press the E key .

2) Show a black or white screen

Sometimes you’re elaborating on a concept and want people to focus all their attention on you and not your slides. In those moments, use the key “B” to change the screen to black during a slideshow or “W” to turn it white. You can go back to your slides by pressing the same key again.

3) Use “G” to display all the slides

You’ll open a nice visualization of all your slides so you can easily go back and forth through your presentation in a matter of seconds. Try it and check your audience’s reaction!

How to See Your Keyboard Shortcuts in PowerPoint?

I know. There are so many PowerPoint shortcuts that it’s impossible to remember them all. But that shouldn’t be a problem for presenters like you because PowerPoint offers some help.

A) In Presentation Mode

Whenever you need to check how to use keyboard shortcuts during your presentation, press F1 . A slide show help dialog box will display a list of your PowerPoint shortcuts available.

B) In Normal View

There are other types of shortcuts in PowerPoint called Key Tips or Access Keys which allow you to navigate through the ribbons and main menu. To activate them, press Alt or F10 .

C) Help Box

If you want to get the full list of PowerPoint shortcuts and further information about them, use the Help box. Just press F1 and search for “shortcuts”.

Note that this option only works when you’re connected to a WiFi network.

INFOGRAPHIC: Top PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts Every Presenter Should Know

The 24Slides team created this incredible infographic that summarizes all the PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts we’ve seen.

Save it, share it, and don’t forget to practice before your live presentation!

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Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials Essential Shortcuts for PowerPoint Presentations

Essential Shortcuts for PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint is an indispensable tool for business professionals, aiding in creating impactful presentations that can make or break a deal. However, creating and delivering presentations can be time-consuming. To help you speed up your presentation slide design and delivery performance, here are 30 essential PowerPoint shortcuts every user should master.

Table of Contents

Reasons to Learn PowerPoint Shortcuts

Frequently used shortcuts, apply character formatting, ribbon navigation, select and edit text and objects, control slides during a presentation.

Time Efficiency and Productivity: Mastering PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts can significantly reduce the time spent creating and editing presentations, allowing users to focus on content and delivery.

Enhanced Focus: By eliminating the need to search for functions in menus, presenters can maintain their focus on the task at hand, leading to better quality work.

Professionalism: Quick and seamless operation during a presentation can make a user appear more professional and in control.

Ease of Use: Once mastered, keyboard shortcuts become second nature, making the software easier and more enjoyable.

Accessibility: For users with disabilities, PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts can provide an easier and more accessible way to use software.

This selection of shortcuts represents the most commonly used tools by PowerPoint users. Applying these shortcuts to our workflow will significantly speed up our performance.

• Insert a new slide: CTRL + M / CMD + M
• Duplicate a selected object or slide: CTRL + D / CMD + D
• Change the zoom for the slide: ALT + W + Q / OPTION + W + Q
• Cut selected object, text, or slide: CTRL + X / CMD + X
• Copy selected object, text, or slide: CTRL + C / CMD + C
• Paste selected object, text, or slide: CTRL + V / CMD + V
• Undo the last action: CTRL + Z / CMD + Z
• Start Slide Show: ALT + S + B / OPTION + S + B
• End Slide Show: Esc / Esc
• Insert a Picture: ALT + N + P / OPTION + N + P

This set of shortcuts will help us to edit our copy text in PowerPoint slides.

• Open the Font dialogue box: CTRL + T / CMD + T
• Apply bold formatting: CTRL + B / CMD + B
• Apply an underline: CTRL + U / CMD + U
• Apply italic formatting: CTRL + I / CMD + I
• Apply subscript formatting: CTRL + = / CMD + =
• Apply superscript formatting: CTRL + SHIFT + ‘+’ / CMD + SHIFT + ‘+’
• Insert a hyperlink: CTRL + K / CMD + K

Instead of manually switching between tabs in the Ribbon, we can do it via PowerPoint shortcuts.

• Open the File page: ALT + F / OPTION + F
• Open the Home tab: ALT + H / OPTION + H
• Open the Insert tab: ALT + N / OPTION + N
• Open the Design tab: ALT + G / OPTION + G
• Open the Transitions tab: ALT + T / OPTION + T
• Open the Animations tab: ALT + A / OPTION + A
• Open the Slide Show tab: ALT + S / OPTION + S
• Open the Review tab: ALT + R / OPTION + R
• Open the View tab: ALT + W / OPTION + W

Most of these shortcuts are handled with the arrow keys of your keyboard in combination with CTRL/CMD and SHIFT/OPTION. We will list a few other shortcuts, but you can find the full list in the infographic shown at the end of this guide.

• Send object back one position: CTRL + [ / CMD + [
• Send object forward one position: CTRL + ] / CMD + ]
• Select another object (when one is selected): TAB or SHIFT + TAB / OPTION + TAB
• Send an object to the back: CTRL + SHIFT + [ / CMD + OPTION + [
• Bring an object to the front: CTRL + SHIFT + ] / CMD + OPTION + ]

Ideally, these shortcuts are handled by the person in charge of the slides during the presentation rather than the speaker. Still, since both roles sometimes are done by the same presenter, it’s best to familiarize ourselves with these shortcuts.

• Stop or restart an automatic presentation: S
• End a presentation: ESC
• Erase on-screen annotations: E
• Display a blank slide or return to the presentation: W
• Hide the pointer and navigation button immediately: CTRL + H

Mastering PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts is not just about saving time; it’s about transforming your work process to be more efficient, professional, and focused. The benefits are clear, from increased productivity and ease of use to enhanced professionalism during presentations.

We invite you to take the time to learn and practice these shortcuts. Incorporate them into your daily work routine and watch as they become second nature, significantly improving your presentation design and delivery. Remember, the small investment of time and effort you put into mastering these shortcuts will pay off in the long run, giving you a valuable skill that will serve you well throughout your professional journey. So, start today and unlock the full potential of your presentations with the power of keyboard shortcuts!

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Every Microsoft PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcut for Windows Worth Knowing

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There's a reason that PowerPoint is a household name: it's the best software for creating presentations for work and home.

If you find yourself creating lots of presentations, you might be wondering if there's something you can do to speed up the process. The answer is yes, you just need to make use of all the handy shortcuts that PowerPoint offers.

