how to add notes for powerpoint presentation

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How to add notes to your Microsoft PowerPoint slides

When you present a slideshow, it’s likely that you have more to say than what displays on the slides. You may want to expand on the text you’ve included, or if the slide only contains visuals, explain them further.

Add speaker notes to a slide in PowerPoint

Hide notes while editing a slideshow, view speaker notes during a slideshow.

Luckily, Microsoft PowerPoint provides a built-in feature for speaker notes. This allows you to add notes to each slide and then see them in Presenter View when you start the show.

What You Need

Microsoft PowerPoint

Open your PowerPoint presentation and select the first slide where you want to add notes.

Step 1: Go to the View tab and choose either Normal or Outline View . This allows you to see your slide along with the note you plan to add.

If you’re wondering how to add a note in PowerPoint without changing the view, the short answer is: You can’t. But if you prefer not to use Normal or Outline View, you can check out the Notes Page view in the same section of the ribbon.

While still technically a “view,” this displays your slide and a text box for your note as a printed page, as shown below.

Step 2: Display the Notes panel below the slide if it’s not visible using one of the following:

• Click the Notes button in the Status Bar at the bottom.
• Move your cursor to the bottom of the window. When you see the two-sided arrow, drag up until the panel displays.

Step 3: When the panel is empty, you’ll see “Click to Add Notes” within it. Place your cursor in the box and type your note.

Step 4: You can apply simple formatting to your note using the tools on the Home tab or in the floating toolbar. This is handy if you want to add bullet points or emphasize the font with bold, italics, or an underline.

Step 5: If you have a lengthy note within the panel, you’ll see a scrollbar appear on the right so that you can move down and see the entire note. You can also drag up on the panel to enlarge it.

If you want your slide in full view as you're assembling or editing your slideshow, you can hide the presenter notes. This does not delete them; it merely moves the notes panel out of view.

Do one of the following to hide your notes:

• Drag the notes panel downward until it no longer displays.

When it’s time to present your slideshow, you can use Presenter View to see your speaker notes. This allows you to view the notes for each slide on your monitor while presenting the slideshow on another. Your audience will not see your notes.

Step 1: Go to the Slide Show tab. On Windows, check the box for Use Presenter View in the Monitors section of the ribbon. On Mac, click the Presenter View button in the Start Slide Show section.

If you’ve already started the slideshow, you can still turn on Presenter View. Click the Three Dots in the Presenter Toolbar and choose Show Presenter View (Windows) or Use Presenter View (Mac).

Step 2: You’ll then see your notes display on the right side of the screen, with your slide on the left. As you advance each slide, the notes will display accordingly.

Step 3: The text for your note wraps automatically to the next line, and you have a scrollbar to move through those lengthy notes.

To adjust the font size for the notes, use the buttons below the notes panel.

Whether you want to add notes to PowerPoint to talk through your slideshow or simply as references while you assemble your slides, be sure to take advantage of this built-in feature.

For additional ways to work in Microsoft PowerPoint, check out how A.I. can help you create your slideshows .

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How to Add Notes to PowerPoint Presentations: A Comprehensive Guide

Sara Wanasek

Presenting a slideshow can be a daunting task, especially when you’re speaking to a large audience. Thankfully, most presentation software comes equipped with the ability to add notes to your slides, making it easier for you to stay on track and deliver a seamless presentation – no full memorization needed.

In this blog, we will explore two different ways that you can to add notes to PowerPoint:

• Presentation notes that you prepare in advance and only you can see or
• Adding live notes to your presentation for your audience to see

By leveraging these techniques, you’ll be able to engage your audience effectively and deliver memorable presentations. Let’s dive in.

How to Add Presenter Notes in PowerPoint

Presenter Notes in PowerPoint are notes that you can view on your screen while you are presenting. Your audience will not see these notes, just you, so you can stay on track, remember important points, and deliver your information clearly and easily. Presenters, here’s everything you need to know to add notes to PowerPoint.

Add Notes in Edit Mode

Notes can be added to any slide in PowerPoint. Follow these steps:

• Start by clicking on the Notes button located beneath each slide. If you don’t see it, click on the View tab at the top of the screen and then click on Notes Page.
• Begin typing your notes for that slide, providing additional details, reminders, or cues to guide your presentation.
• Repeat the process for each slide you want to add notes to.

Once you’ve added your notes, you’re ready to deliver your presentation with confidence!

Present with Notes

Now that your notes are added to your presentation, let’s learn how to use them during the presentation. Do note that to present with the Presenter Notes, you will need to be connected to another screen or projector.

• First, select the Slide Show tab in the PowerPoint ribbon
• In the Set Up section, click the check box for Presenter View
• Enter Presentation Mode! You should see your presentation on one screen (such as your projector) and your notes displayed on the other screen (such as your laptop).

⚠️ If the Presenter view appears on the wrong screen, you can swap this by clicking on the Display Setting on top of the Presenter view screen.

As you move through your slides, your notes will automatically advance with the slides, keeping you right on track.

Print Notes

If you prefer a physical copy of your notes to present with or want to share it with your audience, you can print them from PowerPoint.

To do this go into File → Print → and under Settings , choose Notes Pages . Now, you can Print .

Presenting with notes in your PowerPoint presentation helps you stay on track, maintain confidence, engage your audience, adapt to unexpected situations, and appear professional and organized, ultimately leading to a smoother, more impactful delivery. But what if you want to further explain a concept with notes and annotations during your presentation? You can with annotation tools! →

Add Notes During a Presentation

Need to add notes to aid your presentation and help your audience understand, follow along, and stay engaged? Presenter tools such as annotations are great tools to help your presentation delivery and pace. By interacting with your slide information throughout your presentation, you can encourage active learning and audience participation in the presentation. There are a few ways you can add notes to PowerPoint:

Add Notes to Any Slide

During your presentation, you can add notes in two main ways:

1.You can use PowerPoint’s built-in simple pen and highlighter to add notes to your slide. This is found in the bottom left corner of the screen click on the pen and choose your color to begin drawing.

2. For sightly more advanced pen tools, text boxes, and shapes, you can use the free PowerPoint add-in ClassPoint, to add notes to PowerPoint sides . Once downloaded, ClassPoint , an audience engagement tool, will add a toolbar at the bottom of your presentation screen with these additional annotation & presentation tools .

This gives you different thickness options and color options for the pens , highlighters , shapes , and text boxes on your slide.

Insert Whiteboard Slides

Did you know you can even add a blank whiteboard slide into your PowerPoint presentation while you are presenting? With ClassPoint, it’s true!

Perfect for when you run out of space, want to brainstorm, or have fresh details to convey to the audience.

To add a whiteboard slide to your presentation, click on the Whiteboard icon on the ClassPoint toolbar. From there, choose a template provided, or add your own whiteboard background design . This slide will be opened & inserted right into your presentation and you can begin adding your notes. All annotations added will be saved once you exit out of the presentation mode.

Add disappearing laser ink

With ClassPoint’s presentation toolbar, you can also use the laser pointer to write with disappearing ink!

Although this will not save to your slide, it is a great way to help your audience follow along and make connections to your slide information.

Share Notes

Just like when you printed your Speaker Notes above, you can also share all the notes you added to your PowerPoint slides. Print your presentation, or share it with your audience via a QR code.

Click on the Share PDF icon on the ClassPoint tab in the PowerPoint ribbon. Select to include the whiteboard and annotations that you made and click Generate . A QR code will appear that your audience can scan to access your PowerPoint slides and see all the notes you have added!

Overall, adding annotations to your PowerPoint presentation is a great way to enhance your message, engage your audience, and make your presentation more effective. So if you haven’t tried it before, why not give it a go and see the difference it can make to your next presentation?

Adding notes to your presentation is a simple but effective way to elevate your overall performance. Whether you’re adding notes in edit mode or during your presentation, PowerPoint offers a variety of tools to help make your presentation a success. Start implementing these strategies with ClassPoint, and watch as your presentations become more engaging and impactful than ever before!

About Sara Wanasek

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How to Add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint (Tutorial)

Speaker notes in PowerPoint can be a lifesaver for presenters who need a quick reference during their talk. Instead of struggling to remember key points or losing your place during a presentation, you can have your notes right in front of you.

Whether you're a seasoned presenter or new to public speaking, this tutorial will help you feel more confident and prepared for your next presentation. With insights and practical tips from our in-house presentation designers , you'll have all the tools you need for success.

Let's dive in and explore how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint, taking your presentations to the next level!

In this tutorial, we’ll cover the following topics :

• Starting with the basics: How to add speaker notes in PowerPoint
• Ready to Captivate Your Audience? Let’s see how to view speaker notes while presenting
• From PCs to Macs, learn how to print speaker notes in PowerPoint
• Get answers to your FAQs and unlock tips for better presentations

Let’s start with the basics - or feel free to skip to your preferred section using the list above.

Adding speaker notes in PowerPoint

Adding notes to PPT is a reasonably straightforward process, regardless of your operating system. Here's how to add notes in PowerPoint:

• Select a slide you want to add notes to.
• View the Notes pane located beneath each slide. If it's not visible, you can make it appear by clicking Notes on the bottom taskbar.
• You will see a blank space with the prompt "Click to add notes." That's where you can enter your speaker notes.

Pro tip: Add Notes Via Notes Page view

Are you looking to give an impeccably organized presentation? Feronika Wulandari , design manager from 24 Slides, has a pro tip for you!

"For presentations that will be copied or distributed to the audience as a reference later, it is crucial to provide detailed speaker notes. Merely looking at our presentation slides may leave the audience struggling to grasp the context.”

