shortcuts for powerpoint presentation

Use keyboard shortcuts to create 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 delivering your presentation, go to Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver 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 you can use in PowerPoint for Windows when creating or editing presentations.

To quickly find a shortcut in this article, you can use the 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 add it to the Quick Access Toolbar to create one. For instructions, refer to  Use a keyboard to customize the Quick Access Toolbar .

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, work with presentations and slides, work with objects and text, copy objects and text, work in objects and text, select text, delete text, move around in text, find and replace text, format text, work with tables, move a slide.

Work with views and panes

Work with the Selection pane

Work with the task pane, ribbon keyboard shortcuts, open the ribbon tabs, work in the ribbon with the keyboard, other useful ribbon keyboard shortcuts, custom keyboard shortcuts.

The following table itemizes the most frequently used shortcuts in PowerPoint.

Top of Page

Tip:  To select multiple objects with the keyboard, use the Selection Pane . For more information refer to  Manage objects with the Selection Pane .

Before using these keyboard shortcuts, select the text you want to format.

Create a bulleted list using different styles

Do one of the following:

To create a list that uses filled round bullets, press the Asterisk sign (*).

To create a list that uses hyphens, press the Minus sign (-).

To create a list that uses arrow bullets, press the Right angle bracket (>).

To create a list that uses diamonds, press Left angle bracket (<) + Right angle bracket (>).

To create a list that uses arrows, press two minus signs (-) + Right angle bracket (>).

To create a list that uses double arrows, press the Equal sign ( = ) + Right angle bracket (>).

Press Spacebar.

Type the list item, and then press Enter.

The ribbon groups related options on tabs. For example, on the Home tab, the Paragraph group includes the Bullets option. Press the Alt key to display the ribbon shortcuts, called Key Tips, as letters in small images next to the tabs and options.

You can combine the Key Tips letters with the Alt key to make shortcuts called Access Keys for the ribbon options. For example, press Alt+H to open the Home tab, and Alt+Q to move to the Tell me or Search field. Press Alt again to see KeyTips for the options on the selected tab.

In Office 2010, most of the old Alt key menu shortcuts still work, too. However, you need to know the full shortcut. For example, press Alt, and then press one of the old menu keys E (Edit), V (View), I (Insert), and so on. A notification pops up saying you're using an access key from an earlier version of Microsoft 365. If you know the entire key sequence, go ahead and use it. If you don't know the sequence, press Esc and use Key Tips instead.

To go directly to a tab on the ribbon, press one of the following access keys. Additional tabs might appear depending on your selection in the presentation.

Note:  Add-ins and other programs might add new tabs to the ribbon and might provide access keys for those tabs.

To assign custom keyboard shortcuts to menu items, recorded macros, and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code in PowerPoint, you must use a third-party add-in, such as Shortcut Manager for PowerPoint, which is available from OfficeOne .

PowerPoint help & learning

Screen reader support for PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver PowerPoint presentations

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

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to navigate modern comments in PowerPoint

Use the keyboard to work with the ribbon

This article describes the keyboard shortcuts you can use in PowerPoint for macOS when creating or editing presentations.

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

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 on Mac. 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.

Work with tables

Other useful shortcut keys.

The following table itemizes the most frequently used shortcuts in PowerPoint for Mac.

Format text

Type the list item, and then press Return.

Work with views and panes

Screen reader support for PowerPoint

This article describes the keyboard shortcuts in PowerPoint for iOS when creating or editing presentations.

If you're familiar with keyboard shortcuts on your macOS computer, the same key combinations work with PowerPoint for iOS using an external keyboard, too.

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

Frequently used shortcuts on iPad

Navigate in PowerPoint for iPad

Move the insertion point within placeholders and notes on iPad

Select content on ipad, edit and format presentations on iphone, navigate and select within a text box on iphone.

This table shows the most frequently used shortcuts for PowerPoint for iPad.

Navigate in PowerPoint for iPad

PowerPoint for iPad is a mobile application, so the keyboard shortcuts and navigation might be different from those in desktop versions of PowerPoint.

To move through the options, press Shift+Right arrow key until the focus is on the ribbon, and then press the Right or Left arrow key. To select an option, press ⌘+Option+Spacebar.

To move the focus to different areas in PowerPoint for iPad (from the ribbon to the thumbnail pane, for example), place the focus on a button, and then press Shift+Right arrow key to move forward or Shift+Left arrow key to move backward.

This article describes the keyboard shortcuts in PowerPoint for Android when creating or editing presentations.

Note:  To quickly find a shortcut, you can use the Search. Press Ctrl+F and then type your search words.

Edit and format the presentation

This article describes the keyboard shortcuts you can use in PowerPoint for the web on Windows when creating or editing presentations.

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 .

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

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.

Work with objects and text

Work with comments

Navigate with only the keyboard, navigate the ribbon and panes.

The following table provides the shortcuts that you'll likely use often in PowerPoint for the web.

Tip:  To quickly create a new presentation in PowerPoint for the web, open your browser, type PowerPoint.new or ppt.new in the address bar, and then press Enter.

Except for the shortcut for adding a new comment, the keyboard shortcuts listed below work only when the Comments pane is open and in focus.

To move the focus to different parts and areas of PowerPoint for the web (from the ribbon to the thumbnail pane, for example) and in and out of the content of a slide, press Ctrl+F6 (forward) or press Ctrl+Shift+F6 (backward). To navigate options and controls in PowerPoint for the web, press the Tab key to move forward, press Shift+Tab to move backward, and press Enter to select.

Tip:  To quickly perform an action while in the Editing mode, press Alt+Q. The focus moves to the Search or  Tell Me search field. Then type the action or option you want. Press the Up arrow key or Down arrow key until you find the option, and then press Enter to select it.

The ribbon is the strip at the top of the PowerPoint for the web window. The ribbon is organized by tabs. Each tab displays a different set of tools and functions, made up of groups, and each group includes one or more options. To move the focus to the ribbon, press Alt+Period (.) or Alt+Windows logo key. You can also press Ctrl+F6 repeatedly until the ribbon has the focus.

Other shortcuts for using the ribbon include the following:

To move between tabs, use the Right and Left arrow keys.

To access the ribbon for the currently selected tab, press the Tab key once.

To move between options on the ribbon, use the Right and Left arrow keys.

Options are activated in different ways, depending on the type of the option:

If the selected option is a button or split button, press Spacebar or Enter to activate it.

If the selected option is a list (such as the Font list), to open the list, press Alt+Down arrow key. Then, to move between items, press the Up or Down arrow key. When the focus is on the item you want, press Enter to select it.

If the selected option is a gallery, press the Tab key to go to the More option for the gallery and then, to open the gallery, press Enter. Press the Tab key to move through the items, and then press Enter to select one.

Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities

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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If you’ve never used the iphone shortcuts app, here’s the best way to get started, 7 reasons why windows users avoid linux (which aren’t true anymore), 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

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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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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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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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.

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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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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?

Related articles.

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• Bar chart trick: Right aligning categories (PPT, Word, and Excel)
• PowerPoint settings: program level vs. presentation level
• What is a linked Excel chart in PowerPoint?
• Set Up Slide Show: Customize how your PPT presentations run

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84 PowerPoint Shortcuts To Improve Your Presentation Game

• Presentation design /
• Visual communication

Presentations take a lot of time. There’s just no getting around that. There’s planning, creating the content, organizing it, designing the actual presentation and preparing to deliver it. Anything that can save some of that time is a blessing for any professional, or generally, for any human being tasked with doing this. Luckily for all of us, there are a number of PowerPoint shortcuts that can help shave off a large portion of time. In fact there are so many, that they’re very hard to remember so we’ll list the ones that we think are most useful.