We've put together a list of all the best PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts so that you can navigate, create, and present your presentations with ease.

FREE DOWNLOAD: This cheat sheet is available as a downloadable PDF from our distribution partner, TradePub. You will have to complete a short form to access it for the first time only. Download the Microsoft PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows Cheat Sheet .

Microsoft PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows

Present PowerPoint Like a Professional

Now you know all the shortcuts for creating and navigating in PowerPoint, it's time to make your presentation as professional as possible. That's why we've collated all the tips you need for keeping your audience engaged when using PowerPoint.

• Productivity
• Microsoft PowerPoint

Critical PowerPoint Shortcuts – Claim Your FREE Training Module and Get Your Time Back!

Our 80 Favorite PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• Shortcuts & Hacks
• May 16, 2017

We pulled together this list of our 80 favorite PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts together because…

Creating a PowerPoint presentation is no small task!

It requires juggling all sorts of PowerPoint stuff like charts, tables, pictures, object formatting, text and shapes just to create your slides in the first place. Then there is the delivery of the presentation itself.

On top of that, companies, bosses and clients want everything done yesterday. For you as an employee (or contractor) that means expectations are rising. Getting more done in less time. That’s where PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts come to your rescue.

With a little bit of practice, these PowerPoint shortcuts will seriously cut down your build time, make your slides look more polished and professional and get you to Happy Hour.

The Benefits of Using Keyboard Shortcuts

One of the main reasons to learn your keyboard shortcuts is they eliminate mental stress and anxiety.

Studies show that one of the main sources of modern stress and anxiety in the workplace is what researchers call  Cognitive Load . The point being that your brain can only make so many decisions a day before it basically shuts down.

That’s why high-profile leaders like Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, and Superman focus on wearing one or two outfits every day. It cuts down on the decisions they need to make, allowing them to focus on higher priority tasks.

How do keyboard shortcuts help you out here? They eliminate a bunch of micro-decisions and mental hoops your brain otherwise has to process to get a task done.

So instead of playing hide-n-seek in the ribbon for your command –  let me see…where was that command again? –  your fingers just hit the keys and get the task done. Decreasing your cognitive load.

In that sense, your keyboard shortcuts not only decrease your cognitive load, freeing up your mind for higher priority tasks, they also blast through your otherwise repetitive and annoying tasks for you, getting you to Happy Hour.

To see a list of our favorite Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts,  read our guide here .

3 Tips for Mastering Your Shortcuts

If learning your PowerPoint shortcuts was easy, everyone would already have their black belt in PowerPoint, but they don’t. So the very first rule is simply – COMMIT.

Here are a few other tips to make learning your PowerPoint shortcuts as easy as possible:

A. Set learning goals

Define your goals. If there are 100 keyboard shortcuts you want to learn and you can only learn 2 or 3 a day, break it up. Don’t worry about the 100, just worry about the 2 or 3 you want to learn that day (or that week).

B. Put your shortcuts to use

When you first learn a new keyboard shortcut, the most important thing is to start using it every single time you want to complete that task. A common learning mistake is not consistently using the shortcut right off the bat because it’s not comfortable.

Disclaimer:  When you first start learning your keyboard shortcuts (for whichever program in which you are working), you might not feel any faster, or you might even feel slower. That’s because it’s new and uncomfortable.

But trust me, the fastest people in PowerPoint use shortcuts. And that can be you.  Don’t give up.

C. Not all keyboard shortcuts are worth learning

Just because a shortcut exists doesn’t mean you should learn it.

There are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts and thousands of commands you can set up as shortcuts in PowerPoint that you’ll never need to use.

That’s why I recommend that instead worrying about all of the available shortcuts, just focus on learning the keyboard shortcuts around the core activities you perform every single day.

PowerPoint Slide Shortcuts

1. display the all slides dialog box (slideshow mode).

After starting a slideshow, you can open the All Slides dialog box by hitting  CTRL + S  on your keyboard.

This dialog box allows you to visually see all the slides within your presentation and quickly jump around between them.

This is handy when you want to quickly move forwards or backwards within your presentation and you don’t know what the slide number is.

2. Go to slide number (in slideshow mode)

Slide Number + Enter Key

When you give a presentation, your topic never goes in the order you planned. There are some situations when you require going to nonadjacent slides in your presentation.

For instance, say you are on slide 50, and your audience puts a question that requires you to jump to slide 20. Pressing Page Up 30 times doesn’t seem professional.

To easily jump to the 20 th  slide in your presentation, after you start your slideshow, simply hit the slide number on your keyboard and then hit  Enter .

Note:  This only works while after you start  Slideshow  (F5) or start  Presenter View  (Shift + F5). This shortcut will not work in the normal slide editing view of your presentation.

3. Display a black or white slide (in slideshow mode)

For a black slide, press B or . (period)

For a white slide, press W or , (comma)

Sometimes you may need to pause your presentation for a lunch break or to answer a question unrelated to your topic.

In these situations, B and W shortcut keys to display a blank screen. Pressing B or W second time will pick up the show where you left it.

4. Select all slides

You can select the slides all at once if your presentation is in slide sorter view simply hit  CTRL + A .

Remember, this PowerPoint shortcut will work only if your presentation is in Slide Sorter View. To learn more about the Select All shortcuts throughout the Microsoft Office Suite,  see our guide here .

5. Duplicate active slides

To add the copy of the current slide in your presentation, press  CTRL + SHIFT + D .

6. Start Slideshow (from beginning)

When you are ready to start your Slide Show from the very first slide in your presentation, in all versions of PowerPoint, simply hit  F5 on your keyboard.

To learn all the different ways to start a PowerPoint slideshow,  see our guide here .

7. Start Slideshow (from current slide)

To view your presentation from your current slide (all versions of PowerPoint) in Slide Show Mode, hit  SHIFT + F5 .

8. Go to the previous / next slide

To move to the next slide in your presentation, hit  Page Down .

To move to the previous slide in your presentation, hit  Page Up .

PowerPoint Pointer Shortcuts

9. using the built-in laser pointer.

While in Slide Show Mode, hold down the  CTRL  key   on your keyboard and click and drag with your mouse.

Holding the  CTRL  key and dragging around with your mouse turns on the laser pointer to draw your audiences’ attention to different aspects of your slide.