If you're aiming for an impeccably organized and informative presentation, Feronika's advice is invaluable. Take your presentations to the next level by utilizing the powerful Notes Page view in PowerPoint . This feature allows you to incorporate comprehensive speaker notes into your slides, ensuring your audience can fully grasp the context after the presentation.

In the Notes Page view, you have complete control over the content of your speaker notes. Customize the font size, and enrich the notes with images, shapes, charts, and more. You can even tailor the background color to suit your preferences or corporate branding. As Feronika says:

“In the notes view, we can include ample text to facilitate the audience's understanding of the presentation's context. It also is an excellent tool for attaching references and citations, particularly for content-heavy presentations like scientific ones.”

Ready to try it out? Here's how you access the Notes Page view:

• Click View .
• Look for the Presentation Views section .
• Select Notes Page .

If you want even more control over how you want your notes to look, you can check out the Notes Master . This is how you can try it out:

• Look for the Master Views section .
• Select Notes Master.

Here you can choose the design and layout of the notes page and select options for your page setup. This is what the Notes Master looks like:

Now that you know how to add notes to PowerPoint, let's see how to present PowerPoint with notes.

Ready for your next presentation? Check out how to see speaker notes while presenting

To prepare for your next presentation, follow these steps so you can have your notes on hand without your audience being able to see them. First, click on the Slide Show tab , and select the box Use Presenter View . This is what the Presenter View in PPT looks like:

To access the presenter view, start your slideshow and then click on the left button of your mouse. From the options that appear, select Show Presenter View .

And last, learn how to print notes in PowerPoint

Printing PowerPoint presenter notes can be done in different ways, depending on your operating system. Let's look at each one of them.

How to print Speaker Notes (PowerPoint - Windows)

• Click File in the top left corner.
• Choose Notes Pages from the Settings dropdown menu.
• Adjust any other printer settings.
• Click Print .

How to print Speaker Notes (PowerPoint - macOS)

• Click File .

3. Click Show Details .

4. Select Notes from the Layout dropdown menu.

5. Adjust any other printer settings.

6. Click Print .

You may also want to know: How to print notes without slides?

If you want to print speaker notes only, this is what you should do:

• Go to the View tab and click Notes Page . On each page, you’ll see a thumbnail of the slide and the notes it has.

2. Select the thumbnail on each page and press delete . Repeat this step for each notes page.

3. Finally, go to the File tab and click Print. Now, repeat the note-printing process shown in the section above.

How to print PowerPoint slides with notes: Multiple per page

If you want to print multiple slides on the same page, including the notes, follow these steps: 1. Open the File menu, select Export , and click on Create Handouts.

2. Select Notes next to slides , and click OK.

This will begin the export to Word, where you can finish printing your slides and notes as a document.

Customer Frequently Asked Questions

What are speaker notes in powerpoint.

Speaker notes on PowerPoint presentations are a feature that allows presenters to add additional information that won't appear in the presentation slides.

PowerPoint notes can be used to provide additional context and details about the content on the slide, such as statistics or critical messages. They can also help emphasize specific points without cluttering their slides with too much information. They are a valuable tool for presenters to keep essential points at hand while giving a presentation.

These are some examples of speaker notes in PowerPoint:

Benefits of using speaker notes in PowerPoint

Why add speaker notes to PowerPoint? Learning how to use notes can be a game-changer , it can benefit you in many ways.

Speaker notes on PowerPoint can help you recall important points and key messages as you give a presentation. They also provide a security blanket, giving you the confidence to deliver your speech without worrying about forgetting something.

Remember, not worrying about memorization can help you prioritize inflection and tone and make you look more professional and connected with your audience.

How do I edit slide Notes?

A good thing to remember is that you can edit your speaker notes anytime you want. So, if there is a last-minute change or a new detail you would like to consider, you can follow these steps:

• Select the slide where you want to edit notes.

You will be able to see the Notes written in the Notes Pane . Click inside it so you can edit de content. Click outside the Notes Pane to save your changes.

What is the use of Notes Page view?

The Notes Page view is a PowerPoint feature that can help you upgrade your note-taking experience . Rather than presenting your notes in a simple text format, this feature presents them as individual pages with diverse layouts, colors, and formatting options for you to explore and customize.

If you would like to check out this feature, check out our Notes Page View section .

What is the advantage of the Notes Page view?

So, why is this feature impressive? Well, the Notes Page view offers several advantages that simplify the management of your notes:

• Organization: When it comes to giving presentations, being organized is essential. You can't afford to waste time deciphering your notes. With the Notes Page view, you effortlessly organize them into distinct pages, sections, or categories, allowing you to find what you need quickly.
• Personalization: The Notes Page view also puts you in complete control. It lets you customize the appearance and layout of your notes according to your preferences. You can explore a wide array of templates, themes, and styles, making your note-taking experience unique.

What is the difference between Slide Sorter view and Notes Page view?

The Slide Sorter view and Notes Page view are two different viewing options in PowerPoint .

The Slide Sorter view in PowerPoint provides a condensed and sequential display of all the slides in your presentation. It presents miniature versions of each slide in a grid layout, allowing you to manage the order and structure of your presentation easily.

This view is beneficial when you need to reorganize your content or gain a quick understanding of your entire presentation at a glance.

On the other hand, the Notes Page view allows you to see your slides along with any accompanying speaker notes . It is ideal for creating and reviewing speaker notes, providing a dedicated area to jot down the additional information you want to reference during your presentation.

You can customize and format your notes as needed, making them a valuable resource for guiding your delivery or providing more in-depth explanations.

Get outstanding presentations that make you stand out from the crowd!

If you want to improve your presentation skills and give a more professional image to your business, this tutorial can help. However, the design for your presentation is crucial, and that's where our presentation design solutions come in.

At 24Slides , we transform presentations from "good" to "extraordinary," saving you time and effort. Say goodbye to long working hours on PowerPoint and let our design experts amaze you overnight!

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Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How to Add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint? A Quick Guide with Video Tutorials

How to Add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint? A Quick Guide with Video Tutorials

It can be hard to remember all the information you intend to discuss during a presentation. To avoid text-heavy slides and missing out on important information, some presenters use notes or flashcards. A more elegant method of presenting your slides is to use speaker notes in PowerPoint .

What are Speaker Notes in PowerPoint?

Speaker notes in PowerPoint are hidden notes in your PowerPoint slides that can be added to help you remember bits of information. Speaker notes are only visible to the presenter and can also be printed with slides for reference. You can use the printed version of speaker notes for yourself or the audience for later reading.

Speaker notes are visible to the presenter during Presenter View, which enables viewing the slide and notes side by side. This enables the presenter to show the audience only the slides, as he/she presents with the aid of notes visible on their screen.

What are the Benefits of using Speaker Notes?

Speaker notes can have a number of benefits and can enable you to not only appear more confident as you present but to also better organize your slides.

1. Speaker Notes Help Avoid Text-Heavy Slides

One of the benefits of using speaker notes is that you can avoid adding too much text to your slides and insert related points as Speaker Notes. This can provide your audience with a clutter-free view of your slides, as you use the notes to ensure you remember all the important bits of information during the presentation.

2. Speaker Notes can Help Replace Paper Notes

Flashcards or paper notes can look inelegant and can cause confusion if they get mixed up. Many presenters end up stuttering or scrambling their notes during a presentation due to this very problem. Presenters can avoid this hassle by simply using speaker notes in PowerPoint.

3. Speaker Notes can be Helpful in Recalling Information

Speaker notes can be helpful in remembering important information when you find it difficult to recall the information. In such a case the notes can be added as a precaution so that you can quickly recall that important piece of information when you have a hard time recalling something.

4. Speaker Notes can Enable You to Stay on Point

With a presentation with a bit of text and an elaborate theme, a presenter can easily lose focus. To stay on point, you can add speaker notes to set the right sequence for you to follow as you present your slides.

5. Speaker Notes can Help you Appear More Confident

The audience appreciates a presenter when he/she has the confidence to look them in the eye and speak their heart out. Presenters who scramble for notes or keep looking at their flashcards can appear less confident.

How to Add Notes to PowerPoint?

Adding speaker notes in PowerPoint is very simple. In this short tutorial we explain how to add notes to PowerPoint depending on your preferred platform.

How to Add Speaker Notes to PowerPoint for Windows?

Step 1. Select the Slide you want to add speaker notes to.

Step 2. Select Notes in the bottom right section of your screen.

Step 3. Add the notes you want below the PowerPoint slide.

How to Add Speaker Notes to PowerPoint for macOS?

How to Add Speaker Notes to PowerPoint for web?

PowerPoint in the web version lets you create Speaker Notes but does not let you view them when you are presenting.

Which option is used to create speaker notes in the PowerPoint Slide?

On the View tab of the ribbon, in the Show group, select Notes.

The pane appears across the bottom portion of the PowerPoint window, with the cursor blinking, ready for you to begin typing.

Also, you can add speaker notes in PowerPoint by clicking the Notes option at the bottom of the slide to open the notes pane. The option can be used to open or hide the pane anytime.

Expand Notes Pane: To expand the notes pane, hover your mouse to reveal the vertical scroll bar and drag to adjust the size of the pane according to need.

How to View Speaker Notes in PowerPoint while Presenting?

How to present with speaker notes? Now that you know how to add notes to PowerPoint, you can use this feature to deliver your presentation while visualizing the speaker notes as a presenter. Here we will see how to view speaker notes in PowerPoint in Presenter View.

Enable Presenter View: You can view Speaker Notes in PowerPoint in Presenter View . To make sure this option is enabled in PowerPoint, go to the Slide Show tab, and check Use Presenter View .

