Become A Powerpoint Ninja With These 13 Hacks

Putting together an effective & engaging presentation is a serious science. While we can’t exactly sit in on your rehearsal, we’re here to provide you with tips & tricks to help you make a killer presentation in half the time. This is the last of our 3-part Microsoft Office Hacks (read Part 1 Microsoft Word and Part 2 Microsoft Excel). Like and comment below if you want to see more hacks for your most-used software!

Customise your own slide size by opening File > Page Setup. From there, you can input the dimensions in pixels or inches, and make your presentation perfect for wide screens
Jump to a specific slide when you’re in presentation mode by clicking [slide #] + Enter
Save your presentations in [.PPS] file format (rather than [.PPT] allows you to directly open the file in presentation mode.
Change to Normal View by using Ctrl + 1 (Mac: Command + 1); change to Slide Sorter View by using Ctrl + 2 (Mac: Command + 2); change to Notes Page View by using Ctrl + 3 (Mac: Command + 3)
To put a pause to your presentation or to direct the audience’s attention away from it (i.e. panic button), press [B] for a black screen and [W] for a white screen. Press the key again to go back to the normal mode
Powerpoint files don’t transfer well between PCs and Macs, so always save a copy in another file format (we recommend JPEG) when you’ve completed your presentation.
Save formatting time by creating your own theme by selecting the font, colour, and backgrounds of your choice under the ‘Theme’ tab
As a general rule, Sans Serif typefaces are more legible for appropriate for digital text.
Ensure your images are perfectly aligned by selecting the images and going to Arrange > Align or Distribute.
Insert an invisible hyperlink by creating a shape with no fill and no line, then use Ctrl + K (Mac: Command + K) to input the URL.
Avoid going past the last slide of your presentation, which puts it to an abrupt end, duplicate the last slide to remind yourself it’s over
Make the cursor invisible when you’re in presentation mode by pressing [A]
Duplicate the selected slide by using Ctrl + D (Mac: Command + D)