Note:  To learn how to change the  color of your laser pointer shortcut in PowerPoint (Between red, green and blue),  read our guide here .

10. Writing on your slide with a pen (inking)

After you start your Slide Show, you can write on your slides with a pen by hitting CTRL + P  and use your mouse (or pen if you have a touch screen) to write and/or draw on your slides.

Hitting  CTRL + P  a second time turns the Pen off..

11. Writing on your slide with a highlighter (inking)

After starting a Slideshow, to write on your slides with your highlight, hit  CTRL + I  and use your mouse (or pen if you have a touch screen) to highlight and draw on your slides.

12. Hide and erase ink onscreen (inking)

While in slideshow mode, after using the pen or highlight shortcuts to add into your slides in Slide Show mode you can either:

Hit  CTRL + M  to hide the ink. And if you do so a second time, you will make the ink re-appear.

Press  E  at any time to erase all of the ink on that slide.

PowerPoint Shortcut Tip

Be careful when erasing the Ink on screen as there is no way to un-erase that ink. If you typically want to save the ink on yours, memorize the CTRL + M shortcut instead as it merely hides the ink.

13. Hide the pointer and navigation buttons

To hide your pointer and navigation immediately, hit  CTRL + H .

To hide your pointer and navigation after 15 seconds, hit  CTRL + U .

Pointers and navigation button could be annoying to the audience. So it’s important to hide while giving presentation.

PowerPoint Menu Shortcuts

14. display the shortcuts menu.

SHIFT + F10

After you start your Slide Show, Shift + F10   is the equivalent of right-clicking on the screen, displaying the different presentations options available to you.

15. Display the Slideshow Help shortcuts

While in Slideshow mode, this command display all the different slide show shortcuts you can use to quickly navigate your presentation. If you ever forget your shortcut, just hit  F1 .

16. Display the taskbar

While in Slide Show mode, you can display the task bar at the bottom of your screen by hitting  CTRL + T .

Displaying your taskbar is a fast and easy way to navigate between different documents and files on your computer without closing out of your presentation.

PowerPoint Hyperlink Shortcuts

17. insert a hyperlink.

Select the text or object on your slide that you want to add the hyperlink too, then hit  CTRL + K  to open the  Insert Hyperlink  dialog box.

For details on how to use hyperlinks in PowerPoint to create interactive presentations,  click here .

Note:  Your hyperlinks and zoom slides will properly carry over when you convert your presentation to the PDF file format. See details  here .

18. Select a hyperlink

While in Slide show mode, to go to the first or next hyperlink on a slide hit the  TAB  key.

While in Slide show mode, to go to the last or previous hyperlink on a slide, hit  SHIFT + TAB .

19. Open a hyperlink

Once you’ve navigate to a hyperlink (using the above keyboard hot keys) you can activate it by hitting the  ENTER  key.

PowerPoint Font & Paragraph Shortcuts

20. align a paragraph.

First, select the your text or paragraphs, then hit:

Left alignment, hit  CTRL + L

Right alignment, hit  CTRL + R

Center alignment, hit  CTRL + E

Justify alignment, hit  CTRL + J

21. Jump to the end / beginning of a line

Hit the  END  key  move to the end of a line.

Hit the  HOME  key to move the beginning of a line.

22. Increase or decrease text list levels

To promote a paragraph, hit  ALT + SHIFT + Left Arrow.

To demote a paragraph, hit  ALT + SHIFT + Right Arrow .

These List Level Shortcuts are extremely effective when filling in company templates as it properly uses the bullet spacing set on your Slide Master. This is entirely different than the Promote and Demote paragraph shortcuts.

To see how to use these List Level Shortcuts to properly fill in a company PowerPoint template (and see how they are COMPLETELY different than the  TAB  and  SHIFT + TAB  shortcuts) see the short YouTube video below.

23. Promote and demote paragraphs

To promote a paragraph, hit the  TAB  key.

To demote a paragraph, hit  SHIFT + TAB .

24. Move selected paragraphs

To move selected paragraphs up, hit  ALT + SHIFT + Up Arrow .

To move selected paragraphs down, hit  ALT + SHIFT + Down Arrow .

25. Select all text

When within a shape or text box (the blinking cursor), hit  CTRL + A  to select all text.

Note: There are a wide variety of ways you can use the Select All shortcut in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. To learn all about it,  read our guide here .

26. Delete text (towards the left)

To delete one character to the left, hit the  BACKSPACE  key.

To delete an entire word to the left, hit  CTRL + BACKSPACE

Note: Instead of deleting text, you can instead create the strikethrough text effect using your keyboard shortcuts. To expand your knowledge and learn the strikethrough shortcuts for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, read our guide here .

27. Delete text (towards the right)

To delete one character to the right, hit the  DELETE  key.

To delete one word to the right, hit  CTRL + DELETE .

28. Change the font size

To increase the font size, hit  CTRL + SHIFT + , (comma) .

To decrease the font size, hit  CTRL + SHIFT + . (period) .

29. Open the Font dialog box

If you want to open the font dialogue box to performing font or font size changing operations, do the following:

To open font dialogue box to change formatting of the characters, hit  CTRL + T .

30. Change case shortcut (uppercase, lowercase, etc.)

While making a presentation, you frequently need to change your text between uppercase, lowercase, sentence case, etc. That is why knowing the SHIFT + F3 shortcut is such a timesaver in PowerPoint.

31. Make text subscript / superscript

Hit CTRL + = (equal)  too apply subscript formatting with automatic spacing.

Hit CTRL + SHIFT + = (equal)  to apply superscript formatting with automatic spacing.

32. Make text bold

Select the text, and hit  CTRL + B  to make it bold.

33. Make text italic

Select the text, and hit  CTRL + I  to make text italic.

34. Make text underlined

Select the text, and hit  CTRL + U  to give it an underline.

35. Open the spell check engine

To open up the spell check engine to double-check your spelling and grammar, hit the  F7  function key.

36. Launch the thesaurus

To open thesaurus, hit  SHIFT + F7 .

PowerPoint Text & Object Shortcuts

37. select all objects on a slide.

To select all the objects on a slide, with the slide space active (click somewhere on the slide to be sure), hit  CTRL + A .