If you’re a person who likes to use shortcuts, this will be a great resource to absorb and remember. If you haven’t been using shortcuts, there’s no time like the present to get started. Using shortcuts is a great way to eliminate many micro-decisions and mental stops that you have to go through every time you add or move something around.

Some of these shortcuts have been included in our roundup of 15 Powerpoint Hacks That Will Help You Save Hours And Wow Audiences, but most of them are mentioned for the first time on our blog so keep on reading to find out the easiest way to design presentations.

For efficiency purposes, we’ve grouped our PowerPoint shortcuts into the essential stages of a presentation, which are creation and delivery.

I. PowerPoint shortcuts for creating a presentation

Let’s go through some of the most common actions you would normally when creating a presentation:

ActionShortcutGeneralCreate new presentationCTRL + NCreate a new slideCTRL + MDuplicate slideCTRL + SHIFT + DDuplicate presentationCTRL + SHIFT + NMove slides upCTRL + “↑”Move slides downCTRL + “↓”Move slides to beginningCTRL + SHIFT + “↑”Move slides to endCTRL + SHIFT + “↓”Switch to slide outline viewCTRL + SHIFT + TABSwitch to slide master viewSHIFT + Normal view icon bottom leftEdit header/footer/dateALT + SHIFT + DSwitch between open presentationsCTRL + F6Search in presentationCTRL + FSave as… presentationF12Save presentationCTRL + SClose presentationALT + F4Print presentationCTRL + PObjectsDuplicate objectCTRL + DGroup selected objectsCTRL + GUngroup selected objectsCTRL + SHIFT + GRegroup selected objectsCTRL + SHIFT + JSelect all objectsCTRL + ARotate objectALT + “→” /” ←”Show/hide gridlinesSHIFT + F9Show/hide guidelinesALT + F9Show/hide rulersALT + SHIFT + F9Copy objectCTRL + CCut objectCTRL + ZPaste objectCTRL + VTextIncrease font sizeCTRL + SHIFT + ”>”Decrease font sizeCTRL + SHIFT + “<”Change fontCTRL + SHIFT + FBold formatCTRL + BUnderline formatCTRL + UItalic formatCTRL + ISubscript formatCTRL + “=”Superscript formatCTRL + SHIFT + “+”Align leftCTRL + LAlign rightCTRL + RAlign centerCTRL + EJustify alignmentCTRL + JBreak lineSHIFT + EnterInsert hyperlinkCTRL + KCopy text formatCTRL + Shift + CPaste text formatCTRL+ Shift + VGo to beginning of paragraphHomeGo to end of paragraphEndSelect text until beginning of paragraphCTRL + Shift + HomeSelect text until end of paragraphCTRL + Shift + End

Aside from these general shortcuts, there are other less known shortcuts that will help you design your slides quicker and better. For example:

Draw horizontal or vertical lines

Press and hold the Shift key while inserting lines to make sure they are perfectly horizontal, vertical or at a 45-degree angle. If you’ve already drawn a line and you want to make it shorter or longer, hold down the Shift button and it will maintain its angle.

Keep objects in proportion

Press and hold the Shift key while creating or resizing shapes and other objects to keep their proportions consistent. This is handy if you want to resize a circle without accidentally turning it into an oval.

Keep objects centered

When creating a new shape, hold down the CTRL key to have your shape centered where your cursor clicks. If you combine this shortcut with the previous one, you can create a new shape that is both centered and proportional by holding CTRL + Shift down.

Copy and paste formatting

If you want to format an object to look just like another object without reapplying all of the formatting by hand, use the formatting clipboard. Select the object whose formatting you want to copy and press CTRL+ Shift + C. Then, select the objects that you want to have the same formatting and press CTRL+ Shift + V to paste the formatting. This also works on the slide thumbnails if you have a slide background or theme that you want to copy from slide to slide. You can even apply it to text boxes.

This keyboard shortcut makes use of the Format Painter feature, which also allows you to copy formatting from one shape to another. The keyboard shortcut is a good one to remember since it packs even more power—once you’ve copied the formatting, you can paste the formatting onto as many shapes as you like without having to copy it again.

Clear formatting

To remove all formatting from selected text, press CTRL + SPACEBAR. This will reset the text back to the default formatting.

PowerPoint content placeholders have logic built in to make sure your text has the right size and formatting to match the rest of your presentation. If you’ve changed the formatting for some text or you have pasted in text that already had formatting on it, you can use the clear formatting shortcut to make the text match the design of the rest of your presentation again.

Navigate the menu and ribbons

If you want to use your keyboard to navigate the menu and ribbons in PowerPoint, press the ALT key and you’ll notice a letter or number appear for every function in the menu. Press the one you want to use and that window will open.

For example, if you’re in the Home menu and you want to insert an image, press ALT and then press “N” and then “P”. This is a great hack if your mouse or touchpad malfunction and you need to move quickly.

If you’re pressed for time, press ALT + “Q” and write down the command you want to give, such as “Insert text box”.

II. PowerPoint shortcuts for delivering a presentation

Your presentation is ready, the meeting is in an hour and you’ve rehearsed it until you almost know it by heart. But the reality of delivering any presentation is that there are often delays, logistical issues with the room or the equipment, people getting distracted and many more tiny details that can create a lot of stress and anxiety about the presentation delivery.

We’re going to arm you with some easy-to-remember shortcuts that will hopefully reduce some of that stress and help you move more efficiently through your slides, highlighting the key ideas of your presentation. Plus some of these can make you seem really cool.

ActionShortcutStart Slideshow mode from slide 1F5Start Slideshow from current slideSHIFT + F5Show presenter viewALT + F5While in Slideshow viewAdvance to next slide / perform next animationN / ENTER / SPACEBAR / PAGE DOWN / “→” / “↓”Return to previous slide / perform previous animation P / BACKSPACE / PAGE UP / “←” / “↑”Go to slide numberNumber + ENTERDisplay a blank black slideBDisplay a white blank slideWChange pointer to penCTRL + PChange pointer to eraserCTRL + EShow/hide ink markupCTRL + MGo to the next hyperlink on the current slideTABGo to the previous hyperlink on the current slideSHIFT + TABPlay or pause mediaCTRL + SPACEBARStop media playbackALT + QToggle between play and pauseALT + PIncrease the sound volumeALT + “↑”Decrease the sound volumeALT + “↓”Mute soundALT + UZoom in“+”Zoom out“-”Stop or restart automatic presentationSEnd presentationESCWhen in Presenter viewMove to next region of the Presenter viewF6Move from one tool to the next oneTABScroll down one line in the Notes paneCTRL + “↓”Scroll up one line in the Notes paneCTRL + “↑”Scroll down one screenful in the Notes paneCTRL + PAGE DOWNScroll up one screenful in the Notes paneCTRL + PAGE UP

Not everybody loves Powerpoint but those who end up getting to know all its secrets and shortcuts come to use it at its full potential and deliver excellent presentations. Try out these quick shortcuts the next time you’re creating a marketing presentation and let us know if they did end up saving you time.

