PowerPoint Shortcuts

PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

PowerPoint has a large collection of keyboard shortcuts that you can use to simplify your everyday tasks.

Below is a list of the ones I use every time I need to do a particular action. I will list them by order of frequency starting with the ones I use the most to the other ones I use occasionally. If you commit to learn one or two per month then at the end of the year you will have mastered at least 15 new keyboard shortcuts. Way more that the average user!

Every Day Shortcuts

 

Shortcut Usage
Ctrl+S Save presentation
Ctrl+W Close presentation
Ctrl+S, W Save and close presentation
Ctrl+N Create a new presentation
F12 Open the Save As command
Ctrl+Enter Move insertion to the next container or create a new slide
Ctrl+Z Undo
Ctrl+Y Redo
Ctrl+P Print Preview
Ctrl+D Duplicate object (Slide or shape)
Alt+Shift+Up or Down arrow Move bullet up or down in the slide
Ctrl+Shift+Tab Toggle between the slide and outline in the left pane

Presenter Shortcuts

If you are a presenter you will surely appreciate some of the shortcuts below.

Shortcut Usage
F5 Launch the presentation starting on slide 1
Shift+F5 View current slide in slide show mode
Alt+F5 Display current slide Presenter View *
Right arrow Display next slide
Left arrow Display previous slide
Number followed by Enter Goto the slide number
Right-Click then Last Viewed Goto the previously viewed slide
Ctrl+S All slide titles. Double-click to go to a slide
W or < Toggle between While screen and presentation
B or > Toggle between Black screen and presentation
Ctrl+P Turn mouse pointer to a red pen
Ctrl+I Turn mouse pointer to a yellow highlighter *
Ctrl+E Turn mouse pointer to a marker eraser
Ctrl+A Display the normal mouse pointer
E Erase all annotations (Pen and Highlight)
– (minus) Zoom out the presentation. Esc to reset *
+ (Plus) Zoom in the presentation. Esc to reset *

If you find a use for one, use it otherwise save your memory for something else.

*  PowerPoint 2013/16 only