38. Format Painter shortcut #1 of 2: Pick Up Style

To copy the formatting of text or of an object, select it and then hit  CTRL + SHIFT + C .

39. Format Painter Shortcut #2 of 2: Apply Style

To paste the formatting of text or of an object onto another object, hit  CTRL + SHIFT + V .

Format Painter Shortcuts in Action

The Format Painter is one of the fastest ways to pick up and apply formatting styles throughout your presentation.

And what is so great about these specific shortcuts is that they are SUPER easy to learn. That’s because they mimic the standard  CTRL + C  to Copy and  CTRL + V  to Paste shortcuts. All you need to do is add the Shift key:

• Ctrl + Shift + C  to copy your formatting
• Ctrl + Shift + V  to paste your formatting

40. Open the Paste Special dialog box

CTR L + ALT + V

The Paste Special shortcut gives you a variety of pictures format paste options for your content. To use the shortcut first CTRL + C to copy something in PowerPoint, then hit  CTRL + ALT + V  to open up the Paste Special options.

PowerPoint Tip

The Paste Special dialog box is where you can find the WMF and EFM file formats for breaking apart your copied PowerPoint Tables and PowerPoint charts.

41. Group objects on a slide

To group selected objects on a slide, hit  CTRL + G .

42. Ungroup objects

To ungroup objects (including grouped objects, SmartArt graphics, EMF and WMF objects), select them and hit  CTRL + SHIFT + G .

To learn other cool things you can group and ungroup in PowerPoint,  see our guide here .

43. Regroup ungrouped objects

To reform an ungrouped set of objects, simply select a single object from the previous group, hit  CTRL + SHIFT + J .

44. Rotate objects or text boxes

To rotate an object by 15° to the right, with an object selected, simply hit  ALT + Right arrow .

To rotate an object by 15° to the left, hit  ALT + Left arrow .

PowerPoint Table Shortcuts

45. moving the cursor from cell to cell.

To move to the next cell, hit the  TAB  key.

To move to the previous cell, hit  SHIFT + TAB .

46. Moving the cursor from row to row

To move to the next row, hit the  Up arrow  key.

To move to the previous row, hit the  Down arrow  key.​

47. Add a new row (to the bottom of the table)

To add a new row at the bottom of the table, move your cursor to somewhere on the bottom row of your table and hit the  TAB  key.

48. Add an indent within a table cell

PowerPoint Charting Shortcuts

49. format the selected chart element.

With a charting element selected (such as the data labels or columns), hit  CTRL + F1  to jump to the formatting options for that specific element.

This charting shortcut works in both PowerPoint and Excel, and is one of the fastest ways to drill down to the specific formatting options for your charts.

50. Moving a chart (nudging it) with your keyboard

To move your chart like any other object, simply hold the  CTRL  key down, and then click the chart with your mouse.

Doing so selects your chart like any other object, allowing you to use the  Arrow keys  to move it around on your slide.

PowerPoint View Shortcuts

51. switch between the outline view and the normal view.

Hit CTRL + SHIFT + TAB to switch between the Outline and Normal View in PowerPoint.

52. Switch between the Slide Master View and the Normal View

Holding the SHIFT key and clicking on the Normal View icon  in the lower right-hand corner of your screen will take you to the Slide Master View of your presentation.

Hit the shortcut again to come back to the Normal View.

53. Switch between the Handout Master View and the Normal View

Holding the SHIFT key and clicking on the Slide Sorter View icon  in the lower right-hand corner of your screen will take you to the Handouts Master View of your presentation, where you can customize the handouts for your presentation.

54. Open the Set Up Slide Show dialog box

Holding the SHIFT key and clicking on the Reading View icon  in the lower right-hand corner of your screen will open up the Set Up Slide Show dialog box, where you can choose to show your presentation in a resizable window, run custom slide shows, etc.

55. Close the Thumbnail View

Holding the CTRL and SHIFT keys, and clicking on the Normal View icon  in the lower right-hand corner of your screen will close the Thumbnail View and  give you more work space for your presentation.

56. Open the Outline View in full screen

Holding the CTRL and SHIFT keys, and clicking on the Slide Sorter View icon  in the lower right-hand corner of your screen will open up the Outline View in full screen.

57. Run a mini presentation

In Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 and 2010,  hold down the CTRL key , and in 2013 and 2016  hold the ALT key , and then select the  Slide Show View icon  in the lower right-hand of your screen to run a mini presentation in the upper left-hand corner of your deck.

Hit  ESCAPE  to move to that slide.

58. Switch between open presentation

If you have multiple presentations open on your device, you can switch among them by hitting  CTRL + F6 .

59. Switch between open PowerPoint windows

To switch between your active windows, hit CTRL + TAB.

60. View all active windows

To see all open and active windows on your computer, hit WINDOWS + TAB .

61. Cycle through content placeholders

To cycle through the content placeholders on your slide (built on the Slide Master), first click into a placeholder and then hit CTRL + ENTER .

Once you have cycled through your content placeholders, hitting  CTRL + ENTER  again creates a new blank slide, based on the slide layout you were just previously on.

62. Insert new slide shortcut

This shortcut adds a new blank slide to your presentation, based on the slide layout you were just on.

Note:  After hitting  CTRL + M  to insert a new slide, you can immediately start typing the title of your new slide. This makes creating a quick draft outline of your presentation easy.

To see how to do this using the Outline View in PowerPoint,  read our guide here .

62B. New Slide Shortcut (Optional)

Ctrl + Enter  is a unique little shortcut.

While working in the normal PowerPoint view, hitting  CTRL+ENTER  cycles through the content placeholders in your layout allowing you to quickly type text or add content.

Once it cycles through all the available placeholders in your layout, hitting the shortcut again adds a new slide to your presentation.

So, the way the  CTRL+ENTER  shortcut is different than the  CTRL+M  shortcut, is that before it creates a new blank slide, it first cycles through all the content placeholders on your slide.

Instead of ending up with a new blank slide, you instead create a duplicate of the slide you were working on (making it easy to save your work).

What type of new slide is added? When using the New Slide shortcuts in PowerPoint, the slide layout that is inserted is based on the slide layout you were just on when you used the shortcut.

For example: If you are on the Section Header layout, using the New Slide shortcuts inserts a new blank Section Header layout. If you are on a Comparison layout, using either of the New Slide shortcuts inserts a blank Comparison layout.

