Design PowerPoint presentations with keyboard shortcuts

As you can imagine due to the number of years that the program has been with us, this is a powerful software solution that has not stopped growing. In addition, having behind a firm of the Microsoft category, it goes without saying that we find ourselves with the flagship of its environment of use. This is something that is largely achieved thanks to the almost innumerable functions that it offers us. Many of them are common and popularly used, then there are many others that are somewhat more hidden and even unknown to most.

Such is the popularity of PowerPoint that, for more than a decade, when we say that we have to make a presentation, of whatever kind, we do not say that we are going to make a presentation, but that we are going to make a PowerPoint, even if we do not use the Microsoft application, but other options such as those offered by Google Docs through the cloud, using Apple’s Keynote application or the different alternatives available through LibreOffice. The same thing happens with WhatsApp, nobody sends a message, people send a WhatsApp.

As expected, users trying to get the most out of the application will have to waste valuable time exploring all that PowerPoint has to offer. Therefore, those who are going to work regularly with the Redmond program may be interested in memorizing some of the tricks that we will talk about below. These will serve to greatly speed up the work with this specific program, as it happens with many other similar ones.

At this point, the first thing we should know is that this application has an extremely complete interface full of functions. In addition, the main interface of the program that we are talking about is divided into a series of menus and submenus that give us access to most of the available functions. However, these can sometimes be somewhat annoying or not very accessible, so we propose another solution. Instead of going through endless options and windows to locate some options, or carry out certain actions, we are going to try to streamline all this.

Basic PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

Thus, in the event that we wish to be able to use the application in a more effective way, PowerPoint It has a large number of keyboard shortcuts. These give us direct access to the different functions without having to search for them among the menus. This, as you can imagine, is something very similar to what happens with many other programs that we use in Windows.

These options to which we refer here are many and the most varied. That is why it is necessary that you memorize them all. However, you can keep the most used in each case, they will save you a good amount of time. In fact, some of these key combinations that we will show you are also valid for other Office programs. Therefore, they may be useful to you in the entire Microsoft suite.

Ctrl + N: create new presentation.
Ctrl + M: insert new slide.
Ctrl + D: Duplicate the selected slide.
Ctrl + O: Open a presentation.
Ctrl + W : Close the presentation.
Ctrl + P: print a presentation.
Ctrl + S: save the presentation.
Alt + F4: Exit PowerPoint.
Ctrl + F: search text.
Ctrl + H: replace text.
Shift + F4: repeat the last search action.
Ctrl + K: insert a hyperlink.
Ctrl + Z: undo an action.
Ctrl + Y: redo or repeat an action.
F6: switch to the next panel.
Shift + F6: switch to the previous panel.
Esc: cancel an action.
F12: Run Save As.
Shift + F12: execute Save.
Ctrl + F12: run Open.
Ctrl + Shift + F12: run Print.
Alt + F11: show code Visual Basic.
F4: repeat the last action.
F10: Activate the menu bar.

Keyboard shortcuts for texts

With these keyboard shortcuts, writing texts in PowerPoint is very fast and easy.

Ctrl + Space: Delete the word to the left.
Ctrl + Del: Delete the word to the right.
Ctrl + X: Cut the currently selected object.
Ctrl + C: Copy the selected object.
Ctrl + V: Paste the cut or copied object from the clipboard.
Ctrl + left cursor: move the cursor one word to the left.
Ctrl + right cursor: move cursor one word to the right.
Shift + F3: Switch between upper and lower case.
Ctrl + E: Center the current text paragraph.
Ctrl + J: justify the paragraph.
Ctrl + L: align the paragraph on the left.
Ctrl + R: align paragraph to the right.
Alt + Shift + cursor up: move the selected paragraphs up.
Alt + Shift + cursor down: move the selected paragraphs down on the screen.
Ctrl + T: format style text font.
Ctrl + Shift + P: Change the font size.
Ctrl + Shift + >: increase the font size.
Ctrl + Shift + <: Decrease the font size.
Ctrl + B: apply formatting bold font.
Ctrl + U: apply an underline to the marked text.
Ctrl + I: apply italic formatting.
Ctrl + =: Apply subscript formatting.
Ctrl + Shift + +: apply superscript formatting.
Ctrl + Space: remove character formatting.
Ctrl + Shift + C: copy the formats.
Ctrl + Shift + V: Paste formats.
Ctrl + Tab: Insert tab in a table cell.
F7: check spelling.
Shift + F7: search for the next word.
Shift + Tab: select next object.
Enter: select text in the selected object.
Ctrl + A: select all objects.
End: Go to the end of a line.
Home: go to the beginning of a line.
Ctrl + cursor up: move up a paragraph.
Ctrl + cursor down: move down a paragraph.