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Use Keyboard Shortcuts to Speed up PowerPoint Presentations

Help to put together a slideshow quickly

• Brock University

In This Article

Jump to a Section

• Using a Keyboard Shortcut

General Keyboard Shortcuts

• Using the CTRL Key
• Quick Navigation
• Using the Arrow Keys
• Using the Shift Key
• Using Function Keys
• While Running a Slideshow

When you want to quickly create a PowerPoint presentation and minimize the amount of time you spend with your mouse, learn to use keyboard shortcuts to speed up PowerPoint presentations and make your job easier.

These instructions apply to PowerPoint versions 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and PowerPoint for Microsoft 365.

How to Use the Keyboard Shortcut List

When the instructions show the keystroke combination Ctrl + C , for example, it means to hold down the Ctrl key and then press the letter C , holding both at the same time. The plus sign (+) indicates that you need both of these two keys. You do not press the + key on the keyboard.

Certain key combinations are specific to PowerPoint, such as the F5 key to play a slide show. Many other shortcut combinations, such as Ctrl + C and Ctrl + Z, are common to a number of programs. Once you know these common ones, you will be surprised at how often you can use them.

Keyboard Shortcuts Using the CTRL Key

Here is an alphabetical list of all the letter keys that can be used with the Ctrl key as a keyboard shortcut to common tasks in PowerPoint as well as some other shortcuts using the Ctrl key.

• Ctrl + A : Selects all items on the page or the active text box.
• Ctrl + B : Applies bold formatting to the selected text.
• Ctrl + C : Copies the selected text or object to the Clipboard .
• Ctrl + D : Duplicates the selected object.
• Ctrl + F : Opens the Find dialog box.
• Ctrl + G : Opens the Grids and Guides dialog box.
• Ctrl + H : Opens the Replace dialog box.
• Ctrl + I : Applies italic formatting to the selected text.
• Ctrl + M : Inserts a new slide .
• Ctrl + N : Opens a new blank presentation.
• Ctrl + O : Displays the Open dialog box.
• Ctrl + P : Opens the Print dialog box.
• Ctrl + S : Saves the presentation.
• Ctrl + T : Opens the Font dialog box.
• Ctrl + U : Underlines the selected text.
• Ctrl + V : Pastes text and objects from the Clipboard into the presentation.
• Ctrl + W : Closes the presentation.
• Ctrl + X : Deletes the text or object from the presentation and places it in the Clipboard.
• Ctrl + Y : Repeats the last command entered.
• Ctrl + Z : Undoes the last change.
• Ctrl + F6 : Switches from one open PowerPoint presentation to another.
• Ctrl + Delete : Removes the word to the right of the cursor.
• Ctrl + Backspace : Removes the word to the left of the cursor.
• Ctrl + Home : Moves cursor to the beginning of the presentation.
• Ctrl + End : Moves cursor to the end of the presentation.
• Ctrl + Arrow keys: Move from word to word or from object to object on a slide.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Quick Navigation

To quickly navigate around your presentation use these single keyboard shortcuts or shortcut key combinations. Using the mouse can slow you down. These shortcut keys are located to the left of the number keypad on your keyboard.

• Home : Moves cursor to the beginning of the current line of text.
• End : Moves cursor to the end of the current line of text.
• Ctrl + Home : Moves cursor to the beginning of the presentation.
• Ctrl + End : Moves cursor to the end of the presentation.
• Page Up : Moves to the previous slide.
• Page Down : Moves to the next slide.

Keyboard Shortcuts Using the Arrow Keys

Keyboard shortcuts often use the arrow keys on the keyboard. Using the Ctrl key with the four arrow keys makes it easy to move to the beginning or end of a word or paragraph. These arrow keys are located to the left of the number keypad on your keyboard.

• Ctrl + left arrow : Moves cursor to the beginning of the previous word.
• Ctrl + right arrow : Moves cursor to the beginning of the next word.
• Ctrl + up arrow : Moves cursor to start of the previous paragraph.
• Ctrl + down arrow : Moves cursor to start of the next paragraph.

Keyboard Shortcuts Using Shift Key

• Shift + Enter : Creates a soft return to force a line break inside a paragraph. In a bulleted list, this creates a new line without a bullet.
• Shift + another key: Selects a single letter, a whole word, or a line of text.
• Ctrl + Shift + Home or Ctrl + Shift + End : Selects text from the cursor to the beginning or end of the document.
• Shift + F5 : Starts a slideshow that begins with the current slide.
• Shift + left arrow : Selects the previous letter.
• Shift + right arrow : Selects the next letter.
• Shift + Home : Selects text from the cursor to start of the current line.
• Shift + End : Selects text from the cursor to the end of the current line.
• Shift + Ctrl + Home : Selects all text from the cursor to the beginning of the active text box.
• Shift + Ctrl + End : Selects all text from the cursor to the end of the active text box.

Using Function Keys as Keyboard Shortcuts

The function keys or F keys as they are more commonly known are located above the number keys on the regular keyboard.

• F1 : Opens the Help pane.
• F5 : Starts the slideshow at the first slide and displays it in full-screen mode.
• Shift + F5 : Starts the slideshow at the current slide.
• F7 : Runs spellcheck.
• F12 : Opens the Save As dialog box.

Keyboard Shortcuts While Running a Slideshow

While the slideshow is running, you may need to pause to answer questions from the audience, and it is helpful to insert a simple black or white slide while you are talking. This gives you the complete attention of the audience.

Here is a list of several useful keyboard shortcuts to use during a slideshow. As an alternative choice to keyboard shortcuts, simply right-clicking on the screen will show a shortcut menu of options.

Spacebar or click the mouse: Move to next slide or next animation

Number+ Enter : Goes to the slide of that number (for example 6 + Enter goes to slide 6).

B (for black): Pauses the slideshow and displays a black screen. Press B again to resume the show.

W (for white): Pauses the show and displays a white screen. Press W again to resume the show.

N : Moves to the next slide or next animation.

P : Moves to previous slide or animation.

S : Stops the show. Press S again to restart the show.

Esc : Ends the slideshow.

Tab : Goes to the next hyperlink in a slideshow.

Shift + Tab : Goes to the previous hyperlink in a slideshow.

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Top 50 PowerPoint Shortcuts for Consultants (and the best ways to use them)

By Paul Moss

Join 100k+ subscribers on our YouTube channel and enjoy highly engaging lessons packed full of best practices.

We’ve identified the top 50 powerpoint shortcuts used by consultants around the world and ranked them in order of their usefulness. don’t forget to enroll in our free slide building course to get your own pdf copy.

Unlike most shortcut lists, this list focuses on using PowerPoint how it’s actually used at places like McKinsey , Bain , and BCG . You won’t find any shortcuts for adding clipart into your presentation, or adding slide transitions. Instead, you’ll learn the exact PowerPoint shortcuts that top-tier consultants actually use to build world-class presentations for their clients.

Once you’ve read through the list, be sure to also download the full cheat sheet of all 50 PowerPoint shortcuts. In addition to being used as a quick reference as you build slides, this cheat sheet can also be used as a study guide to help in boosting your PowerPoint skills.

Don’t forget to also check out our full courses: Advanced PowerPoint for Consultants and Advanced Presentations for Consultants .