The only time this rule doesn’t hold true, is if you use these shortcuts while on the Title slide layout. If you are on the Title Slide layout (for your template), instead of inserting a new Title Slide, the next layout in your slide master will be inserted (most likely a Title and Placeholder layout).

This makes sense too, right?

In a normal presentation you will only have one title slide. So, the New Slide shortcuts are smart enough not to insert a second title slide layout, and instead take you to your first content slide layout.

To expand your knowledge and learn more about how Ctrl+M and Ctrl+Enter are different, read our guide here .

63. Open the Save As dialog box

Hit the F12  function key to save your presentation with a different name, in a different location on your computer, or in a different file format.

Save As Shortcut Pro Tip

The Save As shortcut is the secret to quickly converting your presentation into the PDF file format as we discuss  here , or turn your presentation into a picture presentation as we discuss  here .

64. Open the Save As options in the File area

Hitting CTRL + F12  will immediately open the Save As dialog box to open a file on your computer, without having to navigate through the back-stage view.

65. Open the Find & Replace dialog box

This shortcut opens the Find and Replace dialog box, allowing you to quickly replace text throughout your presentation. Be careful when using the ‘Replace All’ option, as it not only will cycle through the Normal View of your presentation, but all your Slide Master Views.

66. Repeat the last find action

If you have closed the find dialogue box and now want to repeat the last find action, hit  SHIFT + F4 .

67. Capture a clipping of the screen as an image

To take a screen capture of the current screen to the clipboard, hit the  PrtSc (Printscreen)  key.

68. Capture the entire screen as an image

To copy the picture of a selected window, hit ALT + PrtSC (Printscreen) .

69. Launch the Print dialog box

To launch the Print dialog box, hit  CTRL + P . If you don’t need to adjust the settings, you can immediately hit  EN TER  to print your presentation.

The print shortcut works across the entire Microsoft Office suite (and most other software programs you use). So I HIGHLY recommend learning this one.

To learn how to print multiples slides on one page in PowerPoint,  read our guide here .

Note:  A common printing mistake you can avoid is printing your files collated and then manually uncollating the documents.

The reason this is a mistake is because Microsoft Office can automatically print your files uncollated, saving you from a bunch of tedious work.

To learn more about the difference between collated vs. uncollated printing,  read our guide here .

70. Open the Header & Footer dialog box

ALT + SHIFT + D

This dialog box allows you to add and remove your date and time, slide numbers and footers.

PowerPoint Slide Number Pro Tip

To properly add your headers and footers to your slides, you need to add them in twice.

Once on your Slide Master and once in the Normal View using the Header and Footer dialog box. For help navigating your headers, footers and slide numbers like this,  see our detailed blog post here .

71. Close an active presentation

This PowerPoint shortcut closes the active file you are using, without closing the PowerPoint application itself. This is an operating system shortcut and works in all the Microsoft Office programs.

72. Close PowePoint

This is a Windows-level operating-level shortcut and can be used with any program you are running on your computer. After closing out of all your active applications, this shortcut can shut down or restart your computer too.

To expand your knowledge and learn other important Windows 10 shortcuts, see our guide here .

Newer PowerPoint Shortcuts (2013, 2016, 2019 and Microsoft 365)

Use the following shortcuts for the given tasks in the new PowerPoint 2013 version. Note, these PowerPoint 2013 shortcuts all work in PowerPoint 2016 as well.

73. Increase / decrease the font size

Hit CTRL + ]  to increase the font size

Hit CTRL + [  to decrease the font size

Although these are new shortcuts, the old font size shortcuts still work: CTRL + SHIFT + , to decrease the font size and CTRL + SHIFT + . to increase the font size. However, because the shortcuts above work in a wider variety of programs, I recommend memorizing them instead.

74. Show / hide the Notes pane

75. Duplicate an active presentation

To make a copy of your current open presentation in PowerPoint 2013, you need to hit  CTRL + SHIFT + N .

76. Add a section to your presentation

To add a new section in your presentation, hit  CTRL + , (comma) .

77. Zoom out of a slide in Slideshow View

To zoom out of a slide or to see all slides in Slideshow View, simply hit CTRL + – (minus) . Once zoomed out, you can use your  Arrow keys  to navigate around.

78. Zoom into a slide in Slideshow View

To zoom into a slide in Slideshow View, simply hit  CTRL + = (equal) . Once zoomed in, you can use your  Arrow keys  to navigate around.

79. Hide the Ribbon

Hitting Ctrl + F1  once collapses your Ribbon commands into the top of your screen, giving you more uncluttered workspace in PowerPoint. Hitting  CTRL + F1  a second time un-collapses your Ribbon commands.

This is Microsoft Office shortcut, so it works in PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.

80. “Distraction-Free Mode” – Auto-hiding the Ribon

CTRL + SHIFT + F1

The NEWEST shortcut to hit the Microsoft Office suite delivering Distraction-Free Mode. Hit this keyboard shortcut to auto-hide your Ribbon commands, giving you a 100% clean working space. When you want to see all your Ribbon commands again, just hit this shortcut a second time.

Other Important PowerPoint Shortcuts

While the following shortcuts didn’t make our top 80 favorite PowerPoint shortcuts list, these shortcuts are still extremely value to know (and use).

We consider these MANDATORY shortcuts for any knowledge worker because you they work across the entire Microsoft Office suite (and just about every software program you will ever use).

Copy shortcut

Selecting an option (or group of objects) in PowerPoint and hitting Ctrl + C will copy them, allowing you to reuse them in other parts of your presentation.

This is MUCH faster than trying to recreate and format objects in PowerPoint.

To expand your knowledge and learn all about the Copy shortcut, and how it is different than the Cut shortcut, read our guide here.

Paste shortcut

After you copy an object in PowerPoint, you can then use the Ctrl + V shortcut to paste the object on your slides.

Remember, your goal in PowerPoint is to finish your slide deck, not remake everything from scratch. So, to the extent that you can Copy and Paste objects, slides, and formatting… the more time you will save and the better off you will be.

To expand your knowledge and learn more about the Paste shortcut, and how to use it to control your formatting as you paste into new Microsoft Office documents, read our guide here .

Cut Shortcut

The cut shortcut allows you to pick up (and move) an object.