Select Monitor Settings: From the Slide Show tab, you can also select which monitor you want your presentation to appear on. This can help you ensure that the monitor selected for the speaker notes does not swap with the monitor screen intended for the audience. Usually, setting the monitor settings to Automatic should automatically show speaker notes on your laptop and the view with only your slides to the audience. However, checking these settings beforehand can help you avoid swapping the screens.

Adjust Text Size for Notes: When in Presenter View, you can also expand or reduce the size of the text using the buttons on the bottom right corner of the screen.

Navigate Slides: The arrow keys enable you to move between slides in Presenter View.

Annotate Slides: You can enable the Pen tool or highlighter to annotate slides during your presentation or use the Laser Pointer to focus on parts of your slide using an onscreen laser tool. These options are available via the Pen and Laser Pointer Tools option at the bottom of the Presenter View menu.

Zoom Slides: You can zoom in to a specific slide by selecting the Zoom option and then clicking on a specific section of the slide that you intend to zoom in.

Switch to a Specific Slide: You can also jump to a specific slide via the See all slides option. This can help you instantly change your slide in a single click, without moving back and forth to find it.

Black or Unblack Slideshow: You can hide or unhide a slide by using the Black/Unblack Slideshow option.

Toggle Subtitles: In a previous post, we showed you how to enable subtitles and captions in PowerPoint . The subtitle button in Presenter View enables you to toggle the subtitles on or off.

Hide Presenter View: To turn off Presenter View anytime, you can select Hide Presenter View from the More slideshow options button.

How to print PowerPoint with Speaker Notes?

Print PowerPoint with Speaker Notes is very simple:

Printing Speaker Notes with Slide Thumbnails: You can print speaker notes directly in PowerPoint by going to File -> Print -> Settings -> Notes Pages.

Printing Speaker notes without Slide Thumbnails: If you would like to print the notes without thumbnails, go to View – > Notes Pages, delete the thumbnails for each slide, and then print your notes via File -> Print -> Settings -> Notes Pages.

Creating and Printing Handouts using Speaker Notes in PowerPoint

You can create handouts from your speaker notes by exporting them to a Microsoft Word file or printing them directly from PowerPoint.

Export Handouts to Word

To export your handouts to Word, go to File -> Export -> Create Handouts .

This will provide you with the option to select whether you would like to export notes next to slides or export blank lines next to slides, notes below slides, blank lines below slides, or the outline only.

Below is an example of handouts exported to Microsoft Word from PowerPoint. You can print these handouts from Word anytime via File -> Print.

Final Words

Speaker notes in PowerPoint can help presenters create uncluttered slides and present information without worrying about messy paper notes or missing out information because of an oversight. Speaker notes provide much needed support to cater to the needs of the modern presenter, with the added advantage of printing or providing handouts to the audience after the presentation, such as citations and links for further reading.

If it’s your first time presenting with speaker notes in PowerPoint, you should try to acquaint yourself with the necessary settings and features of speaker notes to avoid getting confused when using them for the first time. Sometimes, monitor settings can flip, especially amidst an online presentation via Zoom or other video calling apps. To prevent that from happening, you can have a mock call with a colleague to make sure speaker notes aren’t visible. To do that, you can rehearse your presentation by adjusting your screen share view while hiding speaker notes.

Discover our step-by-step guide on how to make a presentation .

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Presentation Ideas, Presentation Tips, Speaker Notes, View Presentation Filed under PowerPoint Tutorials

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Everything you need to know about using speaker notes in PowerPoint®

Chariti Canny

Through preparing for our Slide Design training , we realized there’s a feature that many presenters don’t realize plays a key role in slide design and speaker support: speaker notes in PowerPoint®.

To use your  speaker notes in PowerPoint most effectively during your next talk, follow the tips below.

What are speaker notes in PowerPoint?

Speaker notes in PowerPoint help presenters recall important points, such as key messages or stats, as they give a presentation. Some presenters even upload their whole script in there!

Even if you aren’t writing a complete script, using speaker notes for the high-level points of your script will help you match your talk track to what’s happening on the current slide you’re on.

It can also be handy for other purposes, such as:

• Adding nuanced information about a slide’s graphics
• Giving instructions for how to click through an animation
• Adding links to important files
• Providing stage directions
• Giving reminders of when to pause or give an anecdote
• Setting up triggers for gestures to a co-host or the audience
• General note-taking – just like if someone would use a scratch piece of paper

What are the benefits of speaker notes in PowerPoint?

You are the storyteller, and your slides are your support, forming the atmosphere and emphasizing your key points. Because there’s a limit to how much information people can process at one time — they will either listen to you or read your slides — it’s important to show only information essential for your story.

Speaker notes in PowerPoint allow you to move nonessential text and stats off your slides so that your audience can fully absorb your message. Having the info in the speaker notes allows you to be ready should your audience ask questions about your data , or other points in your presentation that may require additional information.

Though speaker notes should be a somewhat simplified version of what you are saying, using them for the high-level points of your script will help you match your talk track to what’s happening as you move through your presentation.

Spending a little time structuring speaker notes in PowerPoint can also be an easy way to turn your presentation into a dual-purpose file. Not only can you use your file to present, you can also use it as a standalone document that can be effectively shared without you presenting. This more advanced feature is described below.

How do I add speaker notes in PowerPoint?

There are two ways to add speaker notes in PowerPoint.

Method no. 1

Directly edit in slide editing mode (aka Normal View). Click the “Notes” section of the window and begin typing. If the “Notes” section is hidden, click the “Notes” button found in “Options” on the bottom right of the PowerPoint screen.

Method no. 2

Edit your notes in “Notes View.” Click on the “View” tab in the ribbon and click “Notes Page.” Here you have more room on the screen to write your notes and adjust the font size and layout.

How should you write speaker notes in PowerPoint?

Although some people feel more comfortable putting their complete script into the speaker notes section, one could also be brief in the notes, allowing them to sound more authentic when presenting. I have worked on a lot of high-stakes presentations and have seen this done both ways with success. So, it depends on your comfort level and ability with public speaking .

The first bullet point of your speaker notes can convey the overarching idea for the slide, and your other points can support it. I call these speaking touchpoints, and often they are short words or phrases that will remind me of what I want to say.

If one of your supporting concepts involves telling an anecdote or story (which we teach and recommend in all of our workshops, by the way!) you can trigger your memory by leaving a note to yourself in brackets. For example, you could type:

• As a company, we’ve been through difficult times before
• [Story: 2008 financial crisis]

It’s also important to keep these simple because the space to view them is limited. Though, there are times when a more elaborate note needs to be included. I’ve found that including a very important phrase in full is one of my favorite things about speaker notes. We often spend a lot of time crafting that pivotal moment, the pace of it, and the wording. Leave room to easily see it in presenter view.

Once, I sat through a presentation where the presenter stayed on one slide for quite some time. He was telling a long story that was coming back to resolve and tie together various points of information on the slide. To help himself stay on track, he wrote about six key speaking touchpoints in a list in the speaker notes, duplicated the slide (so it looked the same to the audience), then completed his next few speaking touchpoints for the slide. When he reached the bottom of the first six touchpoints he clicked the slide without missing a beat and continued the talk track. The audience had no idea that he just moved slides and he was able to use his notes, even though they were long.

The speaker notes are also an opportunity to include “stage directions.” These can be anything from reminding yourself to click and advance an animation, gesture to a co-speaker or member of the audience, or even take a breath and pause.

How do you project speaker notes in PowerPoint during a presentation?

PowerPoint is set up to show notes only to the speaker when a presentation is connected to another output, such as a monitor, a projector, a video conferencing app, etc. Just select the “Slide Show” tab and click “Presenter View” to enable a display that only you can see on your computer.

You’ll see your slides, speaker notes, and even a timer, but your audience will only see slides projected on a monitor or screen.

How else can I use my speaker notes in PowerPoint?

I mentioned that you can structure the Notes pages to act as a standalone document that can be shared without you presenting. This is a more advanced way to use notes, but extremely valuable.

Let’s say your presentation wowed your audience so much that they requested copies of your slides so they can reference them later, or share with others. Because you created a presentation meant to be shown, not read, chances are that your file won’t make sense to someone who wasn’t in the room.

Unless, of course, they can read and make sense of your speaker notes. Speaker notes can be used to create beautiful presentation artifacts for your audiences. By giving people a physical reminder of your presentation content, they’ll keep thinking about your talk long after you give it, and they’ll more easily share your message with others.

We recommend you do this with Slidedocs ®, a skimmable visual document that is a version of your slides meant to standalone. It’s great for pre-reads before meetings, leave-behinds at a presentation, or of course, a summary of your great presentation without your messy speaker notes and stage directions in there!

David Allen, the author of the bestselling series  Getting Things Done , leaves information behind after his talks to ensure that his audience remembers his key principles and methodologies.

After we created a cinematic presentation for David, we translated the rich, evocative images and layouts of his presentation into handouts using our Slidedocs® methodology so that anyone could read and understand his message even if they didn’t attend his presentation.

How can I use speaker notes in PowerPoint to create handouts?

Step 1: First, make the overall changes to the Notes master, such as how you want the slide image to appear and how much space you want your notes to have.

Step 3: Next, make changes to the layout in the Notes Master, keeping in mind that changes here will be reflected on all the notes pages.

In the image below, an example of a default Notes Master is shown at left, with a redesigned Notes Master on the right. In the modified version on the right, the slide image was resized and moved to the top left, and the notes box was reformatted and moved.

Not only can the Notes Master be adjusted, but each Notes Page itself can have text, charts, quotes, and images added as separate and additional content to augment what’s on the surface slide.