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Table of Contents

Shortcut #1 | Undo / Redo

This first one might be a bit boring, but it’s still incredibly useful. To use it, just hit  Control Z  to undo your last action and  Control Y  to redo the same action. 

PC: Control + Z / Y Mac: Command + Z / Y

Shortcut #2 | Quick Copy

This one lets you quickly copy an object.  Select the object, then hold control and drag it away with your mouse . You can do this as many times as you want, and this can be faster than hitting Control C to copy and Control V to paste (or Control D to duplicate).

Pro tip: Combine this with Shortcut #8 to duplicate objects in a straight line. 

PC: Control + Mouse Click Mac: Control + Mouse Click

Shortcut #3 | Select All (texts, objects, or slides)

Hit  Control A  to select all the objects, slides, or text in a given area. This can be useful when wanting to make a change to multiple things at once (too obvious?). 

Pro tip: Combine this with shortcut #7 to make quick font size changes to your text, even if that text is in different boxes. 

PC: Control + A Mac: Command + A

Shortcut #4 | Open Align / Distribute / Group Menu

This is actually less of a shortcut and more of a group of shortcuts. Hit  Alt, H, G, then A  to open up a full menu of incredibly useful shortcuts that let you align, distribute, and group objects on your slide (incredibly helpful for data or text heavy slides).

Pro tip: Add this shortcut to your Quick Access Toolbar to save even more time. 

PC: Alt + H + G + A Mac: Not Available

Shortcut #5 | Copy / Paste Formatting

Just like you would copy and paste a whole object, this shortcut lets you copy just the formatting of an object. Hit  Control + Shift + C  to copy the formatting of an object, then  Control + Shift + V  to paste the formatting onto another object.  

Pro tip: Use this to ensure consistency across your presentation.

Super pro tip: Use this when two objects look just slightly different, but you don’t want to go looking for the problem (e.g. margins are incrementally different). 

PC: Control + Shift + C / V Mac: Command + Shift + C / V

Shortcut #6 | Select Multiple Objects

Quickly select multiple objects on your slide by  holding the   Control Key and clicking on each object. 

Pro Tip: Use Control + A to select all the objects on a slide, then hold the Control key and “Deselect” the objects you don’t need.

PC: Control + Mouse Click Mac: Command + Mouse Click

Shortcut #7 | Increase / Decrease Font size

Quickly increase the font size of your text by hitting  Control + Shift + >  and decrease your font size by hitting  Control + Shift + <.  This isn’t the only shortcut to change your font size, but it’s definitely the most intuitive (“greater than” sign means a bigger font, “less than” sign means a smaller one). 

Pro tip: Use this to bring all font sizes up one level (even for text that is at different sizes). 

PC: Control + Shift + > / < Mac: Command + Shift + > / <

Shortcut #8 | Move Shape Directly up or Across

Use this one to make sure your objects stay on the same horizontal or vertical line. When moving the object, just  hold Shift  and it will move in an exact straight line. Even if you push the Shift key after you’ve moved the object, it will snap into place (like magic!). 

Pro tip: combine this with shortcut #2 and quickly copy your objects in a straight line. 

PC: Shift + Mouse Click Mac: Shift + Mouse Click

Shortcut #9 | Enter / Exit Shape

When you have a shape selected, PowerPoint won’t let you edit the text unless you are “inside” that shape (definitely not the technical term). Enter the shape by hitting  F2 , and exit the shape (while keeping it selected) by hitting  Esc . 

Semi-pro tip: Use the Enter key instead of F2 if that’s more intuitive. 

Pro tip: Use the same shortcut combination in Excel to enter and exit cells. 

PC: Enter / F2 / Esc Mac: Enter / F2 / Esc

Shortcut #10 | Duplicate Slide

Quickly duplicate your slide by hitting  Control + Shift + D.

Pro Tip: Use it to duplicate your slide even if you have other objects on your slide selected.

Super Pro Tip: Duplicate your slide multiple times while building a deck to give yourself multiple versions to compare and revert back to.

PC: Control + Shift + D Mac: Command + Shift + D

Shortcut #11 | Highlight Sentence / Word

Once you start using this one you will wonder how you did without it. Just hold the  Control, Shift, and Arrow Keys  to highlight words or sentences quickly. 

Pro tip: Use the Down Arrow to highlight the whole paragraph. 

PC: Control + Shift + Arrow Mac: Command + Shift + Arrow

Shortcut #12 | Next / Previous Slide

If you already have an object selected, hitting the down arrow will just move that object. But if you’d like to move to the next slide, use the  Page Down  key to get there (even if something else is selected). Likewise, use the  Page Up  key to go to a previous slide. 

Pro tip: If you work in a job that requires heavy use of PowerPoint (or Excel), buy a keyboard that has easy-to-access Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End keys. 

PC: Page Up / Page Down Mac: Fn + Up / Down Arrow

Shortcut #13 | Copy / Paste ‘

This is a classic shortcut that works in many other applications outside of PowerPoint. Just hit  Control C  to copy an object or text, then  Control V  to paste. 

Pro tip: If you’re just copying a single object on a slide, use shortcut #2 it’s much faster! 

PC: Control + C / V Mac: Command + C / V

Shortcut #14 | Group / Ungroup

Hard to really show the value of this shortcut here (check out our  advanced courses  for that). But when used correctly this one can really help your slide building efficiency, while making for a much cleaner slide.

Just hit  Control + G  to group multiple objects, or  Control + Shift+ G  to ungroup the objects. 

PC: Control + (Shift) + G Mac: Command + Option (Shift) + G

Shortcut #15 | End Slide Show

This is an easy one. When in Presentation mode, just hit the  ESC  key to exit the presentation.

Pro tip: Check out shortcuts 21, 47, and 48 for more presentation tips!  

PC: Esc Mac: Esc

Shortcut #16 | Repeat Previous Command

This shortcut is a sneaky one. Yes, it can be good for repeating your previous command (just hit  F4) . But it’s best used when copying multiple objects one after another because it will space them apart perfectly.

Pro tip: Use this in combination with shortcuts #2 and #8. 

Super pro tip: Check out  this post  to watch this shortcut used in action! 

PC: F4 Mac: Command + Y

Shortcut #17 | Resize Object

Quickly and easily change the size of your shapes using this simple keyboard shortcut. Just  hold the shift key and use the arrows  to resize horizontally and vertically.

This one is especially helpful because it lets you resize objects from the center (i.e. it doesn’t move the box in only one direction).

PC: Shift + Arrow Key Mac: Shift + Arrow Key

Shortcut #18 | Duplicate Object

In case you decide not to use Shortcut #2, this one can be useful for duplicating objects quickly, especially if you’re trying to duplicate a single object multiple times. To use it, just hit  Control + D.

PC: Control + D Mac: Command + D

Shortcut #19 | Open Text Box Option

Shortcut #19 is what we call a ribbon shortcut, where you’re actually just accessing a command in the ribbon. To open the text box options, hit  Alt + H + AT + O . There you’ll find various options for adjusting your margins, vertical alignment, and more. 

Pro tip: To close the box, just hit Control + Spacebar and then C (two separate actions). Sometimes you need to have the box in focus first by hitting F6. 

PC:    Alt + H + AT + O Mac: Command + Options + M

Shortcut #20 | Save

Before the introduction of Autosave, this shortcut was critical. Now it’s less important, but can still be really handy for those who prefer to have Autosave turned off (including some Analyst Academy instructors!). To save your presentation just hit  Control S.  

