Tip of the week # 596
24 February 2020


Intuitive way to turn your mouse into a red, green or blue laser pointer (PowerPoint 2013 onwards) *

Back in October 2013 I wrote a tip on how to turn your mouse into a laser pointer, so you could draw attention to something on a slide. In PowerPoint 2010 you can do this by pressing CTRL and your left mouse button, but to be perfectly honest, I had difficulty remembering the trick as it was so unintuitive. If you agree and have upgraded to version 2013 or 2016 you might like the new shortcut.

Here's how:

  1. Start the Slide Show as normal. (F5, anyone?)
  2. Press CTRL + L to switch the laser pointer on.
  3. Press CTRL + L to switch the laser pointer off.

If you don't like the red pointer, you can make it green or blue:

  1. If necessary, end the Slide Show. (For example, press ESC.)
  2. On the Slide Show tab, in the Set Up group, click Set Up Slide Show.
  3. Select your preferred colour from the Laser pointer color list.
  4. Click OK.

Related tips

  1. Top ten Microsoft PowerPoint shortcuts : tip_540.php
  2. Turn your mouse into a laser pointer : tip_408.php

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