The best keyboard shortcuts on PowerPoint

What are the best keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint?

• Create a new layout: Ctrl + N
• Duplicate the current layout in a new tab: Ctrl+ Shift + N
• Open an existing presentation: Ctrl + O
• Save a presentation: Ctrl + S
• Save a presentation under a different name: Ctrl+ Shift + S
• Change the case of a text (uppercase, lowercase): Select the text then Shift + F3 (repeat the F3 key to change the case)
• Print a presentation: Ctrl + P
• Switch to slideshow mode: F5
• Pause the slideshow: Space or Enter
• Jump to a slide during the slideshow:
• Copy style: Ctrl+ Shift + C
• Paste style: Ctrl+ Shift + V
• Paste the text into a box keeping the text only: Ctrl+ V, Ctrl, T
• Copy animation: Shift + Alt + C
• Paste the animation: Shift + Alt + V
• Group (English only): Ctrl+ G
• Ungroup (English only): Ctrl+ Shift + G
• Align left: Ctrl + Shift + L
• Align in the center: Ctrl + Shift + E
• Align to the right: Ctrl + Shift + R
• Increase font size: Ctrl + Shift + >
• Decrease font size: Ctrl + Shift + <
• Select all: Ctrl + A

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Beyond keyboard shortcuts, remember to install our PowerPoint toolbar to improve your productivity.

PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts: Use Ctrl, Alt, and Shift keys to save formatting time

With the right keyboard shortcut, it's possible to save time and improve efficiency when preparing or presenting a PowerPoint presentation.

• When you hold the Shift key while moving an item, you force it to move horizontally or vertically, which is often expected when designing a presentation. SHIFT is also used to select multiple objects or images at the same time.
• When you hold Ctrl while moving an item, you are duplicating it.
• This means that Ctrl + Shift + your mouse allows you to quickly design slides by duplicating elements on the same axis.
• Finally, holding down the Alt key allows you to cancel magnetism (the fact of pushing you to release your element aligned in the slide) and gives you the possibility to freely position any element, or even crop your image more precisely.

So, juggling these three shortcuts while designing your presentations will save you a lot of time.

Why install PowerPoint in English for shortcuts?

The French version of PowerPoint unfortunately replaces a crucial shortcut in the design: the fact of being able to group and ungroup (Ctrl + G) (Ctrl + Shift + G) which are replaced by the action of putting in bold.

Arguably the most important shortcut in PowerPoint, which is why we recommend that you keep the installation version in English. This shortcut has no alternative in French.

Easily move slides around the presentation

Instead of moving your slides with the mouse imprecisely, use the keyboard:

• Ctrl + down arrow: move a slide down in your presentation (first click on the slide to move)
• Ctrl + up arrow: move a slide up in your presentation (first click on the slide to move)
• F5 - Start a presentation from Slideshow mode (Ctrl + F5 to enter Presenter mode)
• Escape (Esc) - Leave a presentation or go back to the previous screen in Presenter mode

Edit text boxes

The following functions can be used to change text boxes on slides:

• Ctrl + [arrow key] - Move the cursor to the previous or next line
• Ctrl + [Home key] - Move the cursor to the beginning of the paragraph
• Ctrl + [End key] - Move the cursor to the end of the paragraph
• [“+” and “-" keys] - Increase/decrease text size

Use the mouse to select your texts

• Double click on a word: select the whole word
• Triple click on a word: select the entire paragraph

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