This is a variation of the Copy Shortcut as instead of copying an object, you cut it out of your presentation that you can then Ctrl + V to paste somewhere else.

To expand your knowledge and learn more about the Cut shortcut (and how to use it), read our guide here .

Note:  If you are trying to delete a table from your presentation, it is often easier to Cut the table out using this Ctrl + X shortcut (and never paste it in anywhere) rather than trying to select the table and delete it.

PowerPoint Shortcuts Conclusion

So that is our list of our 80 favorite PowerPoint shortcuts to speed up your workflow.

Shortcuts are the fastest way to DOUBLE your productivity in PowerPoint. That’s why if you use PowerPoint daily, I highly recommend committing to your keyboard shortcuts.

If you enjoyed this in-depth post and want to learn more about our PowerPoint Speed Training courses and other resources,  visit us here .

What’s next?

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The Best Microsoft PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

Microsoft Office PowerPoint is still commonly used for creating graphic presentations in corporate and education all over the world. Millions of people use it on a daily basis. Although it’s fairly software, creating a presentation takes time. So why not speed up the process and use Powerpoint keyboard shortcuts to improve your workflow?

The list of shortcuts presented here is only a small portion of all the shortcuts available. In this article, we try to keep only to the most frequently used keyboard PowerPoint shortcuts. Other shortcuts might be more task-specific and useful in only a handful of situations, so we won’t bother with them.

Keep in mind that these shortcuts will work in all PowerPoint versions. You don’t have to install the latest version in order to use them.

That said, make sure to also check out our articles on the best Microsoft Word keyboard shortcuts and the best Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts to become a Microsoft Office power user.

1. General PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

These PowerPoint shortcut keys will help you navigate the ribbon, open and close presentations, or switch between multiple presentations. You might already be familiar with some of them as they are the same as the shortcuts used in other apps or web browsers.

2. Selecting and Navigating through PowerPoint Presentation

This group of shortcut keys will help you quickly move through the whole presentation and select the text, boxes, slides, or only certain objects within the slides. Instead of using your mouse, opt for keyboard shortcuts, it will save you a lot of time.

3. Formatting and Editing the PowerPoint Presentation

After you are done creating a presentation, you can concentrate on making it look good. Format your PowerPoint presentation or edit it quickly with these keyboard shortcuts. Also, remember you can always get started with a professional PowerPoint template to save even more time.

4. Delivering Your Presentation

Once you’re satisfied with how your PowerPoint presentation turned out, it’s time to deliver it to your coworkers, boss, or teacher. These keyboard shortcuts will help you look professional.

Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Keep in mind the PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts above are primarily for Windows machines. However, most of them are similar on the Mac as well. While on Windows you need to press Ctrl for most shortcuts, on Mac you will press the Cmd (Command) key instead.

PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts are essential for improving the efficiency of your workflow and you should learn at least the basic ones. However, you will, in time, remember the ones you use the most.

If you find it helpful, you can even print out this list of Powerpoint keyboard shortcuts, and keep it handy next to your workstation. That way you can cast a glance and use the appropriate shortcut at any time.

Nicolae is a Jack of all trades technology writer with a focus on hardware, programming languages, and AI image-processing software. Over the last five years, he has ghostwritten numerous tech how-to guides and books on a variety of topics ranging from Linux to C# programming and game development. Nicolae loves everything that has to do with technology and his goal is to share his knowledge and experience with others. Read Nicolae's Full Bio

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Microsoft Office PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts and Cheat Sheet

Save your time and Boost Your Productivity

Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the most popular tools for creating and delivering presentations, but a lot of people are still unaware of how to use it as quickly and efficiently as possible.

If you’re a frequent user of Microsoft Office PowerPoint, you know that there are a lot of different features and functions to master. One way to make your workflow more efficient is by using keyboard shortcuts.

Here are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint:

Ctrl + N: Create a new presentation.\ Ctrl + O: Open an existing presentation.\ Ctrl + S: Save your presentation.\ Ctrl + P: Print your presentation.\ Ctrl + Z: Undo your last action.\ Ctrl + Y: Redo your last action.\ Ctrl + C: Copy selected text or object.\ Ctrl + X: Cut selected text or object.\ Ctrl + V: Paste copied or cut text or object.\ Ctrl + A: Select all objects on a slide.\ Ctrl + F: Find and replace text.\ Ctrl + B: Apply or remove bold formatting.\ Ctrl + I: Apply or remove italic formatting.\ Ctrl + U: Apply or remove underline formatting.\ Ctrl + E: Center align text.\ Ctrl + L: Left align text.\ Ctrl + R: Right align text.\ Ctrl + M: Insert a new slide.\ Ctrl + D: Duplicate currently selected slide.\ Ctrl + H: Show or hide the Ribbon.

These shortcuts can save you a lot of time and effort, especially if you’re working on a large presentation. To view a full list of keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint, you can access the “Keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint” help article on the Microsoft website. In addition to keyboard shortcuts, you can also create your own custom shortcuts by assigning a keyboard shortcut to a specific command or function. To do this, select “Options” from the “File” tab, then select “Customize Ribbon” and “Keyboard Shortcuts.” From there, you can select the command you want to assign a shortcut to and create your custom shortcut.

By utilizing keyboard shortcuts and custom shortcuts, you can streamline your PowerPoint workflow and become a more efficient presenter.

Microsoft Office PowerPoint – Keyboard Shortcuts and Cheat Sheet

Shortcuts are a quick and easy way to elevate your design skills and improve your overall presentation. Take the time to memorize them I promise it’s worth it.

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Handy PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac

Whether you’re creating a presentation or giving one, you can do it more efficiently with the help of keyboard shortcuts in the microsoft powerpoint desktop app for windows or macos..

PowerPoint’s Ribbon interface is great for finding everything you might ever want to do in the presentation package — particularly things you don’t do frequently, like using the rehearse timing feature.

But if you’re looking to do common tasks fast, you’ll find keyboard shortcuts far more useful. Why bother to lift your hands from the keyboard if you want to open or close a presentation, apply formatting, or start a presentation?

There are keyboard shortcuts to accomplish a vast array of tasks in the PowerPoint desktop client, in both the Windows and Mac versions. (Fewer shortcuts are available for the Mac, but you can create your own custom keyboard shortcuts if you like.)