PC: Control + S Mac: Command + S

Shortcut #21 | Start Presentation from Current Slide

Hit  Shift + F5  to start the presentation from the slide you’re working on. This can be handy when you need to quickly check how the slide you’re editing looks in Presentation View.

PC: Shift +F5 Mac: Shift +F5

Shortcut #22 | Start Presentation from Beginning

Similar to shortcut #21, this one lets you quickly jump into Presentation View. Just hit  F5  (no Shift key need) and you’ll be on your way. 

PC: F5 Mac: F5

Shortcut #23 | Bold / Underline / Italicize

Most people are familiar with this dynamic trio. Hit  Control B  to bold,  Control U  to underline, and  Control I  to italicize your text. 

PC: Control + B / U / I Mac: Command + B / U / I

Shortcut #24 | Enter Slide Sorter View

If you are doing a lot of storyboarding or if you’re trying to make sure the flow of your presentation looks good, Slide Sorter View is a really easy way to make that happen. Just hit  A lt, V, D  to be able to quickly change the order of the slides in your deck. 

PC: Alt + V + D Mac: Command + 2

Shortcut #25 | Make a Straight Line

Make your lines completely straight by  holding the Shift key  when adding them to your slide and avoid untidy slides that would disappoint your mother.

Pro tip: Add the “Insert Line” command to your Quick Access Toolbar for… wait for it… quicker access.

PC: New Line + Shift Mac: New Line + Shift 

Shortcut #26 | Insert New Slide

Avoid using your mouse by hitting  Control + M  to insert a new slide. Note: the slide will be created from the template you already have in place. 

PC: Control + M Mac: Control + M

Shortcut #27 | Find / Replace

Use this handy shortcut to find and replace words throughout your deck. Hit  Control + F  to search the presentation, or hit  Control + H  to find  and  replace. 

Pro tip: use this to search for sensitive data before sharing the deck with clients or other stakeholders. 

PC: Control + F / H Mac: Control + F / H

Shortcut #28 | Left / Right / Center Align Paragraph

This shortcut is really three shortcuts in one. Use it to Left, Right, or Center align your text with the shortcuts  Control + L, Control + R, or Control + E. 

PC: Control + L / R / E Mac: Control + L / R / E

Shortcut #29 | Move Slide

With the slide selected in the Navigation Pane, just  hold the Control key while selecting the up or down arrows.  Use this shortcut to quickly navigate through the presentation without having to use the mouse or enter Slide Sorter view.

PC: Control + Up / Down Mac: Command + Up / Down

Shortcut #30 | Zoom In / Out

This shortcut finally lets you put that mouse wheel to use! Just  hold the Control key and scroll the mouse wheel  to zoom in or out. 

Pro tip: Zoom out to assess the overall look and design of your slide. Zoom in to make pixel-perfect micro adjustments (it will zoom in on whatever object you have selected).

PC: Control + Mouse Wheel Mac: Command + Mouse Wheel 

Shortcut #31 | Hide Ribbon

This shortcut is less well known but can be really handy in the right situation. Just hit  Control + F1  to hide the ribbon completely. Use it to increase your workable area if you’re working on a design-heavy slide, or if you just don’t like looking at the ribbon!  

PC: Control + F1 Mac: Option + Command + R 

Shortcut #32 | Create Footnote

Simultaneously hitting the  Control, Shift,  and  Equals Sign  keys (AKA Control and the Plus Sign) will let you create footnotes quickly and easily. No more searching for footnotes and copying them into your presentation! 

PC: Control + Shift + = Mac: Command + Shift + =

Shortcut #33 | Open Slide Master View

Enter into Slide Master view by using the ribbon shortcut:  Alt, W, M.  This lets you edit the underlying structure of your presentation and can be a real timesaver if you use it right. Check out our  Advanced PowerPoint  course to learn how you can really use this feature to your advantage! 

PC: Alt + W + M Mac: Command + Option + 1

Shortcut #34 | Send Objects Backward / Forward

This shortcut is a bit difficult to understand without really diving into the layering feature of PowerPoint, but essentially it allows you to move the objects on your slide on top of or below each other. Just hit  Control + Shift + [  to move backwards, and  Control + Shift + ]  to move forwards. 

Pro tip: If you forget this shortcut, just right click on the object and select from the menu options. 

PC: Control + Shift + ] / [ Mac: Not Available

Shortcut #35 | Delete Entire Word

Control and Backspace  or  Control and Delete  will help you delete an entire word, which can be really helpful when editing text. Using the Backspace key will delete the closest word to the left of the cursor, and using the Delete key will delete the word to the right of the cursor. 

PC: Control + Backspace / Delete Mac: Command + Delete

Shortcut #36 | Move to End / Beginning of Line

This one takes some getting used to, but is helpful once it’s burned into your muscle memory. Use the  End  key to quickly jump to the end of the line, and the  Home  key to quickly jump to the beginning. 

PC: End / Home Mac: Command + Right / Left Arrow

Shortcut #37 | Move to End / Beginning of Text Box

Similar to shortcut #36, this shortcut will help you move to the end or the beginning of a text box quickly. Hit  Control + End  to go to the end, or  Control + Home  to go to the beginning.

PC: Control + End / Home Mac: Command + Down / Up Arrow

Shortcut #38 | Nudge Object

Hold the Control key and then hit your Arrow keys  to nudge an object across the slide. Note: how this command performs will depend a little bit on the grid settings of your slide.

Pro tip: enable the “snap to grid” option (in the View tab) to make moving objects on your slide a little easier (warning: some people don’t like this). 

PC: Control + Arrow Mac: Control + Command + Arrow

Shortcut #39 | Insert Line Break

File this shortcut under the list of shortcuts you didn’t know you were looking for. When editing text, hit  Shift + Enter  to start a new line (but not a new paragraph). This keeps the spacing between the line above it small.

Pro tip: use this when you want to add a new line underneath a bullet point (without adding a new bullet).  

PC: Shift + Enter Mac: Shift + Enter

Shortcut #40 | Keep Shape Proportioned

This beautiful shortcut lets you keep objects proportioned as you make them bigger or smaller. Just  hold the Shift key as you resize the object  with your mouse. 

Pro tip: Use this when resizing photos to keep them from becoming distorted. 

PC: Shift + Resize Shape Mac: Shift + Resize Shape

Shortcut #41 | Resize from Center

To resize an object from the center,  hold the Control key  as you make the object bigger or smaller. This lets you keep the object in place instead of it extending in a different direction (similar to shortcut #17). 

Pro tip: Combine this with shortcut #40 to keep it proportioned  and  have it extend from the center.

PC: Control + Resize Shape Mac: Control + Resize Shape

Shortcut #42 | Move Bullet Up / Down

Here’s one many people don’t know. To easily move your bullet points up or down, just put your cursor on the line you want to move and hit  Shift + Alt + Up / Down.  

Pro tip: do this one in front of your boss because it’ll blow their mind (or they’ll pretend they already know it which we both know isn’t true).

PC: Shift + Alt + Up / Down Mac: Not Available

Shortcut #43 | Move to Previous or Next Section / Object

This shortcut allows you to quickly cycle between the different objects on a slide. Just hit the  Tab  key to move forward through the objects, or  Shift + Tab  to move backward through the objects (they are in order of when they were placed on the slide). 