You can scale your slide thumbnail to any size and place it anywhere on the master. Headers, footers, and the note placeholder can be moved into any position you’d like. You can add objects to the Notes Master, but remember that objects added in Notes Master will appear on every slide’s notes page.

Thus, you must be strategic about what you add. To that point, adding a logo or some other universal image would make sense in the Notes Master.

Step 4: Once the Notes Master has been restructured, return to Notes Page View: View tab > Notes Page. You’ll see that the notes format matches the changes you made in the Notes Master.*

Step 5: For each page, add any custom graphics, data, text, or other items that relate to that slide. Remember, these will not appear on the slides. They will only appear in these notes.

In the layouts we created for David Allen below, we placed a small image of the slide on the top left of the page and a graphic and quote at the top right.

How do I print speaker notes in PowerPoint?

Perhaps you’d rather print out your notes instead of viewing them digitally on a monitor. Or maybe you’ve gone the extra step and customized your notes and now you’re ready to distribute them to your audience.

Step 1: Click the File tab and select Print to open the print dialog.

Step 2: Pull down the second menu within the Settings options. PowerPoint defaults to the Full Page Slides option, and you’ll need to switch it to Notes Pages option.

Now you can print the file in Notes Page View to give a hard copy to your audience.

Note: Image resolutions may be slightly less in printed or PDF Notes View. Text and shapes will remain the same.

By putting thought into how you prepare, use, and re-use your speaker notes, you ensure that your message resonates long after you and your audience leave the room.

How to get expert PowerPoint help the easy way

If you have a big, high-stakes presentation coming up, and would like additional help on crafting your speech, delivering your keynote, designing your slides, or engaging an audience to take an action, our Consulting services are here to help!

Talk to a Solution Architect about your needs, we’ve done the presentations, keynotes, and speeches for the big stages like HubSpot’s INBOUND , Salesforce’s Dreamforce , and many other events in between.

If you’d like to train up your team on better presentation design skills, we recommend talking to a Training Concierge about building a custom learning journey for your needs.

And if you’d like help today for your presentation fast approaching, take our 90-minute on-demand course on Slidedocs ® along with Slide:ology ®. Then you’ll be properly equipped to download our free Slidedocs® PowerPoint templates so you can get started on the path to nailing your next presentation immediately!

*A technical footnote: If your Notes Page view doesn’t change when you make changes to your Notes Master, you may need to reset your Notes Page view. Unfortunately, the following instruction only works on Windows. For resetting notes when on MacOS you will need to use the Developer Tab, which is not covered in this article. Open Notes Page view. On an empty spot of the notes page, right click and select Notes Layout. Select the box “Reapply Master”. This will remove any previous formatting that was on the notes and reset it to the current Notes Master. This will need to be done on each slide that may cling to the old Notes Page master format.

This article was originally published on March 23, 2020. It has been updated in August 2024 for relevancy.

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How to add notes to your Microsoft PowerPoint slides for presentation reminders or editing collaboration

• To add notes to your PowerPoint slides, you'll need to have your presentation set to "Normal" view. 
• You can add notes to individual slides through a button using the "Notes" button. 
• Presentation notes appear next to your slides on the screen as your slideshow plays, but they can also be printed out with the slides.
• You can add notes to your PowerPoint slides to have you with the editing process or while you're presenting a project. 
• Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories .

PowerPoint presentation notes are meant to help you remember some of your slideshow's finer details in a quickly accessible format. During a presentation, the notes show up on the screen in Presenter view, but not on the screen of anybody else seeing the slideshow. 

If you're presenting in front of a room and can't keep returning to your laptop, you can still use your presenter notes. Just print the slideshow out with the notes. You can also hand these notes out to your audience if you think they'll need them, or the group with whom you're collaborating on the presentation. 

Adding presentation notes to your PowerPoint slideshow is easy, you merely have to know where to look. Here's how to do it.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Microsoft office (from $149.99 at best buy), apple macbook pro (from $1,299.00 at apple), acer chromebook 15 (from $179.99 at walmart), how to add notes to your powerpoint presentation.

1. Launch your PowerPoint presentation. 

2. Go to the "View" tab in the toolbar at the top of the screen.

3. Choose "Normal" view on the far left of the toolbar if it isn't already selected. 

4. Click the slide you want to add a note to.

5. At the bottom of the screen, towards the right side and to the left of "Comments," click the button that reads "Notes." 

6. Type any notes you want to make in the box and hit the Enter key or click away from the box.

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How to download and access microsoft powerpoint on your mac computer, how to convert google slides to a powerpoint presentation in 4 easy steps, 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, how to change and format the background of your powerpoint slides to custom designs.

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How to Add Speaker Notes to PowerPoint Quickly and Easily

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Are you having trouble staying on track as you give your presentation? PowerPoint speaker notes are a great way to add reminders of what you should say when giving your presentation. 

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint. It's the key to keeping essential details nearby while presenting. When you know how to insert notes in PowerPoint, you can recall those key cues during a presentation.

Knowing how to insert notes in PowerPoint is a key skill that elevates your presentations. It makes you confident and helps you ensure that you remember key points. And it’s amazingly easy to do. Let's learn how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint - and use them to their max.

Download Our FREE eBook and Make Great Presentations Today!

Want to start building amazing slide decks in PowerPoint? We've got the perfect complement to this tutorial, to help you do exactly that. Download our FREE eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . Grab it now before you read on.

Add Speaker Notes to PowerPoint (Quickstart Guide)

A great way to learn how to insert notes in PowerPoint is with the help of a screencast. We've recorded all the steps you need to master this skill. Check out the screencast below to learn the art of adding notes to PPT.

If you want a written guide that teaches you how to add notes on PowerPoint, we've got you covered. Read on for an illustrated tutorial to master PPT with speaker notes techniques.

Jump to content in this section:

How to Use Speaker Notes in PowerPoint

Learn more great powerpoint tips and tricks (for 2024), more powerpoint templates (for amazing slide designs in 2024), the top source for the very best speaker notes powerpoint templates (for 2024).

Knowing how to add notes on PowerPoint is a great skill to have. Why?

Because it helps you present with more confidence. You can leave helpful PowerPoint speaker notes that only you can see. This way, you can refer to a “ cheat sheet ” without the awkwardness of reading off a printed page, for example.

In today’s tutorial, we’ll use the popular Green Modern Presentation template from Envato Elements. Download it today to follow along.

Elements is an all-you-can-download service that offers great presentation templates. And it's the perfect supplement as we learn how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint.

Let’s learn how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint. Once you know how, you’ll be adding notes to PPT every time you present.

1. Open the PowerPoint Notes Panel

In PowerPoint, let's click on Notes on the bottom of the app to open the Notes Panel . These notes will show up only on your screen when presenting. Or you can have them on your slides when you print them.

A PPT with speaker notes is the perfect way to ensure you never forget what to say. Think of speaker notes in PowerPoint as cue cards that remind you what to say. 

2. Add Your Presenter Notes to Individual Slides

When you're adding notes to PPT, remember that they work on a slide-by-slide basis. In other words, every slide has its own set of speaker notes. 

You can type notes down here as a reminder of what to say when you're presenting. The notes will be added to the slide when you're finished. 

Add speaker notes when you need those important cues about what to say. I like to add my key talking points here to help me stay on message when speaking. That's how speaker notes in PowerPoint help you stay on track too. 

3. Switch to Presenter View to Use Your Notes

A PPT with speaker notes really shines when you use Presenter View. To open Presenter View click on the Slide Show option in the ribbon. Then click on the Presenter View icon.

This works anytime you’re connected to a second display, like a monitor or projector. Because of this, learning how to add notes on PowerPoint gives you more confidence!

When you use Presenter View, you’ll see a different view from your audience. They’ll see only your slides in full screen. You’ll see your current and next slide. And, most importantly, your PowerPoint speaker notes will be on display.

I love to use speaker notes in PowerPoint with Presenter View. It really keeps me focused, and I avoid forgetting key details in the moment as I share with my audience.

How to Use PPT With Speaker Notes

You can add speaker notes PowerPoint to all the slides in your presentation. That way, when you're giving your talk, you'll have handy notes to refer to if you get stuck. The audience won't see them. Instead, they're just available to help you stay on track during your presentation. 

You can also print your slides and have those presenter notes at hand. That's great if you prefer to have a paper copy of your speaker notes PowerPoint to reference. Learn how in this quick video tutorial: 

Envato Tuts+ has a vast collection of helpful PowerPoint tutorials . With them, you can elevate your presentation skills in just moments! 

You’ve learned how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint. But what slide designs will you choose? Envato Elements templates are your best bet. Here are several collections of the very best to help you choose:

Envato Elements is the top source for the best speaker notes PowerPoint presentation designs. The vast library has thousands of PPT templates to choose from , with more added every day.

You can add speaker notes in PowerPoint to any of them. It’s a surefire way to make a great impression when you present.

The Elements offer is powerful: unlimited downloads. For a flat monthly rate, you can download and use as many premium Microsoft PowerPoint templates as you want.

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Elements includes millions more digital assets. Among these are fonts, stock photos, music, and more. They’re the perfect companions to your next PPT presentation.

Find PowerPoint Templates

Choose a premium Elements slide deck and enjoy:

• Creative features and layouts
• Easy-to-use designs
• Drag-and-drop placeholders
• Sleek charts, infographics, and more

Envato Elements also has an AI-assisted search tool . So, you can find exactly what you're looking for quickly.

As you can see, Envato Elements is the best value for creatives in 2024. Join today  and start exploring! 

