Keyboard shortcuts are a faster means of performing edits or operations on your computer. It certainly helps you in avoiding dependency on the mouse, especially while working on your laptop. Although you may not use all the available shortcuts, it is good to know a handful of PowerPoint shortcuts that help you while navigating and editing a PowerPoint presentation. Here is a list of the most useful PowerPoint shortcut keys.
New Slide Shortcut
To add a new slide to a PowerPoint presentation, press Ctrl + M
Adding a new slide is very essential when you build the PowerPoint Presentation. It is one of the frequently used options. This particular shortcut inserts a new slide based on the layout of the slide you are currently on.
Start the Slideshow (Hotkey)
In order to start the presentation, hit F5 on your keyboard. This will open the slides from the beginning or the first slide of your presentation
Save Your Presentation Using
In order to quickly save your presentation press Ctrl + S
This particular shortcut is the most reliable and important one that you need to know. There can be times where your system has crashed or the PowerPoint application freezes. At times, you might lose your precious presentation with the latest changes. Hence, every professional advises you to constantly save your presentation by using the Ctrl + S button. However, if you have lost the slides, here is the information to completely recover the unsaved PowerPoint presentation from your computer.
Shortcut to Undo the Previous Edit
When used right, this can be your greatest rescuer for the most terrible accidents Ctrl + Z
This shortcut will bring back the changes that were done previously. If you have accidentally deleted a particular slide or picture within the slide, you can quickly get them back with the Ctrl + Z option.
Open New Presentation
If you want to start a new presentation all together, press Ctrl + N
In case a secondary idea pop-up in your head, you might want to create another presentation before the idea fades away from your head. To quickly put record your idea on a new presentation, you can use this shortcut.
Move to Slide Up and Down
Move your slide up or down by pressing Ctrl+ UP arrow or Ctrl + Down arrow
If you feel the order in which the slides are represented are not proper, you can simply use the Ctrl button and press the up or down button to realign the slides.
Select All Objects Using
To choose all the texts and objects on the presentation use the Ctrl + A button.
This feature will ensure you don’t necessarily have to use the mouse it select all the items on the Slide. However, if you wish to deselect one or two objects, you can simply hold the Ctrl button and click on the particular object.
Insert a Hyperlink
If you wish to give a link to the website use Ctrl + K.
In case you need to link a particular text to give a website or another file or presentation this feature will come in very handy.
Turn on or Turn off the Gridlines for Better Alignment
To enable or disable Gridlines press Shift + F9.
Whenever you display a presentation, you wouldn’t want the presentation to look shabby due to improperly aligned images or any other objects. Hence, MS PowerPoint gives you the option of using the grid lines through which you can align the objects uniformly throughout the presentation.
Increase or Decrease the Font Size
To quickly adjust the font size select the object and hold the Ctrl+Shift and use “<” or the “>” symbol. Click the greater or lesser button multiple times until you get the desired font size.
Note: If you want to know how to use Animations in PowerPoint. Then, follow the methods explained in this article.
Bonus Information
Apart from the important ones mentioned above, here are few more shortcuts you might need while creating a PowerPoint presentation. These remain mistly common for all the MS office applications.
- Ctrl+X: Cut selected text or selected slide
- Ctrl+C: Copy selected text or selected slide
- Ctrl+V: Paste selected text or selected slide
- Ctrl+Alt+V: Open the Paste Special dialog box
- Delete: Remove selected text
- Ctrl+E: Center a paragraph
- Ctrl+J: Justify a paragraph
- Ctrl+L: Left align a paragraph
- Ctrl+R: Right align a paragraph
- Ctrl+B: Add or remove bold to selected text
- Ctrl+I: Add or remove italics to selected text
- Ctrl+U: Add or remove underline to selected text
- Ctrl+T: Open the Font dialog box when text or object is selected
- Ctrl+D: Duplicate the selected object
