Audience
Employees
Question
How do I use presenter view in PowerPoint on a Windows machine?
Answer
Presenter view adds some great new features to your next presentation, but if you’re not prepared for it, it can be confusing.
What is it?
Presenter view is a PowerPoint presentation mode that is automatically enabled when viewing a Slide Show. It is typically used with two connected displays, such as a laptop and a projector. While the projector shows the actual slides, presenters see the Presenter View on the laptop, which shows additional information and tools such as a timer and a preview of the upcoming slide.
In order for PowerPoint to accomplish this magic, it needs to adjust the display settings from Duplicate mode (showing the same image on both the laptop and the projector), to Extended mode (making the projector an extended part of the desktop). This automatic adjustment is different from previous version of PowerPoint, where you had to manually enable it.
Two issues arise out of this:
- When switching to another application mid-presentation (like showing a web page or video), it is not always obvious how to get it to display on the projector.
- When ending a presentation, PowerPoint doesn’t always return the display settings from Extended mode to whatever they were before that.
Disabling Presenter View
While we would encourage you to practice Presenter View, we understand that sometimes you just want to show your presentation and get on with your class. There is a way to disable Presenter View.
- Select the SLIDE SHOW tab.
- In the Monitors group, please uncheck the box for Use Presenter View.
- On the Monitor drop-down menu, select Primary Monitor.
It would be a good idea to verify these settings before you start your presentation.