Make Great Presentations (Free PDF eBook Download)

We have the perfect complement to this tutorial, which will walk you through the complete presentation process. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully. 

Download our new eBook:  The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It's available for free with a subscription to the Tuts+ Business Newsletter. 

Start Using Speaker Notes in PowerPoint Today

In this tutorial, you learned how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint. Think of it as the ultimate way to ensure success when presenting. Gone are worries about forgetting key details or losing your place.

Speaker notes PowerPoint are a breeze to add, and you can place them on every slide in your deck. When combined with Presenter View, they’re your helpful companion as you share slides with your audience.

So, what are you waiting for? Choose a stunning PowerPoint presentation template today. Then, build out your slides and add speaker notes. Knowing how to insert notes in PowerPoint is the best way to stay on track and master your presentation content. Try it now. 

Editor's Note: This tutorial has been completely reviewed and revised by Andrew Childress to make sure that it's accurate and relevant.

How to Add Notes to a PowerPoint Presentation

Learn how to add and effectively use notes in PowerPoint to enhance your presentation skills with this detailed guide.

Step 1: Open Your PowerPoint Presentation

Step 2: Add Notes to Your Slides

• Navigate to the Slide : Click on the specific slide you want to add notes to. This will make it active and ready for editing.
• Find the Notes Pane : At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a section labeled ‘Click to add notes’. Click inside this box.

• Type Your Notes : Start typing your notes directly into this box. These can be as detailed or as brief as you prefer. Remember, these notes won't appear on the slide itself during the presentation but can be viewed by you as the presenter.

Step 3: Edit and Format Your Notes

• Font Adjustments : You can change the font size, style, and color of your notes using the options in the toolbar, similar to editing text in your slides.
• Adding Bullet Points : To organize your notes better, you can add bullet points or numbered lists just as you would in any text editing software.

Step 4: View Your Notes While Presenting

• Presenter View : Enable 'Presenter View' in PowerPoint. This view will show your notes on your screen while displaying only the slides on the projector or other display screens used by your audience. It also provides tools to navigate through your slides and keep track of presentation time.

Step 5: Print Your Notes

• Print Settings : Go to ‘File’, select ‘Print’, and under ‘Settings’, choose ‘Full Page Slides’ for a dropdown menu. Select ‘Notes Pages’ to print slides alongside your notes.

Utilizing Tools Like MagicSlides.app

Tips for writing effective speaker notes.

• Keep It Concise : Your notes should be brief and to the point. Use them as reminders or cues.
• Use Keywords : Instead of full sentences, jot down keywords that will prompt your memory.
• Include Timing Cues : Make notes of when to advance slides or when to introduce new topics.
• Practice with Your Notes : Rehearse your presentation using your notes to ensure they effectively aid your delivery.

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Everything You Need to know About Notes in PowerPoint

• Post author: Jacob Stauttener
• Post published: October 11, 2021
• Post category: Presentations
• Post last modified: August 15, 2022
• Reading time: 23 mins read

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Do you have a presentation to make and find yourself wondering how to add notes to PowerPoint?

Adding notes to your PowerPoint Presentation is a simple and effective way to make presenting easier. In this article, we will go over how you can add notes to PowerPoint, tips on using those notes, and how to print some fancy PowerPoint notes.

Now, let’s get right into it!

Why Would I Want Notes in my PowerPoint?

PowerPoint Slides are not meant to be your script. They are meant to enhance your message and help guide the attention of your audience. Generally, you want the audience’s focus to be on you and your spoken word – not your slides.

The temptation for many first starting with PowerPoint is to place all of the information they need to discuss on the slides. The problem with this is that the audience begins to read your slides and lose concentration on the words from your mouth. When the audience reads your slides ahead of you, they often lose their interest fast and their attention is split between your words and what is on the slide.

PowerPoint gives you a simple way to add notes to your slides that your audience never sees. These notes are there to help you so you never have to use your presentation deck as your script. Instead, you the notes section.

So, how do we add notes to PowerPoint?

How to Add Notes to PowerPoint

Microsoft made adding notes to PowerPoint extremely easy. All you have to do is go down to the bottom of the screen where it says “Click to add notes”. Once you click there, you can add in your notes for the presentation.

I recommend that you use this for a point form. For my videos made from converted PowerPoint files, I like to write my full script there. I have also seen marketing, communications and presentation professionals use this space for stage and technical directions too.

What to do if you Don’t See the Notes Section

If you don’t see the notes section, there is a little tab at the bottom of the screen that you can click to make the notes appear.

I want to point out that the you can adjust the separating bars between sections. You can change the size of the notes area by hovering over the line and then clicking, holding and dragging that line to resize the area.

Different Views and Adding Notes

Speaking of different views, you don’t need to write out all your notes on the default slide design page (also known as the “Normal” View). You can also access these notes in the “Outline View” and the “Notes Page” too.

Personally, I like editing my notes in the “Normal View”. Remember that you can resize your notes window by hovering over the bar above it. When you see the two sided arrow, click and drag to resize the window. That will give you ample room to edit your notes while viewing your slides. The “Notes Page” is also a good view for editing your notes.

How Should I Write Up my Notes in PowerPoint?

How you write up your notes for your presentation is completely up to you. My opinion is that the best method is to write out a series of point form notes that remind you of your salient points and to act as a guide to keep you on track. This way, you don’t get off track, cover everything you want and maximize your potential interaction with the audience.

To me, so long as you know the content, this is the best way to present to your audience as it allows flexibility in your delivery to cater to the room. It his harder to adjust to your delivery if your presentation is fully scripted out.

• My opinion – point form notes are the best
• State only your salient points
• Use as a guide to stay on topic and to remember important points
• There are also plenty of reasons to fully type out your presentation script

While I prefer bullet point scripts when I present, your support crews would likely prefer that you stick to a fully written script with stage directions. This helps the show go smoothly for larger events where you have people helping the presenter in the delivery of their message. When the presenter follows a full script completely it helps everyone involved in that delivery stay on track and not miss queues such as when to change the slide, join in the conversation, or adjust an AV setting (like lighting).

As mentioned earlier, you could add stage directions in the PowerPoint notes section for the presenter or tech crew. Let’s talk a little bit about that now.

Use Your Notes for Stage Directions Too

Using the Notes section of PowerPoint, you can add in reminders for yourself (and anyone helping) about stage and technical directions. Perhaps you have an external video that you want queued up or a secondary source shown for a live demo. You can add this there to keep everyone on track. If you have multiple presenters delivering different parts of the presentation to your audience, you can also use the Notes section to direct who will be presenting each part.

[Square Brackets] are a common way to differentiate the spoken script words from the presentation directions. Italics also work well .

Highlights will show up in your handouts “Notes Page”, but they don’t generally show in other modes of PowerPoint. I advise sticking to Square Brackets, Italics or whatever you find already works with you and your support staff.

Again, how you choose to write your script in PowerPoint notes is up to you. As a presenter, I prefer bullet points. When I use PowerPoint to create hobby videos, I like to use a full written script. While supporting presenters as a media technician, I prefer a fully scripted notes section with stage directions.

You will have to find what works best for you. Now, let’s chat about how to actually use the notes section of PowerPoint when it comes to Presenting, Recording and printing Handouts.

How to use PowerPoint Notes – Presenting, Recording and Handouts

Now that we have the notes in our presentation, how do we use them? Microsoft gave us three effective ways to use these notes. You can use them as your speaker notes while you present to an audience, notes while you record a presentation, and as part of a handout for your audience. Let’s go through how to do all three of these uses for PowerPoint notes.

How to Present with Speaker Notes

Just like adding notes, presenting with speaker notes is extremely easy. All you have to do is present in Presenter view with two screens. This second screen could be your home monitor, a TV at the office or a projector at a convention center.

To make sure that your presentation is set up to take advantage of presenter view, go to “Slide Show”. From there, make sure that “Use Presenter View” is selected. When you go to show the presentation, the computer will automatically set up one screen with the presenter’s view and the other with the full screen slides.

You can change which screen the slides show on by changing the “Monitor”. The other will become your Presenter View screen.

A Quick Look at the Presenter View

This is a fantastic tool for both anyone who has to control a PowerPoint presentation in front of a live audience or anyone presenting to a virtual audience too. As a media technician I use this view all the time. It is great for following the scripts of the presenters and also works out great while running webcasts too. The only problem about this view is that you need two monitors to get the option to function.

The screen shot above shows a PowerPoint deck that I turned into a video for a YouTube channel. This is the presentation showing in “Presenter View”. The slide is on the left, the next slide is on the right and under it is my script (or the notes section).

When you go to record your slide deck, you can also still access your notes. Let me demonstrate below.

How to Record with Speaker Notes

To record a presentation, you go to “Slide Show” followed by “Record Slide Show”.

There you will find the notes on a toggle button near the top middle of your screen.

I find this one annoying to use because it is so small, but its location forces you to look almost directly into your laptop’s webcam (as most laptops have it located at the top of the computer screen). If you are recording video with you content in PowerPoint, this is a huge bonus! I can’t think of a better place to put the script other than right under the camera for giving the audience the impression that you are talking to them when you are reading your script.

How to Print Speaker Notes with Slides in PowerPoint

Even though we live in a paperless society, we still need to make printouts and hand outs. You can make them electronically (as PDFs) or physically on paper. One great way to access your notes is through the Notes Page. You can find this by clicking on “View” and then “Notes Page.”

If you have any presenters that want a printed copy of the notes for the podium (or technical or communications staff that also need the notes), I recommend that you print off the slide deck’s “Notes Page”.

