Secret advanced keyboard commands
How many keyboard shortcuts do you use when running your presentation? Maybe just a few, the most common ones, like the space bar or the "Enter" key to advance to the following slide or the "Esc" key to end the show.
These keys can automate some needed actions during a show, or save your presentation in those unaccounted for situations.
Having more facilities and control commands at hand, will also boost your confidence and trust in running a successful show.
To start out, let's take a look at the keys you can use to advance to the next slide:
> Enter key
> Space bar
> Right arrow
> Down arrow
> Page Down
> "N" key (for "Next")
When you want to go back to the previous slide:
> Backspace
> Left arrow
> Up arrow
> Page Up
> "P" (for "Previous")
* If you have a non-English version of PowerPoint, some keys might be different, so check them out before relying on them! Just test them, and if they don't work, have a look at the tip at the end of this article...
And what do you do if you want to jump to a slide that is not simply the next one?
Key in the slide number in the numeric keypad and then press "Enter". For instance, if you want to jump from slide 3, that is displayed on the screen, to slide 9, just press number 9 and then "Enter". If you want to reach slide 15, press 1 and 5, then press "Enter".
In case you need to stop an automatic show, as we said in the previous article (#1), press the "S" key to stop and then "S" key again to re-start the automatic show. This way you can have maximum control over your show pauses.
How can we end our show?
> "Esc" key
> Ctrl + Break
> "-" (dash/hyphen symbol)
Pressing any of these keys will end your slide show, that means that you will no longer have your slides displayed in full screen mode, but in a normal PowerPoint editing mode (Slide View, Slide Sorter View, and so on).
What if you suddenly realize that the slide you are showing is not the one you wanted, and you desperately need to hide it? Or what if you want to take a 5-minute break and want to display a black slide?
Well, in this case, press the "B" key for "Black". Press it again to go back to the show. In the case you use the "B" to black out an incorrect slide, you can directly press the number of the desired slide and press "Enter".
And what if in the dark room, during your presentation, a person has lost an earring and you need to have more light in the room, so that s/he can find it right away?
You can press "W" for "White" and you will get a white slide that will light the presentation room instantly. Press it again to go back to your show.
I would like to take some time now to discuss the use of the mouse. You all know that with the left-click of the mouse you can advance to the following slide. Have you ever pressed the right button when you run the show? You get, by default, a "Popup menu" that helps you navigate through the presentation.
Though you might find this useful, it doesn't look very professional since it covers part of your slide. It appears exactly where you right-click and not always on the same spot.
In case you decide to use it, you need to right-click on an empty spot where it doesn't cover any graphic or text.
However, to avoid this option, you can customize PowerPoint so that any time you right-click you go to the previous slide, instead of getting this little Popup menu.
1) Go to Tools >> Options and select the "View" tab
2) Where it says "Slide Show", remove the tick mark from the first option "Popup menu on right mouse click" and click OK.
From now on, any time you use your right mouse click while running the show (full screen mode) you will be brought back to the previous slide.
While there, you can choose to uncheck also the second option on the "View" tab of the Tools >> Options menu: "Show Popup menu button". By doing this, you will remove the icon that appears on the bottom left of the screen, allowing you to access the same Popup menu you get with the right-click action.
*IMPORTANT* Changing this option about the Popup menu is an action that you need to perform on the machine where you run the show. This feature is stored inside PowerPoint, not inside your presentation file. So if you like it and change it in your office computer, you will also need to change it in the computer where you will run the show.
There's another secret key you can use when running the show, and that's the letter "H" for "Hidden". In the following article we will see how we can use this key and learn its purpose.
* TIP *
And now that I have shown you some of the most useful keyboard combinations, let me reveal to you a little secret. Learn where you can find all the information about keyboard keys:
1) Go to Slide Show View (Full Screen)
2) Press F1
What can you see?
Pretty handy, isn't it? In case you have a non-English version of the PowerPoint software, here is where you have to look to obtain the right key combinations for your version.
You can read this article in the original issue of MasterView.
