What is PowerPoint?
PowerPoint is a slideshow presentation program that’s part of the Microsoft Office suite of tools. PowerPoint makes it easy to create, collaborate, and present your ideas in dynamic, visually compelling ways.
With PowerPoint on your PC, Mac, or mobile device, you can:
- Create presentations from scratch or a template.
- Add text, images, art, and videos.
- Select a professional design with PowerPoint Designer.
- Add transitions, animations, and cinematic motion.
- Save to OneDrive, to get to your presentations from your computer, tablet, or phone.
- Share your work and work with others, wherever they are.
PowerPoint Shortcuts
There are a lot of PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts for performing tasks quickly. Here are some shortcuts for common PowerPoint formatting, editing, and file and document tasks. Additionally, after you’ve created your masterpiece, you can use a number of shortcuts when running your slideshow.
PowerPoint Formatting Shortcuts
| COMMAND | KEYS | Ribbon Location |
| Bold | Ctrl+B | Home tab, Font group |
| Italic | Ctrl+I | Home tab, Font group |
| Underline | Ctrl+U | Home tab, Font group |
| Center | Ctrl+E | Home tab, Paragraph group |
| Left Align | Ctrl+L | Home tab, Paragraph group |
| Right Align | Ctrl+R | Home tab, Paragraph group |
| Justify | Ctrl+J | Home tab, Paragraph group |
| Normal | Ctrl+spacebar | Home tab, Paragraph group |
PowerPoint Editing Shortcuts
| COMMAND | KEYS | Ribbon Location |
| Undo | Ctrl+Z | Quick Access toolbar |
| Cut | Ctrl+X | Home tab, Clipboard group |
| Copy | Ctrl+C | Home tab, Clipboard group |
| Paste | Ctrl+V | Home tab, Clipboard group |
| Select All | Ctrl+A | Home tab, Editing group |
| Find | Ctrl+F | Home tab, Editing group |
| Replace | Ctrl+H | Home tab, Editing Group |
PowerPoint File and Document Shortcuts
| COMMAND | KEYS | Ribbon Location |
| New | Ctrl+N | File tab, New command |
| Open | Ctrl+O | File tab, Open command |
| Save | Ctrl+S | File tab, Save command |
| Ctrl+P | File tab, Print command | |
| Help | F1 | Help button at top right of Ribbon |
| New Slide | Ctrl+M | Home tab, New Slide command |
PowerPoint Slide Show Shortcuts
| TO DO THIS | PRESS |
| Start a slide show | F5 |
| Advance to the next slide | N |
| Perform the next animation | Enter, Page Down, right arrow, down arrow, or spacebar |
| Go back to the previous slide | P |
| Repeat the previous animation | Page Up, left arrow, up arrow, or Backspace |
| Go to a specific slide | Type the slide number and then press Enter |
| Display a black screen | B |
| Display a white screen | W |
| End a slide show | Esc |
| Go to the next hidden slide | H |
| Display a pen cursor | Ctrl+P |
| Display an arrow cursor | Ctrl+A |
| Hide the cursor | Ctrl+H |
Here is a downloadable PowerPoint Cheat Sheet that you can print out a post near your work space. This handy reference covers all of the major functions you need.