To print your notes, select “File” and then “Print”. Here you will find a drop down for the slide layout. It likely says “Full Page Slides” to start. Change this to “Notes Pages”. You will see an image of the printer page further down in the article when I show you how to make fancy handouts with this same view.

Below is how the printout will look by default. Personally I find this layout very straight forward to work with.

“But wait, you mentioned I can turn this view into good looking handouts. How do I do that?”

Creating Impressive Handouts with Notes – Altering the Layout of Handout Notes in PowerPoint

Now let’s look at how to take the notes (or script) of your presentation and turn that into a nice handout to give to your audience.

As a tip, I like to back up my files before I mess around with the layouts, but that is up to you on whether you do that or not.

To print, I went to “File” and then “Print”. On the print screen, I make sure that I choose the “Notes Pages” under the settings.

You can then print these handouts as PDF files or as physical copies.

Creating PowerPoint Handouts with Word

As with all things computers, there are usually multiple ways to doing things. Sometimes, those ways lead to different results but cover the same end goal. Here is another way to do handouts. This time, we utilize Microsoft Word.

You may want to back up your work before you go through with this just to be on the safe side.

As a note, the function to export PowerPoint to Word takes a lot of memory. If you run into problems or see the message “PowerPoint couldn’t write to Microsoft Word,” restart your computer. Then run the Export with all other programs closed. If that still does not work, split the PowerPoint into two separate presentations. One with the first half of the slides and the other with the second half. Export both of those presentations and then combine them in Word.

Relevant Links…

In this post, I made reference a few times to my hobby videos On top of Tech Presenters, I run another website focused on tabletop gaming. That website also has a YouTube channel connected to it. I made all of my early videos on that channel using PowerPoint. Now I use video editors instead, but it is surprising how much you can do with PowerPoint.

If you are interested in video editors, check out my article “ The Best Free Video Editors Out There For the PC” . You can also find more PowerPoint Tips right here on Tech Presenters. One article that I would like to direct your attention to is “ The Hottest PowerPoint HotKeys for Presenters “. Be sure to check that article out for some HotKeys that could help you present better in front of an audience.

Turning back to this article, the PowerPoint files that I screen captured are from the videos listed below. I made them using PowerPoint and even wrote my scripts into the notes section of the program.

• LED Lamp Review for Painting, Building and Photographing Miniatures – Lamp by GameCraft Miniatures
• 28mm WW2 Soviet Train Station Review – MDF Terrain by Things from the Basement soon on Kickstarter
• Monster Scenery Terrain Review – Broken Ground – Pre-painted terrain for miniature gaming and RPGs

On top of these videos, I also have a related Website called Must Contain Minis .

For those wondering, I am using Office 365 on Windows 10.

Now, let’s finish up this article.

Bringing it Together…

In this article, we went over how to add notes to PowerPoint. Not only that, but we went further and also discussed how to use the notes during presentations, for recording and for printing off handouts.

As a presentation support professional, I find coupling my slides with notes extremely handy. As a presenter, these notes help me stay on track and to make sure that I cover all of the important points that I wanted to make. Knowing how to use these notes, and how to get the most out of them, really helps in delivering the best presentations that you can.

Personally I like to keep back up files and older versions of my files in case I run into any problems. In general, I am pretty cautious in my approach and there is not harm in keeping multiple files. Just make sure that you name them well and work on the newest version. I figured I would leave that reminder here. If you are playing around with the layout of your notes page or messing around with what appears on them, it might be a good idea to keep a back up to go to in case things don’t work as intended.

Until next time, Happy Presenting Everyone!!!

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• PowerPoint Tutorials

How to Add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint

Speaker notes can be very useful to highlight the ideas you want to talk about during your presentation. In this new Slidesgo School tutorial, you’ll learn how to enter speaker notes , how to activate the Presenter View and how to use its tools .

Adding Speaker Notes

Presenting with speaker notes, using the presenter view.

• Open your presentation in PowerPoint.
• At the bottom of the screen there’s a text field with the message “Click to add notes”. The text that you enter here will be visible for you during your presentation, but not for your audience.
• If you can’t see this text field, click View → Notes. You can also click the Notes button located at the bottom of the screen.
• To display the speaker notes, you must have two screens: one for the presentation and another for the notes.
• Go to the Slide Show tab.
• In the Monitors group, check “Use Presenter View”. If you have two screens, this box will be automatically checked. Your presentation will be displayed on the secondary screen and the Presenter View will be on the main screen. You can change this by selecting a different option from the Monitor drop-down list.
• Click the Slideshow button located at the bottom of the screen. As an alternative, you can click From Beginning, on the Slide Show tab, or just press F5. Your presentation will start in Presenter View.

There are different options at your disposal during your presentation. Some of them are exclusive of this view, so let’s talk about this. 

• Current slide and Next slide: The current slide and the next one will always be visible for you.
• Slide number: At the bottom of the screen, click the left arrow to go back to the previous slide, or click the right arrow to move on to the next one.
• Pen and laser pointer Tools: You can activate the pen to draw on the slides, or the laser pointer to highlight the contents of the slide.
• See all slides: If you click this button, you’ll see all the slides of your presentation.
• Zoom into the slides: You can zoom into any part of the screen.
• Black or unblack slide show: This allows you to hide or unhide the current slide.
• Toggle subtitles: If you click this button, the subtitles will appear on the screen. This button is only available in Office 365 and newer versions.
• Zoom: Under the speaker notes you’ll find two buttons that allow you to increase or decrease the size of the text.
• More slide show options: These include hiding the slide, changing the position of the subtitles and disabling the speaker notes.
• At the top of the screen you’ll find three buttons that allow you to access the taskbar, change the main screen or end the presentation.

Do you find this article useful?

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How to Use the Presenter View in Google Slides

Google Slides, like PowerPoint, has different presentation modes that can come in handy when you’re presenting and you want your slideshow to look smooth. Whether you’re looking for slides only, speaker notes or the Q&A feature, in this new Google Slides tutorial, you’ll learn about these and their respective settings. Ready? Then let’s explore the presenter view! 

How to Download Google Slides Templates

When preparing a presentation, many people start panicking because they realize how much time it will take to edit each and every slide. Creating them from scratch, filling them in, looking for pictures, moving the elements...How stressful! But there is a solution that saves you a lot of time. We're sure that you've browsed the internet for templates, or basically, pre-established designs and elements, that can be downloaded for free and can be edited to your liking. Are we right? Then, we have some good news for you!

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How to Add Superscript and Subscript in Google Slides

Let’s take the most famous formula: E=mc^2, Einstein’s relativity equation. It wouldn’t be the same if it was E=mc2, right? Okay, yes, some people write it like that because it’s very famous and it won’t be misunderstood. But technically… It can! This is where the sophistication of superscript or subscript enters the room! Do you know how to write them in equations, copyright brands or even footnotes in your presentations? Let’s figure out how.

• Create speaker notes Video
• Print notes or use Presenter view Video

Create speaker notes

Speaker notes help you remember what to say when you present. Print them, or use Presenter view to see your notes, while the audience sees only your slides.

Add speaker notes

Slides work best when you don’t cram too much information (especially too much text) onto them.

Keep the text to a minimum and put the extra stuff in the speaker notes section, out of your audience’s sight. Then, refer to your notes while you give the presentation.

Open the notes pane by clicking NOTES at the bottom of the window.

Click in the notes pane below the slide, and enter your notes.

Create and print speaker notes

Use Presenter view

View your speaker notes as you deliver your slide show

Print slides, notes, or handouts

Use speaker notes to capture your talking points and the details you want to present with each slide.

For example, on the slide itself, include only essential points to keep the information simple and easy to scan.

Reserve the finer details for your speaker notes.

You’ll engage with your audience as you present this information, and they won’t have to read a crowded slide.

One way to use your notes is to print them out in a Notes Pages format and refer to them as you present.

Another way is to use PowerPoint’s Presenter view when you present.

Presenter view lets you see the slide and your notes on your laptop, while on the projector, your audience sees only the slide.

An added benefit of speaker notes is that you can print them as a handout for your audience, so people take away all the details.

To create speaker notes, click NOTES at the bottom of the editing window.

That opens the notes pane, where you type your notes for the slide.

To adjust the space in the pane, point to the top border and drag the double-headed arrow cursor up or down.

Type what you plan to say and the key points you’ll cover.

Apply formatting just the way you do for slide text.

For example, to make a bold-face heading, select the text, and on the HOME tab, click Bold , or to create a bulleted list, select the text, and on the HOME tab, click Bullets .

For each slide, add the notes you want.

As you work, and especially if you plan to print your notes, make use of Notes page view.

To open the view, click VIEW and Notes Page .

This shows the page as it will look when you print it, with the slide image and the notes.

You can add and format text here, too.

Let’s click Zoom In to see the text better.

Click the text to display its placeholder, this dotted border.

Any text outside this border won’t fit on the page when you print.

PowerPoint will print the extra text on a separate page.

But to keep it to this page, you have a few options.

Tighten up the notes text by deleting extra paragraph lines or revising text, if you can.

This info repeats the web address, so I’ll select it, and press Delete.

I’ll click Zoom Out to see more of the page.

If you want more space and don’t mind making the slide image smaller on this page, you can click the image to select it, point to the bottom-right corner, and drag the two-headed arrow upward to reduce the image size.

Then, display the text placeholder again, point to the top sizing handle, and drag the two-headed arrow cursor upward.

That adds space at the bottom of the placeholder.

I’ll click where I had the blank paragraph lines and press Enter to add them back.

Now, it looks better.

To move to another notes page, click Next Slide , the double arrows at the bottom of the scrollbar.

To return to the normal view, click Normal .