Keyboard shortcuts to control the presentation

Thanks to the keyboard shortcuts that we show you below, we can manage the reproduction of the presentations.

F5: start presentation from the beginning.
Shift + F5: start presentation from the current slide.
Enter: Next animation or advance to the next slide.
Space: Play previous animation or return to the previous slide.
Number + Enter: Go to the slide indicated by the number.
B: Show a black screen in the presentation.
W: show a screen in white.
+: stop or restart automatic presentation.
Esc: end the current presentation.
E: delete the slide annotations.
H: Go to the next hidden slide.
T: set new intervals between slides.
Or: use original intervals.
Ctrl + P: Show hidden pointer or switch to pen pointer.
Ctrl + A: Show hidden pointer or switch to arrow pointer.
Ctrl + H: Hide the pointer and button.
Ctrl + U: Hide the pointer and button in 15 seconds.
Shift + F10: show contextual menu.
TAB: Go to the next hyperlink on the slide.
Shift + TAB: Go to the previous hyperlink on the slide.

PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts for shapes and objects

Adding objects and/or modifying their properties is a very simple process using these keyboard shortcuts.

Ctrl + G: group objects.
Ctrl + Shift + G: Ungroup objects.
Shift + F9: show or hide grid.
Alt + F9: show or hide guides.
Ctrl + G: Change the guide or grid settings.
Ctrl + Enter: Show the AutoShape menu.
Ctrl + cursor: move selection.
Ctrl + D: Duplicate selected shapes.
Alt + N: insert a rectangle.
Alt + Shift + N: insert a square.
Alt + O: insert a circle.
Alt + l: insert a line.
Alt + T: insert text box.
Alt + R: Duplicate selected objects on the right.
Alt + Shift + R: Duplicate selected objects on the left.
Alt + D: Duplicate selected objects down.
Alt + Shift + D: duplicate objects selected up.
Alt + Q: Group selected objects.
Alt + W: Ungroup selected objects.
Alt + E: regroup selected objects.

Other options

Many of the functions available through keyboard shortcuts are also accessible from the objects or texts that we add to the document. We just have to place the mouse over the text or object to display an additional options menu. But, if we press the right mouse button, we will also be able to access a large number of additional customization functions that are not available using keyboard shortcuts, since these are functions that are found within other functions, so that there is no keyboard shortcut that allows us to perform that action.

Keyboard shortcuts are designed to perform repetitive tasks without being forced to access the application’s menus. If we can’t remember a specific shortcut, we can find it through the function within the Windows menus. We can also help us from the Alt key (not to be confused with the Alt Gr key). By long pressing the Alt key, each of the options on the PowerPoint ribbon will show the letter that, in combination with this key, we must press to access its options.

It is not the best option, but, without a doubt, it is of great help, at least to be able to access, in broad strokes, the large number of functions that this application to create presentations puts at our disposal and which are so numerous that it is practically impossible know them all

Customize the interface of the presentation program

We have shown you a good part of the keyboard shortcuts that you can use when taking full advantage of most of the integrated functions of this Microsoft application. There is no doubt that one of the main objectives when using these specific elements is to be more productive in daily use with the application of office. Once we have memorized those that are interesting to us, we will be able to create and edit presentations in a much more fluid and fast way.

However, this is not the only method that PowerPoint proposes to us to be more productive in the program. And it is that, by default, at the top of its interface we find a ribbon of buttons that give us direct access to the most common functions. This is something that we are already used to in most of the applications that are part of this suite. However, from its configuration window it is important to know that we have the possibility of customizing the shortcuts that will appear here.

So we can give this Options a much more personal aspect, being able to add those tools that we are going to use on a regular basis.