Pro tip: this shortcut works pretty much everywhere on the internet (helpful when you’re filling out a form!). 

PC: (Shift+) Tab Mac: (Shift+) Tab

Shortcut #44 | Change Case of Selected Text

This one doesn’t come in handy as often as you’d think, but can still be really helpful at times. It’s a nice party trick, but if you’re having PowerPoint parties you might have other issues.

Just hit  Shift + F3  and watch your text cycle through different cases (all caps, all lowercase, first letter capitalized). 

PC: Shift + F3 Mac: Shift + F3

Shortcut #45 | Enter Normal View

Jump back into Normal View with this simple ribbon shortcut. Hit  Alt + V + N  if you’re in another view (e.g. Presentation, Slide Master) and it’ll drop you right in. 

PC: Alt + V + N Mac: Command + 1

Shortcut #46 | Duplicate Presentation

Duplicate your entire presentation with this seldom used but still periodically useful shortcut. Hit  Control + Shift + N  and avoid having to navigate through the file itself to copy your presentation.

Pro tip: create multiple versions of a presentation (or slides) when you’re editing and you want to see a range of “looks”.  

PC: Control + Shift + N Mac: Not Available

Shortcut #47 | Go to Slide (number) During Presentation Mode

Jump ahead during a presentation to a specific slide by typing the slide number then hitting  Enter  while in Presentation View. You’ll have to know the number of the slide you want to go to ahead of time, so make sure you write down important slide numbers before the presentation. 

Pro tip: right click on the presentation to open up a menu of options to navigate around the presentation.

Super pro tip: use Control + S to open a dialogue box of all the slides.

PC: (Number) + Enter Mac: (Number) + Enter

Shortcut #48 | Make Screen Black / White during presentation Mode

This is really helpful when you’re in presentation mode. Just hit the  B key  to turn the screen all black (and hit ESC to get out). To turn it completely white, hit the  W key. 

PC: B / W Key Mac: B / W Key

Shortcut #49 | Open Thesaurus

This is a perfect example of a shortcut you think you’ll never use but then end up using all. the. time. Open the thesaurus quickly and easily by hitting  Alt + R + E.

Pro tip: When you have bullet points it’s best to avoid using the same starting word on more than one bullet. Avoid this travesty by double clicking on the repeat word, hitting Alt + R + E, then selecting a new word from the selection pane.

PC: Alt + R + E Mac: Command + Option + Control + R

Shortcut #50 | Toggle Between Outline Pane and Thumbnail Pane

Use this shortcut to quickly and easily edit the storyline of your presentation. Hit  Control + Shift + Tab  to edit the titles of each of your slides directly without having to click on each slide individually. 

Pro tip: use this when building an outline from scratch.

PC: Control + Shift + Tab Mac: Control + Shift + Tab

You can watch a video version of this article on YouTube .

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PowerPoint Presentation Shortcut Keys

Do you have a list of the best Microsoft PowerPoint Shortcut keys? I didn’t think so, most people that use PowerPoint only use a few of it’s functions and many people don’t know about the fantastic time saving range of shortcut keys that are built into all Microsoft Office tools. These shortcuts are particularly useful with PowerPoint In this guide, I will list the best PowerPoint shortcut keys to help you work more efficiently, whether you’re a novice or an experienced user. There are literally 1’000s but these are my favorites and the ones I find the most useful.

PowerPoint Shortcut Keys for Creating Presentations

There are a range of general shortcuts that can be used across most Microsoft Office tools

• Ctrl + N: Create a new presentation.
• Ctrl + O: Open an existing presentation – this will open a screen with a list of all your recent presentations
• Ctrl + S: Save the current presentation.
• Ctrl + P: Print the current presentation.
• Ctrl + Z: Undo the last action – This is my favourite
• Ctrl + Y: Redo the last action.
• Ctrl + F: Find text within your presentation.
• Ctrl + H: Replace text in your presentation

Shortcut keys for editing text

• Ctrl + X: Cut selected text.
• Ctrl + C: Copy selected text.
• Ctrl + V: Paste copied/cut text.
• Ctrl + B: Bold text.
• Ctrl + I: Italicize text.
• Ctrl + U: Underline text.
• Ctrl + E: Center align text.
• Ctrl + L: Left align text.
• F7: Start spell check
• Ctrl + R: Right align text.

Shortcut keys for formatting text

• Ctrl + Shift + >: Increase font size.
• Ctrl + Shift + <: Decrease font size.
• Ctrl + ]: Increase font size by 1 point.
• Ctrl + [: Decrease font size by 1 point.
• Shift + F3: Toggle between Upper case, Lower case or Sentence case
• Ctrl + Shift + K: Insert a hyperlink.
• Ctrl + M: Insert a new slide.
• Alt + Shift + Arrow Up/Arrow Down: Move selected text or object up/down in the order.

Shortcut Keys For Working With Objects 

Selecting objects on your slides

• Tab: Cycle through objects on a slide.
• Shift + Tab: Cycle backward through objects.
• Ctrl + A: Select all objects on a slide.

Working with Objects on your slides

• Ctrl + D: Duplicate selected object(s).
• Ctrl + T: Open the Format Text dialog box.
• Ctrl + G: Group selected objects.
• Ctrl + Shift + G: Ungroup selected objects.
• Ctrl + ]: Bring selected object forward.
• Ctrl + [: Send selected object backward.

Shortcut Keys for Slide Design

Formatting your Master slide

• Shift + Slide Sorter View button: Access Slide Master view.
• Ctrl + Shift + C: Copy formatting from one object to another.
• Ctrl + Shift + V: Paste formatting to another object.

Changing your design

• Alt + Shift + Left Arrow/Right Arrow: Navigate between design elements.
• Alt + A: Open the Animations tab
• Alt + G: Open the Design tab
• Alt + H: Open the Home tab
• Alt + K: Open the Transitions tab
• Alt + N: Open the Insert tab
• Alt + R: Open the Review tab
• Alt + S: Open the Slide Show tab
• Alt + W: Open the View tab
• Alt + Shift + T: Open the Header & Footer screen

Shortcut Keys for Presenting

These shortcuts are great for using when you are presenting 

• F5: Start the slideshow from the beginning.
• Shift + F5: Start the slideshow from the current slide.
• Space bar or Enter: Advance to the next slide.
• Backspace or P: Go back to the previous slide.
• B: Turn the screen black (press any key to return to the slide).
• W: Turn the screen white (press any key to return to the slide).
• Ctrl + L: Turn your mouse into a laser pointer – only works in presentation mode. Pressing it again turns the laser pointer off

As mentioned there are 1’000s of different shortcuts and some of them only work on older or newer versions of PowerPoint so don’t get frustrated if one doesn’t work on your PC, you can even create your own shortcuts by using the Alt function and following the letters that appear. For example if you press “Alt” the letters will all appear over the functions, if you type the relevant number or letter it will open that function and will then display letters over each function there. you can keep doing this to select what you need simply using your keyboard. So pressing “Alt”, “H” & “U” would open the bullet point function. If at anytime you want to escape simply press “Alt” again

If you don’t create or use PowerPoint very often I find the biggest issue is remembering the shortcuts, I used to use a printed page that went everywhere with me in my laptop bag but then I discovered these fantastic desk mats that have loads of my favourite shortcuts for PowerPoint, Word, Excel and general Windows too. I find these are a great tool for referring to whenever I need to remember a shortcut. 