We’ve listed the shortcuts we’ve found the most useful below. Most work whether you’re using a subscription (Microsoft 365/Office 365) or non-subscription version of PowerPoint. For even more shortcuts, see Microsoft’s Office site, which lists shortcuts for creating and delivering a presentation.

Note: On Macs, the ⌘ key is the same as the Command or Cmd key.

Useful PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts

When creating a presentation.

When giving a presentation

Looking for more help with PowerPoint for Windows? If you have Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription, see “ PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 cheat sheet .” If you have a non-subscription version of Office, see “ PowerPoint 2016 and 2019 cheat sheet .” We’ve also got cheat sheets for an array of other Microsoft products , including older versions of Office.

• Handy Word keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac
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• Handy Outlook keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac

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5 PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts to Start a Slide Show

Try These Useful PowerPoint Shortcuts to Start a Slide Show

by Avantix Learning Team | October 16, 2021

Applies to: Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® 2013, 2016, 2019 and 365 (Windows)

You can start a slide show in PowerPoint using several keyboard shortcuts. In this article, we'll review shortcuts to start a show using function keys or by using key tips.

Recommended article: How to Strikethrough or Cross Out Text in PowerPoint (4 Ways with Shortcuts)

If the function key shortcuts don't work, you may need to press the Fn key on your keyboard at the same time.

Typically, you would start a slide show from Normal View or Slide Sorter View. To exit a slide show, press ESC.

If Presenter View is selected on the Slide Show tab in the Ribbon, the show will start in Presenter View. If you have two monitors and Automatic is selected as the Monitor setting on the Slide Show tab, the show will display as a standard slide show on the second monitor and will display Presenter View on the presenter's screen by default.

1. Start a presentation from the beginning using a function key

2. start a presentation from the current slide using a function key.

Press Shift+F5.

3. Start the presentation in Presenter View using a function key

Press Alt + F5.

4. Start a presentation from the beginning using key tips

Press Alt > S > B (press Alt, then S, then B).

5. Start a presentation from the current slide using key tips

Press Alt > S > C (Alt, then S, then C).

There are many shortcuts you can use during a PowerPoint slide show as well. Check out the article PowerPoint Slide Show Shortcuts (50+ Keyboard Shortcuts).

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How to Insert Slide Numbers in PowerPoint

How to Crop a Picture in PowerPoint (4 Ways)

How to Change the Background of Your PowerPoint Slides

How to Remove the Background of a Picture in PowerPoint (2 Ways)

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How to Insert or Type E with an Accent Mark in PowerPoint (È, É, Ê, Ë, è, é, ê, or ë)

You can insert or type e with an accent mark in PowerPoint using built-in tools or keyboard shortcuts (including Alt code shortcuts). The letter e can be inserted with an accent in both upper or lower case in text boxes or placeholders on slides, the slide master or layouts. The following are common accents in upper or lower case – È, É, Ê, Ë, è, é, ê, or ë.

How to Fade a Picture or Part of a Picture in PowerPoint (Using a Gradient)

You can fade a picture in PowerPoint by drawing a rectangle shape on top of the picture and then filling the rectangle with a gradient from opaque to transparent. This technique is often used to fade an image into the background of a slide. Since the rectangle is placed on top of the image and then text may be placed on top of the rectangle, you may need to reorder the objects.

How to Lock an Image, Shape or Other Object in PowerPoint

You can now lock an image, shape or other object in PowerPoint. Objects can be locked in Normal View or Slide Master View. Only PowerPoint 365 users can lock objects to prevent moving and resizing. This is helpful if you want to select and move other objects on the slide or prevent others from moving or resizing an object. You can lock items using the context menu or the Selection Pane.

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Best Microsoft PowerPoint Shortcut Keys to Improve Your Productivity

Powerpoint keyboard shortcuts for windows and mac.

Microsoft PowerPoint is the most commonly used presentation software globally. And while it’s super-intuitive to use, you can get a lot more done faster and more efficiently if you know some of the keyboard shortcuts that PowerPoint offers.

To help you get around this, we have curated a list of some of the best PowerPoint shortcut keys in this guide that you can use to work faster and more efficiently on PowerPoint.

Microsoft PowerPoint includes a wide variety of keyboard shortcut combinations that allow you to access most of the program’s functionality without using your mouse. If you use PowerPoint frequently, knowing how to work faster and more efficiently will improve your productivity.

Table of Contents

1. Frequently Used PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

Let us first have a look at some of the most frequently used PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts. These PowerPoint shortcuts are fast and easy to use, from adding a new slide to selecting text to format. The following table contains shortcuts that you may frequently use daily.

Related Read: 9 Best AI Presentation Makers

2. Ribbon PowerPoint Shortcuts

The ribbon bar is a common feature in many Microsoft Office programs where you can locate commands and tools for designing, formatting, and editing content. The ribbon shortcuts will help you navigate the ribbon bar in Microsoft PowerPoint quickly. To use these PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts, you need to have the ribbon bar displayed. To ensure it is, click on the View tab in the Ribbon toolbar and then select Customize Ribbon.

3. PowerPoint Shortcut Keys for Text blocks

If you find editing text in Microsoft PowerPoint time-consuming, then the following table is worth checking out once. It contains the fastest keyboard shortcuts to use when editing large text blocks in PowerPoint without having to touch your mouse and lift your hands off the keyboard.

4. PowerPoint shortcut Keys for working with tables

Anyone who isn’t new to PowerPoint would know that tables are a necessary component of every presentation, and it is essential to use them correctly. The following PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts will help you work with tables seamlessly in Microsoft Powerpoint. So let us have a detailed look at them below.

5. Paragraph Alignment Keyboard Shortcuts

The following table contains some of the most commonly used PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts for paragraph alignment, like justifying a paragraph, centering a paragraph, and aligning a paragraph.

6. PowerPoint shortcut keys for Slideshows

These keyboard shortcuts will be helpful once you have completed your PowerPoint document and are ready to view the presentation. Considering how important it is to use slide transitions effectively in presentations, the following table contains some handy shortcuts that will help you add and edit slide transition effects.