And if you are ready to close the notes pane, click NOTES .

Up next: Print notes or use Presenter view .

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May 9, 2022

Edit your notes in Presenter view in PowerPoint

Victoria Tran

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Hey, Officer Insiders! My name is Victoria Tran, and I’m a Program Manager on the PowerPoint team. I’m thrilled to share that you can now edit notes in Presenter view in PowerPoint for Windows. No more switching to Editor view to type or change your notes, even during a presentation!

Edit notes in Presenter view

Accessing and editing your slide content whenever the need arises is a key part of the PowerPoint workflow. Whether you’re making an important edit to your speaker notes during a presentation rehearsal or jotting down feedback during your presentation, the ability to edit notes in Presenter view increases your productivity and eliminates the need to toggle between views.

We are excited to add this highly requested feature and expand the use of PowerPoint notes. In the future, we’ll continue to add support for editing notes in other views, such as Teleprompter view.

How it works

Ready to edit notes in Presenter view?

NOTE:  You can also press the F6 key to select the Notes pane in Presenter view. When a white outline appears around the pane, press Enter and start typing to make any updates you want.

Known issues

Presenter view currently only allows basic formatting of notes, such as bold, italics, and underlining (via keyboard shortcuts). Formatting such as text color, highlighting, and other options aren’t yet available.

Tips and tricks

• If you are using keyboard commands to navigate through your slides during a presentation, make sure the text insertion point is not showing in the Notes pane. If it is, the arrow keys will move the insertion point around in the pane instead of navigating the slides.
• If you have two monitors, a full-screen slide will show on one monitor and Presenter view on the other monitor, featuring a view of the next slide, your speaker notes, a timer, and more. If you have just one monitor, you can press Alt + F5 to try out Presenter view.

Availability

We will be rolling the edit notes in Presenter view feature out to Office Insiders running Beta Channel Version 2204 (Build 15225.20000) or later.

Don’t have it yet? It’s probably us, not you.

Features are released over some time to ensure things are working smoothly. We highlight features that you may not have because they’re slowly releasing to larger numbers of Insiders. Sometimes we remove elements to further improve them based on your feedback. Though this is rare, we also reserve the option to pull a feature entirely out of the product, even if you, as an Insider, have had the opportunity to try it.

We want to hear from you! Please click Help > Feedback to submit your feedback about this feature.

Learn what  other information you should include in your feedback  to ensure it’s actionable and reaches the right people. We’re excited to hear from you!

Sign up for the Office Insider newsletter  and get the latest information about Insider features in your inbox once a month!

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Insert PowerPoint Notes: Quick and Easy!

Whether you need to deliver an important presentation to company management or an academic breakthrough, you really can’t get by in 2022 without Microsoft Office PowerPoint . There are good reasons for this! Well-prepared PowerPoint presentations provide interesting visual background for your presentation, and memory aids for both you and your audience. They also serve as a coherent guideline throughout a presentation, so everyone can stay on track with your train of thought.

PowerPoint notes are a brilliant way to supplement and support your presentation – we’ll go through how to insert them, how to use them, and much more.

So what are PowerPoint Notes?

Do you ever struggle to read your own handwriting when delivering a presentation, or get irritated by trying to squash all your notes onto index cards? PowerPoint notes solve all this and more!

How can you use notes in presentations?

• As bullet points with reminders of important elements you want to address
• As planning for sequences and transitions
• As interactive questions that you can incorporate into the lecture when appropriate

You can add them to a PowerPoint presentation so that only you, the presenter, can see the notes , while your audience only sees your slides. This article sets out clearly how you can use this handy little trick and insert, display and print PowerPoint notes.

Inserting PowerPoint Notes on Slides – An Incredibly Useful Tool

The ways you can use design and layout in PowerPoint slides are almost endless . You can choose and alter font, color, format or graphics to deliver maximum impact, and PowerPoint notes are a great addition. They appear under individual slides in working view, and it’s only you who sees them.

This means you can jot down everything you need to deliver that particular slide, to be sure you cover everything, as well as having the actual slides and their contents at your fingertips.  You don’t have to write down everything you want to say – using mnemonics and the occasional pithy phrase means you can speak more freely, impressing the audience with your competence and letting them really appreciate your ideas, without forgetting anything.

So how do you you actually insert PowerPoint notes? It’s simple. 

Adding PowerPoint Notes to Your Presentation – Here’s how

It’s really easy to add speaker notes:

• First, open your presentation.
• Below each slide you should see a small box that says Click to add notes (you may have to click on Notes in the bar along the bottom of the screen to get this).

• If this doesn’t work, try clicking on View then Notes .

View, add and hide your notes as follows:

• Open the slide you want to add notes to, and then click on the Notes tab mentioned above.
• If you want to hide your speaker notes, just click on Notes again.

To make your PowerPoint notes as effective as possible, it’s a good idea to use bullet points instead of whole sentences. You can then be sure of delivering your most important content while keeping the presentation flowing.

When creating PowerPoint notes, you can format your text to suit your needs (making the font big enough for you to see clearly, for example, or highlighting particularly important passages in color ). Bolding or italicizing particular words is no problem in the notes field in PowerPoint. It’s essential to save your PowerPoint presentation as you go along, though – otherwise you risk losing your notes and the slides that go with them.

Edit existing PowerPoint Notes

If you need to edit notes you’ve already created, no worries; it’s simple. Just go to the note you want to edit and click in the text field to rewrite or delete text .

Delete PowerPoint Notes

Deleting PowerPoint notes is just as easy as creating and editing them .You can either remove individual notes from a particular slide, or delete all your notes in one go.

To do this, first open the presentation, making sure that it’s saved to date, and click on File from the menu, to get the backstage view. Click on Info , Check for issues , then Inspect document . This brings up a list with your Presentation notes at the bottom. Uncheck the items you don’t need to review at the time, making sure you’ve checked the Presentation notes option, and confirm your selection by clicking on Inspect .

You can delete your notes via the Remove all option.

Pay attention to the design of your notes

Make sure to insert your notes legibly in PowerPoint . It will not be helpful if you include excessively long sentences in too small a font size as notes and cannot read them afterward. We recommend a minimum font size of 16pt .

You can highlight particularly important information within the PowerPoint notes in color or bold. However, avoid using color combinations that are difficult to read, such as light text on a light background.

Using PowerPoint Notes during Your Presentation

To make the best use of your notes, you need to deliver your presentation in Presenter View . We’ve covered everything you need to know about Presenter View here . To activate it, open your presentation and click on Slide show on the top bar. Presenter View should already be ticked if you have made notes; if not, just check the box and you’re set to go.

You can now start your presentation as usual with the options (on the left) of From beginning or From current slide .

Within Presenter View you can choose between different playback options. On the left side of your screen you can see what your audience can see, while on the right side you can see a preview of the next slide . To enlarge the view of your notes, click on the A to the right of the notes field, which you can toggle to make the text bigger or smaller to suit.

Printing PowerPoint Notes

If you want to print your notes for yourself or include them in a handout , you can do so either on their own or together with the relevant slides . We’ve put together lots of useful information about PowerPoint handouts  here . To print the entire presentation including the slides and your notes:

• Open your presentation and then select the File option in the menu bar.
• Now click on Print and decide how you want to print your presentation.
• You will then see a print preview of the presentation; select whether you want to print a particular slide and its notes, or a selection, or indeed the whole presentation.
• To start printing, just confirm using the Print button.

If you want to print your PowerPoint notes without the slides , no problem:

• Open your presentation and click on Presentation views (under View ). Now select the notes page.
• Delete the slide thumbnails by clicking on a thumbnail and then confirming your selection using the Delete button.
• Repeat this process for all the slides where you only want to print the notes.
• Once you have done this, confirm your selection by clicking on Print .
• On the following page, under Slides , select Notes Page to get the printout you want.
• As above, you can also choose individual pages or a custom selection at this stage

Using hyperlinks within PowerPoint notes

Hyperlinks can be used in PowerPoint notes to embed additional information or resources that can be referred to during the presentation. For example, link to a website or a video . To insert a hyperlink, simply click on the text box where you want to insert the hyperlink and select “Insert” from the menu ribbon. Then click on “Hyperlink” and enter the URL of the target destination.

Printing slides with Notes Master

A third option for printing your notes is the Microsoft PowerPoint Notes Master. To use this method, you first need to format your slides for optimal handout printing.

To use this option, go to Master Views in your open presentation (under View ) and then Notes Master . A useful template opens up, which is ideally suited for a handout and is equipped with various placeholders and background formats. The Notes Master also lets you insert a header and/or footer (for your logo, company name and address, etc.), turning yourPowerPoint notes into an official, professional-looking handout. 

If you’ve revised your notes in Master view, you see them in standard view again via the Notes Master tab, View and then Normal . Important: any alterations you have made will then only be visible after printing.

To print your entire presentation, slides and notes, select Print from the File menu. Then, in Settings , open the first menu item below the slides and select Notes Master .

You can now choose between printing just the pages you want, or printing the entire presentation.

Conclusion: PowerPoint Notes – A great Tool for Your Presentations!

To sum up, PowerPoint Notes is a brilliant tool for making your presentations even more professional and polished .

If you have any questions regarding PowerPoint Notes ,or PowerPoint in general , please feel free to contact us by email at [email protected] . We are always happy to answer your queries!

Other articles that may interest you:

• Use Handouts to Support Your Presentations
• PowerPoint Presenter View
• How to Change Slide Orientation in PPT

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How To Add Notes To PowerPoint

Reviewed By: Kevin Pocock

Table of Contents

Add notes to powerpoint: step-by-step, find the notes section, toggle the notes box, set notes to present while speaking, why can’t i add notes to my powerpoint presentation, add notes to powerpoint – final thoughts.

