Tip of the week # 581
23 August 2019


Search for and open your presentation as a slide show (Microsoft PowerPoint) *

You can save your PowerPoint slides in a variety of ways, depending on what you want to do with it.

When you save your file it will - by default - be saved in a way that's most suitable when you're still tweaking your presentation. This means that if you want to present it to an audience you have to click around to start the Slide Show, which can be a nightmare if you're shaking nervously or have a mouse that's more like a shopping trolley.

Back in 2011 I told you how to make a slide show that automatically starts when opened. I know that can cause duplication as well as frustration when you want to edit the presentation, so why not simply open the presentation in slide show ...

Here's how:

  1. Navigate to the .ppt or .pptx file, as normal. (WIN and type .ppt anyone?)
  2. Right-click the file and select Show.

This will also prevent you from running the risk that you give away the content of your presentation, as the Slides thumbnail pane is not visible in this view.

Related tips
1. Save the current document, presentation or worksheet as a PDF - tip_480.php
2. Save your presentation so that it always opens in Slide Show view - tip_336.php
3. Save a slide as a picture - tip_175.html
4. Techniques for running panic-free presentations - tip_165.html
5. Keyboard shortcut to start slide show from current slide - tip_155.html

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* Unless stated otherwise, these tips were written for Microsoft Office 2010.