PowerPoint Shortcut Keys

Microsoft PowerPoint is a well-known presentation application that has been around for a long time. Even if you think you know how to use the application, you could be surprised by the number of keyboard shortcuts you can utilise to speed up your work. Today, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most important Microsoft PowerPoint key shortcuts:

Basic Shortcuts Keys in PowerPoint

To begin, let’s go over some of the most basic or generic keyboard shortcuts for opening, shutting, and switching between various presentation documents, as well as navigating via the Ribbon.

Shortcut	Function
Ctrl + N	Create a new presentation document
Ctrl + O	Open a previously saved presentation
Ctrl + S	Save a presentation
Alt + F2 or F12	Open the Save As dialog box
Ctrl + W or Ctrl + F4	Close a presentation
Ctrl + Q	Save and close a presentation
Ctrl + Z	Undo an action
Ctrl + Y	Redo an action
Ctrl + F2	Print Preview View
F1	Displays the Help menu
Alt + Q	The “Tell me what you want to accomplish” window is accessed
F7	Double-check spellings
Alt or F10	Turn the key tips on or off
Ctrl + F1	Activate or deactivate the ribbon
Ctrl + F	To search within a presentation, press Ctrl + F. Locate and Replace
Alt + F	Access the File tab menu
Alt + H	Go to the Home
Alt + N	Access the Insert tab
Alt + G	Go to the Design tab
Alt + K	Go to the Transitions tab
Alt + A	Go to the Animations tab
Alt + S	Go to the Slide Show tab
Alt + R	Open the Review tab
Alt + W	Go to the View tab
Alt + X	Go to the Add-ins tab
Alt + Y	Go to the Help tab
Ctrl + Tab	Switch between open presentations

Shortcut Keys for selecting and navigating in PowerPoint

Numerous keyboard shortcuts can be used to quickly navigate through a PowerPoint presentation. You may use these Powerpoint shortcut keys to quickly pick text within text fields and various objects on a slide.

Shortcut	Function
Ctrl + A	Selects all objects on the current slide
Tab	Select or advance to the next thing on a slide by pressing the tab key
Shift + Tab	Select or navigate to a previous slide object
Home	Return to the beginning of the slide
End	Go to the end of the slides
PgDn	Go to the next slide
PgUp	Go back to the previous slide
Ctrl + Up / Down Arrow	Move a slide up or down (you will need to click on a slide thumbnail before performing this shortcut)
Ctrl + Shift + Up / Down Arrow	Move a slide to the beginning or conclusion of your presentation document (click on a slide thumbnail first).

Shortcuts for Editing and Formatting in PowerPoint

The following keyboard shortcuts can help you save time by allowing you to quickly modify and format your documents.

Shortcut	Function
Ctrl + X	Cuts the text, object, or slide that is selected.
Ctrl + C or Ctrl + Insert	Copy the selected text, object, or slide
Ctrl + V or Shift + Insert	Paste the text, object, or slide that has been selected
Ctrl + Alt + V	Open the Paste Special dialog box
Delete	Deletes the text, item, or slide that has been selected
Ctrl + B	Toggle bold on the chosen text
Ctrl + I	Toggle italics on the chosen text
Ctrl + U	Underline selected text or remove it
Ctrl + E	Align the selected text in the centre
Ctrl + J	Justify the selected text
Ctrl + L	Align the selected text to the left
Ctrl + R	Align the selected text to the right
Ctrl + T	After selecting text or an object, press Ctrl + T to bring up the Font dialog box.
Ctrl + K	Insert a hyperlink
Ctrl + M	Insert a new slide
Ctrl + D	Duplicate the selected object or a slide by pressing Ctrl + D. (for selecting a slide, you will first need to click on a slide thumbnail)
Ctrl + Shift + Right Arrow	Make font bigger
Ctrl + Shift + Left Arrow	Make font smaller
Ctrl + Plus (+)	Make selected text superscript
Ctrl + Minus (-)	Make selected text subscript

Shortcuts for PowerPoint Slideshows

These keyboard shortcuts should come in handy once you’ve finished generating your PowerPoint document and are ready to see it.

Shortcut	Functions
F5	Restart the presentation from the beginning.
F5 + Shift	Start playing the presentation from the current slide.
Ctrl + P	While the slideshow is playing, annotate with the Pen tool.
N or Page Down	While watching the slideshow, press N or Page Down to get to the next slide.
P or Page Up	While watching the slideshow, press P or Page Up to return to the previous slide.
B	During a slideshow, turn the screen black (Press B again to return to the slideshow)
Esc	End the slideshow

PowerPoint Ribbon Shortcuts:

To navigate through the ribbon menu and options, these shortcuts will come in handy.

Shortcut	Function
Alt or F10	Select the active tab on the ribbon
Access keys or the arrow keys	Move to a different tab
Tab or Shift+Tab	Move the focus to commands on the ribbon.
Arrow keys	Move down, up, left, or right in items in ribbon
Enter or Space key	Choose the selected button or option
Down arrow	Open the list for a selected command
Alt+Down arrow	Open the menu for a selected button
Down arrow	Move to the next command when a menu is open
Ctrl+F1	Expand or collapse ribbon
Shift+F10	Open context menu
Left arrow	Move to the submenu
F1	Open Help on selected command

Shortcuts for working with outline views in PowerPoint

When you need to work on the Outline view, keep these shortcuts within reach for easy access and navigation. 

Shortcut	Function
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 level 1 headings
Alt+Shift+Plus	Expand text below a heading
Alt+Shift+Minus	Collapse text below a heading

Shortcuts for working with shapes, SmartArt etc in PowerPoint

These shortcuts can be used when you want to add shapes, charts or SmartArt to your PowerPoint presentation.

Shortcut	Function
Alt+N, X	Insert a text box
Alt+N, J	Insert an embedded document or spreadsheet as an object
Alt+N, W	Insert WordArt
Ctrl+Alt+5	Move the focus to the first floating shape, such as an image or a text box
Ctrl+G	Group selected shapes, pictures, or WordArt objects
Ctrl+Shift+G	Ungroup selected group
Ctrl+Shift+V	Paste the attributes to the selected object
Ctrl+Shift+C	Copy the attributes of the selected shape
Shift+F10, then O, Enter, E	Edit a linked or embedded object

Shortcuts for PowerPoint Selection Pane and Selection Options

These shortcuts presented in the table below are to ensure your convenience in accessing the selection pane and working with selection options.

Shortcut	Function
Alt + H, S, L, P	Open the Selection pane
Plus sign or Right Arrow	Expand a focused group
Minus sign or Left Arrow	Collapse a focused group
Shift + Up or Down arrow	Move the focus to an item and select it
Shift + Spacebar or Shift + Enter	Cancel selection

Other shortcuts

Listed below are other miscellaneous shortcuts that you might want to use while making your presentation.

Shortcut	Function
Ctrl + P	Open the Print dialog box
Alt + P	Print all slides in your presentation
Alt+W	Show or hide the Notes pane
Shift+F9	Show or hide the grid
Alt+F9	Show or hide guides

Summary:

As you can see, there are lots of shortcuts in PowerPoint that make your work simpler and easier. Keep these shortcuts handy, for they will come to your aid in times of need and in times of hurry. Relevant shortcuts related to the respective topics are added in other articles as well, for your reference.