Mastering these PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts will significantly enhance your productivity and efficiency when creating presentations. Whether you’re a student, business professional, educator or just creating a presentation at home these shortcuts will help you navigate PowerPoint with ease.They are not difficult and just require a little practice, the desk mats are a fantastic way to have them in front of you at all times and the ALT method is a really easy way to navigate quickly through almost any function. So, start practicing today, and take your PowerPoint skills to the next level.

I really enjoy learning new tips and tricks so if you have any you would like to share please let me know in the comments below what your favourite PowerPoint tips are

4 thoughts on “PowerPoint Presentation Shortcut Keys”

Currently, I am in college studying to be a paralegal. I always have to make a lot of PowerPoint Presentations. I was looking for ways to make this easier. Your blog post really helped with that! I am definitely going to use the PWP Shortcut Keys for creating presentations, I am so happy I can now save time while working on school projects! 

    Really glad that the post helped, I was always looking for PowerPoint shortcuts as I knew they existed but could never find them when I needed them.I initially just pulled them together for my own work but was convinced there must be other people in the same boat so just figured I should share it too. Thanks for the feedback and feel free to let me know if you find any that I haven’t included

Hi,that’s crazy there is 1000s of shortcut keys. I would have thought 20 or 30. Max 50.

it just shows how customizable these presentations can be. 

but it makes sense because technology is getting so good so fast. Maybe when there is quantum computers there will be millions of shortcuts. Just imagine trying to memorize those for your upcoming speech. 

But you did a great job of listing these so I can just bookmark this.

Thanks for your feedback, I put my list together initially as I could never find them when I needed them but I have to admit that I never thought to just bookmark it. That is why I ended up buying the desk mat with the shortcuts shown as I find it really useful. It is perfect for people like me with a bad memory 🙂

Thanks again Jake

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General shortcuts

Let’s get started with a few basic keyboard shortcuts that will help you opening, closing and navigating PowerPoint.

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

Selection and navigation shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts can also be of great help when it comes to quickly navigating throughout your presentation. The following shortcuts will enable you to select multiple objects on your slides, or move the slides inside the presentation.

• Ctrl+A : Select all text in a textbox, all slides in a presentation or all objects on a slide
• Tab : Select and/or switch 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
• Page Down : Go to the next slide
• Page Up : Go the previous slide
• Ctrl+Down Arrow : Move a slide down in the presentation (click on a slide thumbnail first)
• Ctrl+Up Arrow : Move a slide up in the presentation
• Ctrl+Shift+Up Arrow : Move a slide to the beginning of the presentation (click on a slide thumbnail first)
• Ctrl+Shift+Down Arrow  : Move a slide to the end of the presentation

Format and edition shortcuts

Editing and formatting your presentation has never been easier ! These shortcuts will make you a quick editing pro for PowerPoint.

• Ctrl+B : Add or remove bold to selected text
• Ctrl+C : Copy selected text, selected object(s), or selected slide(s)
• Ctrl+D : Duplicate the selected object or slide (for the latter, click on a slide thumbnail first)
• Ctrl+E : Center a paragraph
• Ctrl+I : Add or remove italics to selected text
• Ctrl+J : Justify a paragraph
• Ctrl+K : Insert a hyperlink
• Ctrl+L : Left align a paragraph
• Ctrl+M : Insert a new slide
• Ctrl+R : Right align a paragraph
• Ctrl+T : Open the Font dialog box when text or object is selected
• Ctrl+U : Add or remove underline to selected text
• Ctrl+V : Paste selected text, selected object(s), or selected slide(s)
• Ctrl+X : Cut 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)

A Decrease font size. A Reset font size. A Increase font size.

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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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189 Shortcuts for Microsoft PowerPoint

Jump to: Show PowerPoint Presentation with Shortcuts , Work with Text and Objects , Basic Text Navigation and Formatting , Change Fonts and Formatting , Manage Open and Save As dialog boxes , PowerPoint Taks Panes , Move around in Tables , Manage Smart Tags , Microsoft Office basics applicable to PowerPoint 2007 , Work with Dialog Boxes , … Work with the Selection pane. , Others

Created by mccartrey on 1/31/2013. Last updated by [email protected] on 6/7/2022

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Microsoft PowerPoint Shortcuts

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• Presentation Hacks

5 PowerPoint Shortcuts Every Presenter Should Know

• By: Camille Holden

We all know there’s no easy button for becoming a successful public speaker. It takes hard work, lots of practice, and a unique blend of science and artistry.

That’s why it’s all the more heartbreaking when you see a good presenter get derailed by their technology. There’s nothing more embarrassing than having to apologize for your missed cues and misfires.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Presentation technology can be a blessing, rather than a curse, as long as you know how to use it to your benefit. And while there is no easy button for that either, there are certain buttons that can make your presentations more seamless and make your delivery a lot smoother.

To make sure you’re not letting technology get in your way, here are the 5 PowerPoint shortcuts* every presenter needs to know.

*I’m omitting the truly basic ones that work across all of your applications, like copy/paste and save.

Key PowerPoint Shortcut #1 – Blacking / White-ing the Screen Sometimes you may need to pause the presentation for a lunch break or to answer a question unrelated to the presentation. In these situations, you can use shortcut keys to display a blank screen and keep your audience’s attention focused on you.

Here are the shortcuts you need to know: W or comma (while in Slide Show Mode) will turn the screen completely white. Hit either shortcut once more, and you will return to your slide.

B or period (while in Slide Show Mode) will turn the screen completely black. Hit either shortcut once more, and you will return to your slide.

Key PowerPoint Shortcut #2 – Activating the Laser Pointer When giving your talk, you may have specific elements on your slide that you want to point out to your audience. One great way to do that is to use a laser pointer – and PowerPoint provides one directly within the software.

While in Slide Show Mode, hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and click and drag with your mouse. Doing so turns on the laser pointer, allowing you to point out things on your slide and focus your audience’s attention.

Here are the shortcuts you need to know: Hold the Ctrl key and click with your mouse (in Slide Show Mode).

Key PowerPoint Shortcut #3 – Inking Your Slides Some of the best tools native to PowerPoint when presenting in front of an audience – whether on a webinar or in a room – are the inking tools.

You can use these tools to highlight parts of the slide, add notes, diagram elements in, etc.

The inking tools include the pen and the highlighter.

Here are the shortcuts you need to know: Ctrl + P (while in Slide Show Mode) will activate the pen, allowing you to write / draw on your slides. Hitting CTRL + P a second time will turn the Pen off.

Ctrl + I (while in Slide Show Mode) will activate the highlighter, allowing you to highlight / draw on your slides.

Ctrl + M (while in Slide Show Mode) will hide all the ink on your slide. If you use the shortcut a second time, you will make the ink re-appear.

E (while in Slide Show Mode) will erase all the ink on your slide.

Pro 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.

Key PowerPoint Shortcut #4 – Launching Presenter View Presenter View is a great alternative to Slide Show Mode, allowing you to play your presentation for an audience.

I love using Presenter View, because it allows you to do several things: 1. See the slide that your audience is viewing so that you can address that slide, 2. See the notes you have for that slide, 3. Preview the next slide to prepare you for what’s to come, 4. View the time and duration of your presentation, and 5. Use the laser pointer and ink features to mark up your presentation.