A lot of us use Microsoft PowerPoint as a format for our presentations but a key feature of PowerPoint is often overlooked. You can add speaker notes to PowerPoint to avoid reading off the presentation – but how?

In this guide, we’re going to take you through this in detail so you can better access your notes during a presentation, or provide them for a colleague or speaker to reference. Read, on and we’ll show you how to add notes to Powerpoint with ease.

When you are viewing your PowerPoint presentation in its editing mode (that is the mode PowerPoint automatically opens up with) then you will notice a white or transparent box on the bottom right hand corner of the screen with the writing ‘Click to add notes’ written inside. That is the Notes section of the PowerPoint and where you can add your own notes for your presentation.

All you have to do is double click on the box and type in your notes.

Although it’s not recommended that you try to type in a whole script, you can write useful bullet points to keep you on track when presenting your PowerPoint.

PowerPoint automatically shows the Notes when you start a new presentation but if you minimize this box at any point, it will stay hidden.

To bring up your Notes box, just click the ‘Notes’ button shown on the bottom ribbon menu of the window. It will be situated close to the right hand side of the screen.

Click it and the Notes box will appear. Alternatively, you can press the ‘Normal View’ button which is next to the Notes button and is represented by an icon willed with lots of rectangles, mimicking the layout of the Normal View window.

You can also add new speaker notes in Powerpoint to every single slide. Just select which slide from the left hand side menu, and then enter in your notes in the Notes box.

To bring up your speaker notes in Powerpoint, just click the ‘Notes’ button shown on the bottom ribbon menu of the window. It will be situated close to the right hand side of the screen.

Click it and the Notes box will appear.

Alternatively, you can press the ‘Normal View’ button which is next to the Notes button and is represented by an icon willed with lots of rectangles, mimicking the layout of the Normal View window.

You can also add new notes to every single slide in your PowerPoint. Just select which slide from the left hand side menu, and then enter in your notes in the Notes box.

Speaker notes in Powepoint will not appear when you are presenting unless you have enabled it with Presenter View.

To do this, head to the Slide Show tab on the top menu. You can find it between Animations and Review in the middle of the middle of the tab menu.

Once you find it, select it and this will open up the Slide Show menu on the top ribbon menu.

Now, you need to find the ‘Use Presenter View’ option and make sure that the box is ticked.

You can find this option in the Monitors section towards the right of the menu. Find it, tick it and this will enable Presenter View.

This means that when you start to present your PowerPoint (by selecting the ‘Play From Beginning’ button on the left side of the Slide Show menu), your Notes section will appear on your monitor on your computer but it will not on the screen presenting to your audience.

That way, you can read your notes without it spoiling the overall appearance and professionalism of your PowerPoint presentation.

To add notes to slides, ensure you have your slideshow viewed in ‘normal view’. This will allow you to add notes. Then when you’re ready to present, ‘presenter view’ will provide the notes for the presenter to see as the slideshow plays.

Notes are an overlooked part of PowerPoint but they can really improve the performance of your presentation. Some of the most successful presentations are done when the speaker maintains good eye contact with their audience and isn’t constantly turning their back to read from a large screen. Also, scripts can be clumsy and feel unnatural because they are so, well, scripted.

So, try following the above guide to add speaker notes to your PowerPoint. This way, your presentation will feel more natural and will go down a lot better with your audience. 

• Want to add some flair? You can also embed videos into Powerpoint .

Kevin Pocock

Kevin is the Editor of PC Guide. He has a broad interest and enthusiasm for consumer electronics, PCs and all things consumer tech - and more than 15 years experience in tech journalism.

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How-To Geek

Everything you need to know about animations and transitions in powerpoint.

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If Your PC Won't Run Windows 11, Here Are 5 Great Linux Operating Systems to Try Instead

When should you use ztna instead of a vpn, why everyone should have a spare bootable linux usb disk, quick links, what are animations, what are transitions, things to note before you begin, how to add, amend, and remove an animation, how to add, amend, and remove a transition, using the morph transition.

PowerPoint's animations and transitions can help you grab your audience's attention, present information in bite-sized chunks, and—when used sparingly—deliver a more professional presentation. In this article, we'll run through the nuts and bolts of these useful PowerPoint tools.

Animations are effects you can add to your slides' text, pictures, shapes, graphics, tables, and other elements. There are four different types of animations:

• Entrance animations—These are the effects you can add to make an object appear on your slide in different ways.
• Emphasis animations—You can add an emphasis animation to an object already visible on your slide, such as changing its size or color.
• Exit animations—The opposite to entrance animations, exit animations make objects disappear from your slide through different effects.
• Motion paths animations —You can make an element on your slide move to a different place, with your audience seeing this movement from where it started to where it ends up.

You can use more than one animation on a single object. For example, you can apply an entrance animation to some text, followed by an emphasis animation.

A transition effect dictates how your presentation progresses from one slide to the next, and you can choose from three different levels of complexity:

• Subtle—These are the most basic types of transitions in PowerPoint, aiding speed and slickness as you jump from one slide to the next.
• Exciting—You can make your transitions more visually entertaining.
• Dynamic—A dynamic transition applies to all parts of a slide, except for the background, giving the illusion that the content is rolling through on a single page.

Only one transition effect can be added to each slide, and it's important that you apply the transition to the slide that will be visible once the transition is complete. For example, if you have two slides and want to create a transition effect as you move from slide 1 to slide 2, you will need to apply the transition to slide 2.

Before you add animation and transition effects to your PowerPoint presentation, bear in mind the following tips:

• Don't add too many animations and transitions . Overusing these features can distract your audiences in ways you didn't intend to, and they can also look tacky and unprofessional. Ask yourself, "Does this make my presentation better?" If the answer is no, don't add it.
• Another issue with using too many animations and transitions is that it could significantly slow down your PowerPoint file's processing speed , as it adds volume to your file size.
• Keep things professional in the right contexts. For example, if you're presenting a formal business plan, you don't want to add funky transitions that take ten seconds to complete. Try sticking to slick effects that last less than a second.
• Use the same transition effect for each slide and, if you can, the same animation for each item.

It's a widely shared opinion that Microsoft 365's desktop apps offer more flexibility and functionality than their web-based counterparts. However, the exact opposite can be said for adding animations, which is significantly easier to do on PowerPoint for the web than via the subscription-only app. So, to create the animations for screenshots in this section, we have used PowerPoint online, rather than the desktop app, and we recommend that you do the same.

Before you add any animations, click "Animation Pane" in the Animations tab on the ribbon. This will open a pane on the right side of your window, which will make seeing and managing your animations much easier.

Now, select the item you want to animate. If you want several items on a slide to animate in the same way at the same time, hold Ctrl while clicking them all. Then, click the down arrow in the Animations tab, and choose the appropriate effect.

You will then see an animation card in the Animation Pane for the effect you just added. Here, you can change the animation type, how it is activated (whether via a click, with the previous animation, or after the previous animation), and the duration and delay.

If you have more than one animation on a slide and want to reorder them, click and drag the six dots next to the relevant animation card upwards or downwards.

Finally, to remove an animation, click the trash icon on the appropriate animation card.

You can also animate paragraphs of text within a text box. To do so, select the relevant text, and follow the same process.

Whether you're using PowerPoint's desktop app or the online version of the program, adding transitions involves a very similar process.

First, select the slide you want to transition to (for example, you'll select slide 2 if you want to create a transition from slide 1 to slide 2) in the slide thumbnail pane, and then click the "Transitions" tab on the ribbon.

To see more transitions, click the down arrow on the right-hand side of the Transition To This Slide group.

Clicking any of the transition effects on display will do two things—first, it will show you a preview of what that transition will look like, and second, it will apply that transition to that slide.

You can then amend the options (such as the direction of the transition) and timing of the transition using the settings on the right side of the Transitions tab. This is where you can also add a sound effect to the transition, or decide whether the transition effect occurs when you click your mouse or automatically after a given length of time.

If you want to apply the same transition effect and options to all slides, click "Apply To All" in the Timing group of the Transition tab when you have finished setting up your transition's parameters. You can then select individual slides to make further adjustments if needed.

To remove a transition, select the slide in the slide thumbnail pane, and click "None" in the Transitions tab.

PowerPoint's Morph is a transition effect that recognizes differences between the same items on two slides, and smoothly transitions between them when you proceed from one slide to the next. For example, you might have an image on slide 1, and the same image in a different position on slide 2. The morph transition gives your audience the impression that you're still on the same slide, but the objects are merely moving and resizing.

This is different to the motion path animation, which you can set for different items and activate at different times on your slide. The morph transition, however, moves all items together as you move from one slide to the next, saving you from having to apply motion path animations to individual objects. Any objects on the first slide but not the second will simply fade away during the morph transition. Similarly, any new items on the second slide will appear gradually.

In this example, we have a title and an image on slide 1, and the same objects on slide 2 but in different places and different sizes. We created this scenario by copying and pasting the whole of slide 1, and then changing the text and image on slide 2. However, you can also create a blank slide, and then copy and paste the different elements you want to morph.

Then, we need to select slide 2, and click "Morph" in the Transitions tab on the ribbon.

Then, press F5 to see your presentation, and witness the smooth morph transition from one slide to the next. You can also use this transition effect to zoom into an image or fade an image into the background. Just ensure that you copy and paste from one slide to the next before you create the transition, so that PowerPoint recognizes them as the same.

If animations and transitions are new to you, check out these other tips that you should also know before you design your next presentation.

• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft 365