Slide Show View in PowerPoint 365 for Mac

Have you created all your slides, and now you want to show it in front of an audience? Or you just want to use this slide deck in a webinar, or even see them yourself to understand how they look in full-screen view? In that case, the view that plays your presentation in full-screen mode is Slide Show view, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Slide Show view

To access Slide Show view in PowerPoint 365 for Mac, you can choose any of these options:

1. Click the Slide Show button on the Status Bar to play the presentation from the active slide (highlighted in red within Figure 2).
2. 
   Figure 2: Slide Show button on the Status Bar
3. To exit Slide Show view, just press the Esc key.
2. You can also access the Slide Show tab of the Ribbon (see Figure 3).
3. 
   Figure 3: Slide Show tab of the Ribbon
4. Then choose one of the following options (both of them are highlighted in blue within Figure 3, above):
1. From Beginning: Starts the slide show from the first slide of the presentation. You can also use the F5 Function key.
2. From Current Slide: Starts the slide show from the active slide. You can also use the Shift + F5 shortcut key.


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To exit Slide Show view, choose any of these options:

1. Press the Esc (Escape) key.
2. Right-click or Ctrl + click on the slide, and choose the End Show option in the resultant menu, as shown in Figure 4.
3. 
   Figure 4: End Show option

Remember that Slide Show view is purely a display view and no editing can be done on slides at this point of time. However, Slide Show view has some navigation and annotation options. If you hover your cursor over the bottom left area of the slide, you'll find five watermarked navigation icons that you can see in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Navigation icons within Slide Show view

These icons are explained below, as marked in Figure 5, above:

A. Previous Slide

Click this icon to navigate to the previous slide (or press the P, Left Arrow, or Delete ⌫ keys).

B. Pen Tool

Click on this icon to bring up a menu, as shown in Figure 6, below.

Figure 6: Pen options

The options within this menu are explained below:

1. Automatic: When selected, this option shows the pointer automatically.
2. Hidden: Selecting this option hides the pointer.
3. Arrow: This option shows the pointer arrow.
4. Pen: When you select this option, the pointer works almost like a virtual highlighter pen. You can actually scribble and annotate over your slide almost like writing on a whiteboard.
5. Laser Pointer: Directs the audience's eye with a bright-colored point of light.
6. Highlighter: Works almost like a virtual highlighter pen.
7. Eraser: Lets you erase any pen or highlighter marked areas (grayed out if there are no marked areas on the current slide).
8. Erase Pen: Removes all ink markings (grayed out if there are no marked areas on the current slide).
9. Pen Color: You can change the Pen color through the Pen Color menu option. Hover the cursor over the Pen Color option to open a sub-menu as shown in Figure 7. Here, select a color for your annotations.


Figure 7: Pen Color Menu

10. Laser Color: You can set the Laser Pointer color through this menu option. Click to bring up a flyout menu, as shown in Figure 8, below.


Figure 8: Laser Color Menu

C. Captions and Subtitle

Shows subtitles (see Figure 9, below) automatically generated from what you speak. This feature needs a connected microphone to work.

Figure 9: Subtitles show up automatically

D. More Options

This icon, when clicked, opens a menu as shown in Figure 10, below, which is similar to the right-click context menu shown in Figure 4 earlier on this page, including the Use Presenter View option to access Presenter view directly, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 10.

Figure 10: The More Options menu

E. Next Slide

Click this icon to navigate to the next slide (or press the N, Right Arrow, or Spacebar keys).

By default, Slide Show view works in full-screen mode but you can change that too. To do so, access the Slide Show tab of the Ribbon, and click the Set Up Slide Show button, highlighted in blue within Figure 11.

Figure 11: Set Up Slide Show button

Alternatively, you can Shift + click the Slide Show button (shown highlighted in red within Figure 2, earlier on this page) button on the Status Bar. Either of these options brings up the Set Up Show dialog box, as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12: Set Up Show dialog box

In the Show type area, you can choose the Browsed by an individual (window) option (highlighted in red within Figure 12, above). Turning on this option plays your presentation in a window, as shown in Figure 13. This is an equivalent of Reading view, an option that is not available in PowerPoint 365 for Mac from the view options elsewhere.

Figure 13: Slide Show within a window

Also within the Set Up Show dialog box, you will find Browsed at a kiosk (full screen) option (highlighted in blue within Figure 11, above). Turning on this option displays the presentation in full-screen mode but none of your navigation options such as a mouse click or the keyboard will let you move from one slide to another.

If you are using a multi-display environment such as a laptop plus a projector, you can also use Presenter View in addition to Slide Show view at the same time.