Powerpoint hotkeys and shortcuts

Common hotkeys in Powerpoint to help you be more productive

Frequent users of Powerpoint can appreciate the hotkeys built into it.  From giving fast access to common commands to special hotkeys designed expressly to simplify processes, these hotkeys are indispensible to anyone whose productivity depends on getting the job quickly and efficiently.  

These keyboard shorcuts can also be found in the help index of PowerPoint.

Keys for Editing Text and Objects

Backspace                           Delete one character to the left
Ctrl+Backspace                   Delete one word to the left
Delete                                  Delete one character to the right
Ctrl+Delete                          Delete one word to the right
Ctrl+X                                 Cut selected object
Ctrl+C                                 Copy selected object
Ctrl+V                                  Paste cut or copied object
Ctrl+Z                                  Undo last action

Keys for Moving Around Text

Left Arrow                           One character to the left
Right Arrow                         One Character to the right
Up Arrow                             One character Up
Down Arrow                        One Character Down
Ctrl+Left Arrow                   One word to the left
Ctrl+Right Arrow                 One word to the right
End                                        To the end of a line
Home                                     To the start of a line
Ctrl+Up Arrow                      Up one paragraph
Ctrl+Down Arrow                 Down one paragraph
Ctrl+End                                To end of textbox
Ctrl+Home                             To start of textbox
Ctrl+Enter                              To the next title or body text placeholder
Shift+F4                                 To repeat the last Find action

Keys for Working in an Outline

Alt+Shift+Left Arrow                 Promote a paragraph
Alt+Shift+Right Arrow               Demote a paragraph
Alt+Shift+Up Arrow                  Move selected paragraphs up
Alt+Shift+Down Arrow             Move selected paragraphs down
Alt+Shift+1                                 Show heading level 1
Alt+Shift+Plus                            Expand text below a heading
Alt+Shift+Minus                         Collapse text below a heading
Alt+Shift+A                                Show all text or headings

Keys for Selecting Text and Objects

Select text with SHIFT+(arrow keys, Home, End)
Tab or Shift+Tab              An Object
Ctrl+A                              All objects (slide view)
Ctrl+A                              All slides (slide sorter view)
Ctrl+A                              All text (outline view)

Moving and Selecting

Ctrl+Right Arrow               Start of word
Ctrl+Left Arrow                 End of word
Home                                  Start of line
End                                     End of line
Ctrl+home                           Start of Document
Ctrl+end                             End of Document

Slide Show Controls

N, Enter or Spacebar                          Advance to next slide
P, backspace or PgUp                         Return to Previous Slide
[number]+Enter                                  Go to slide
B                                                         Display a black screen or return to show from a black screen
W                                                        Display a white screen or return to show from a white screen
S                                                         Stop or start an automatic slide show
Esc                                                      End a slide show
E                                                         Erase on-screen annotations
H                                                         Go to next hidden slide
T                                                         Set new timings while rehearsing
O                                                         Use original timings while rehearsing
M                                                        Use mouseclick to advance while rehearsing
Both Mouse buttons for 2 seconds      Return to first slide
Ctrl+P                                                 Change the pointer to a pen
Ctrl+A                                                Change the pen to a pointer
Ctrl+H                                                Hide the pointer and button temporarily
Ctrl+L                                                 Hide the pointer and button always
Shift+F10 or right click                      Display the shortcut menu
F1                                                       Show list of controls
Ctrl + Shift + M                                  New Slide

Article written by MyComputerAid.com