Knowing how to jump straight to Presenter View from a shortcut allows you to launch it on the fly and be ready to start your talk at any point.

Here are the shortcuts you need to know: Alt + F5 to launch Presenter View from the first slide.

Additional Pro Tips: 1. This is a great view for reviewing your slides before a presentation to spot check them for errors. 2. Best practice is not to overly rely on this view, as you want to be looking at your audience – not looking at your screen, which is just as bad as reading your slides.

Key PowerPoint Shortcut #5 – Jumping to a Slide in Your Presentation When you give a presentation, your talk doesn’t always end up going according to plan. And you want to be prepared in case that happens.

There are some situations when you will need to jump around in your presentation. For instance, say you are on slide 50, and your audience puts a question that requires you to jump back to slide 20.

Pressing Page Up 30 times is time-consuming and looks unprofessional. That’s why PowerPoint has two handy methods for doing so efficiently.

The first method is to simply type the slide number in, and then hit Enter (Ex. “20 Enter”).

The second method is to use the All Slides dialog box. This feature allows you to visually see all the slides within your presentation so you can immediately jump to the correct one. This is handy when you want to move forward or backward quickly within your presentation and you don’t know what the slide number is.

Here are the shortcuts you need to know: Slide number + Enter (while in Slide Show Mode) will jump you to that slide.

Ctrl + S (while in Slide Show Mode) will launch the All Slide dialog box.

Why Shortcuts Matter 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, and then there is the delivery of the presentation itself. On top of that, you’re expected to have it all done yesterday!

It’s all about trying to get more done in less time. And that’s where PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts come in handy.

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

For more of the top PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts, check out my in-depth Favorite 80 PowerPoint Shortcuts article.

About the Author: Camille Holden is the Co-Founder and CEO of Nuts & Bolts Speed Training , where she helps busy professionals save PowerPoint hours and gain peace of mind. As an expert trainer and coach, she is passionate about empowering people who are short on time but big on ideas with the tools to truly master PowerPoint and create presentations that work.

Camille Holden

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PowerPoint presentation shortcut keys

Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver PowerPoint presentations for good audience experience

Pranab Bala • March 14, 2020

Preparing good PowerPoint slides is the first thing for delivering an excellent presentation. Keyboard shortcuts comes very handy while delivering Presentations without stumbling or worrying about whats next. This article will cover the Keyboard Shortcuts to make presenter's life at ease. These are very easy to memorize if you practice once or twice. You may bookmark the page and use for quick reference before you start a new presentation

You may wish to Jump to:

Start presentation from current slide, start presentation from beginning, exit presentation mode, go to the first slide, go to the last slide, go to a specific slide, view all slides dialog showing list of titles, show context menu to choose action from, hide pointers, laser pointer, change pointer to arrow, change pointer to pen for annotation or freehand, hide annotation markup, change pointer to annotation eraser, delete or clear all on-screen annotation, display a blank black slide and back.

• Display a blank white slide and back
• Summary of Curated list of PowerPoint Keyboard shortcuts

Switch between Presentation and Normal Mode

Normal mode is the where we do all the editing. Sometime, we may need to come out of the presentation mode, quickly update it and jump back to the presentation mode.

Shift + F5 - If you are in editing mode (Normal Mode), you can start presenting right from that slide by pressing Shift and F5 key together. You may need to switch between the modes during preparation of the slides or to make some adjustment while presenting

F5 - Irrespective of what slide you are currently in, pressing F5 will start the presentation from the beginning

Esc - Anytime during presentation, pressing Esc key will stop presentation and take you to the Normal mode. It will show the slide that you were just before Esc. If you are using previous versions of PowerPoint, please try hyphen ( - )

Moving between slides while presenting

While presenting the slides, sometime, we need to jump around slides instead of sequences. This section covers most of the keyboard shortcuts used in navigation in slide show mode

Home - While presenting, if you need to start-over, pressing Home Button takes you to the very first slide

End - pressing End button anytime during the presentation, takes you to the last slide of the PowerPoint, while in presentation mode

Type the number and Press Enter - Sometimes you need to navigate to backup slides or appendixes. If you remember the slide number, you just need to type that number and press enter. You will not see the numbers on screen, while you type. But the trick will happen when you press enter. To come back to the current slide, you need to type the current slide number and press Enter or you can use Ctrl +S to see "Last Slide Viewed" as mentioned in View All Slides Dialog showing list of titles

Ctrl + S - While in presentation mode if you want to jump forward or backward and do not know the slide number then simply press Ctrl and S . This will show a list of slides that you can choose from. Alternatively, you can select a slide and click on Go To. Remembering this shortcut will save you in difficult times, when you forget any other shortcuts.

Shift+F10 - All actions on slides can be done using mouse after you see the context menu using this keyboard shortcut. This one is my favorite keyboard shortcut . When you forget all the shortcuts, remembering this one will stop you from failing. Though the pop-up on the screen might feel little less intuitive. But, it helps you to get back to your previous slide, start annotating on screen or make it blank

Annotations and pointers (arrow, Pen or Laser)

Pointers play an important role in presentation to glue audiences to the section of the slide where you need their attention. There various option to suit your need. You can also hide any pointers

Ctrl + H - This will hide pointer from the slide show. To bring back pointer you can use Ctrl + A or any of the keyboard shortcuts mentioned in the following sections

Ctrl + L - Pressing Ctrl and L change the pointer to Laser.

This is how it looks.

This tiny little Laser is the right pointer to draw attention of the audiences to particular part of screen

💡 Remember L for L aser

Ctrl + A - Arrow is the default pointer. Anytime, you want to change it back to Arrow use Ctrl + A

💡 Remember A for Arrow

Ctrl + P - This change the pointer to Pen with default color. You can start annotating or write on top of the presentation. When you stop presenting, you will get a popup on whether you want to save your scribble in the PPT. It saves the annotation as image objects and can be adjusted or deleted afterwards

💡 Remember P for P en

If you want to change pen color one option is to hover your mouse at the bottom left corner of the screen and you will notice very light panel floating. Click on the pen sign and it will pop-up the color panel. You can change color from there.

Sometimes, you might prefer a blank screen to draw or illustrate, rather than on the present slide. You can make your screen blank

You may Jump to the section for Black or white for annotation

Ctrl +M - This keyboard shortcut simply hide the the annotation that you have made. but do not delete those. anytime during presentation you can un-hide them again by pressing same Ctrl + M for the same slide

Ctrl + E - Pressing this keyboard shortcut sequences changes the pointer to Eraser. Please note that the eraser erases annotation when you press on top of the annotation one at a time.

💡 Remember E for E raser

E - Pressing E erases all annotations. This is irreversible. You cannot get back the annotation that you have erased

💡 Remember E for E rasing

Making screen Blank for Annotation

Sometimes, during presentation, you might need audience's attention and do not want them to look at the screen or you want to do annotation on a white or Black board. you can blank your screen

B - Pressing B in presentation mode makes the screen Black.

. or Period can be used to get back your slide on screen

💡 B for B lack slide

Display a blank White slide and back

W - Pressing W in presentation mode makes the screen Black.

, or comma can be used to return to the presentation from a blank white slide.

💡 W for W hite slide

Summary of Curated list of PowerPoint Keyboard shortcuts for presentation

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