Work Efficiently using PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

As you saw, there are a plethora of Microsoft Powerpoint shortcuts available that you may not have been aware of despite using PowerPoint for a few years now. These are not only fast to use but also help you save time. So, don’t be surprised if you find yourself working faster when you know the PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts in the following sections.

Do let us know in the comments below if you found these keyboard shortcuts helpful and if you will start using them the next time you are working on a presentation.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. can i create a custom keyboard shortcut in microsoft powerpoint.

If you are on Windows, then definitely yes, you can create your own custom PowerPoint keyboard shortcut. That said, you will need to use a third-party add-on like Shortcut Manager available on OfficeOne.

2. Are there any keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Word?

Like Microsoft PowerPoint, Word also has a ton of keyboard shortcuts making your life working with documents ever so easy.

3. Will these keyboard shortcuts work in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007?

Most of the keyboard shortcuts we mentioned should work just fine on Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, barring a few new keyboard shortcuts.

If you still face issues with shortcuts, we recommend upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft PowerPoint as you get access to brand new features and fixes.

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10 Keyboard Shortcuts to Use When Presenting PowerPoint Slideshows

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!

Keyboard Shortcuts For PowerPoint

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.

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.

Pressing Ctrl+A changes the pointer to the default arrow.

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.

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Microsoft Office Keyboard Shortcuts

Mastering MS Office keyboard shortcuts can significantly enhance your productivity and efficiency. Whether you’re using Word, Excel, or Outlook, knowing the right shortcuts can save you time and streamline your workflow. In this guide, we’ll explore essential Microsoft Office keyboard shortcuts that will transform the way you work, helping you to navigate, format, and manage your documents with ease. From basic functions like copy and paste to advanced commands for data manipulation and email management, these shortcuts are designed to optimize your daily tasks. Get into the world of MS Office Shortcuts and discover how to boost your efficiency with these high-impact, time-saving techniques.

Table of Content

Basic Office Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts for using the ribbon in microsoft office, keyboard shortcuts in excel, keyboard shortcuts in ms word, keyboard shortcuts for microsoft outlook, microsoft office productivity tips.

Here are some important Excel keyboard shortcuts:

To Learn more Excel Keyboard shortcuts Click here

Below are some MS Word Keyboard shortcuts:

To Learn more MS Word Keyboard Shortcuts Click here

Microsoft Office is one of the best productivity tools for individuals and businesses alike. But with so much functionality packed into each program, it’s easy to get down in repetitive tasks. Here are some tips to help you learn the full potential of Microsoft Office and become a productivity powerhouse.

General Workflow Hacks

• Master keyboard shortcuts for frequently used actions (covered in a previous article). This eliminates time spent navigating menus and clicking icons.
• Utilize pre-designed templates for documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.
• Keep multiple documents, spreadsheets, or presentations open within a single window using tabs. This allows for effortless switching between tasks.

Mastering keyboard shortcuts within Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook is a game-changer. By utilizing these shortcuts, you can easily reduce the time spent navigating menus and clicking icons, allowing you to focus on what truly matters – creating impactful documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and emails. This article has equipped you with a foundational understanding of essential Microsoft Office keyboard shortcuts.

FAQs – Microsoft Office Keyboard Shortcuts

What are microsoft office shortcuts.

Microsoft Office shortcuts are key combinations used to perform tasks quickly, such as formatting text, navigating between sections, or executing commands without using the mouse.

What is Ctrl+J in Word?

In Word, Ctrl+J is the shortcut for “Justify” alignment, which aligns text evenly along both the left and right margins.

What is Ctrl+A to Z in Microsoft Word?

Ctrl+R in Word is the shortcut for “Right align,” which aligns text to the right margin of the document.

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How many slides does your presentation need?

When you’re creating a presentation, it’s important to consider the amount of information you’re sharing with your audience. You don’t want to overwhelm them, but you also want to be comprehensive and ensure that you’re covering all your bases. Whether you’re giving a 10, 15, or 30-minute presentation, see how many slides your presentation needs to get your point across.

Rules and guidance for PowerPoint presentations

PowerPoint is a powerful visual aid for introducing data, statistics, and new concepts to any audience. In PowerPoint, you can create as many slides as you want—which might sound tempting at first. But length doesn’t always guarantee a successful presentation . Most presentations last around 10-15 minutes, and anything longer than that (such as a 30-minute presentation) may have additional visual aids or speakers to enhance your message.

A handy rule to keep in mind is to spend about 1-2 minutes on each slide. This will give you ample time to convey your message, let data sink in, and allow you to memorize your presentation . When you limit each slide to this length of time, you also need to be selective about how much information you put on each slide and avoid overloading your audience.

For 10-minute presentations

Ten minutes is usually considered the shortest amount of time you need for a successful presentation. For a shorter 10-minute presentation, you’ll need to be selective with your content. Limit your slide count to approximately 7 to 10 slides.

For 15-minute presentations

When preparing for a 15-minute presentation, concise and focused content is key. Aim for around 10 to 15 slides to maintain a good pace, which will fit with the 1-2 minute per slide rule.

For 30-minute presentations

A longer presentation gives you more room to delve deeper into your topic. But to maintain audience engagement, you’ll need to add interactivity , audience participation, and elements like animations . Aim for around 20 to 30 slides, allowing for a balanced distribution of content without overwhelming your audience.

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Using the 10-20-30 rule

The 10-20-30 rule is an effective way to structure your presentation. It calls for no more than 10 slides and no longer than 20 minutes (as well as a 30-point font).

Tips for crafting an effective presentation

No matter how long a presentation is, there are guidelines for crafting one to enhance understanding and retention. Keep these tips in mind when creating your PowerPoint masterpiece:

• Avoid overload: Ensure that each slide communicates a single idea clearly, avoiding cluttered layouts or excessive text.
• Pay attention to structure: Think of slides as bullet points with introductions, endings, and deep dives within each subject.
• Add visual appeal: Incorporate images, charts, and graphics to convey information without using too many words to make your audience read.
• Engage with your audience: Encourage interaction through questions, polls, or storytelling techniques to keep your audience actively involved.
• Put in the practice: Familiarize yourself with your slides and practice your delivery to refine your timing and confidence.

Ultimately, the ideal number of slides for your presentation depends on the allocated time frame and how detailed your content is. By striking a balance between informative content and engaging delivery, you can create a compelling presentation that can teach your audience something new.

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