How to use Presenter View in PowerPoint

Below: what Presenter View, presenter mode and presentation mode mean, how to start it on two screens or one, how to see your notes, what to do when the screens are the wrong way round, and how to present with it on Teams or Zoom. Microsoft’s pages were checked on November 1, 2026.

Presenter View, presenter mode, presentation mode: which one do you need?

People search these words for the same moment: standing up to present. PowerPoint itself has two things. Slide Show view is the full-screen deck your audience sees (what people call presentation mode or presentation view). Presenter View is your private console: the current slide, the next slide and your speaker notes. Pick by where you present.

How to turn on Presenter View in PowerPoint (two screens)

1. Connect the second screen or projector. In newer versions of PowerPoint, Presenter View sets itself up for you.
2. Open the Slide Show tab.
3. Tick Use Presenter View, then choose the monitor where Presenter View should appear.
4. In the Start Slide Show group, select From Beginning, or press F5. Presenter View opens on your screen and the slides fill the other.
5. Select END SLIDESHOW when you finish.

Note: Microsoft’s main page lists the supported versions and says nothing about other requirements. Sources: Use Presenter View and What is Presenter View?.

What if Presenter View is on the wrong screen?

1. In the bar at the top of Presenter View, select Display Settings.
2. Select Swap Presenter View and Slide Show. The notes move to your screen and the slides to the audience’s.

How to turn Presenter View off

On the Slide Show tab, clear the Use Presenter View box. The slide show then fills the screen with no notes, which is how most people want it when they share one window. Microsoft describes the setting in Start the presentation and see your notes in Presenter view.

How to use Presenter View with one screen

1. Press Alt+F5 to start the presentation in Presenter View even with a single display.
2. Or press F5 to start the slide show, then select the three-dot button in the bottom-left control bar.
3. Select Show Presenter View.

Both routes are Microsoft’s: Alt+F5 is on its shortcut page and the three-dot menu is in its Presenter View guide. Presenting online from one screen is different; see the Teams and Zoom section below.

How to see your notes while presenting

Presenter View is where the notes show. Microsoft says it shows “your current slide, next slide, and speaker notes”.

1. Start Presenter View with one of the routes above.
2. Read your notes in the notes pane beside the slides.
3. Select the font icons to make the notes larger or smaller.
4. Use the arrows beside the slide number to move between slides.

Nothing shows? You haven’t written notes for that slide yet. How to add and print speaker notes covers it, and the speech time calculator sizes them to your slot.

Presenter View tools and keys

How to use Presenter View in Teams or Zoom on one screen

Microsoft doesn’t document sharing a window while you keep Presenter View, so this part rests on university help pages, and they differ. Washington State University says to share the window showing the full slide show. North Dakota State University, for two monitors, says to share the one that shows the slides. Test it before you go live.

1. Open the file in desktop PowerPoint and join the meeting.
2. Back in PowerPoint, start Presenter View: press Alt+F5, or use the three-dot menu and Show Presenter View.
3. Press Alt+Tab to the meeting and select Share.
4. Choose the window that shows your presentation in full Slide Show view.
5. Press Alt+Tab back to Presenter View if PowerPoint doesn’t switch by itself. Viewers see the slides, and you see the notes.

Note: check what viewers actually get once, before the real meeting. The screen share test card shows it, and how to share your screen on Teams explains the share choices.

The easier way in Teams: PowerPoint Live

1. In the meeting, select Share content, then choose the file under PowerPoint Live.
2. Read your notes beside the slides. Your audience sees only the slides.
3. To open Presenter View, select Change view, then Show presenter view below the current slide, or select the sharing window and press Ctrl+Shift+X.

Microsoft’s PowerPoint Live page also lists the Laser pointer, Pen, Highlighter and Eraser. Anonymous users can’t present with PowerPoint Live, and it isn’t supported in Teams live events.

When Presenter View can’t: mark up and zoom over other apps

Presenter View’s pen, laser and zoom belong to the slide show. When you switch to a spreadsheet, a browser or a demo mid-talk, you are on your own. A free-for-14-days overlay carries on over any app:

• Free forever: the cursor halo and click flash, Pen, Laser, Arrow, Text and Eraser, over any Windows app.
• Free for your first 14 days: Live Zoom up to 8×, a lens that follows your cursor and a Spotlight that dims everything but what you are explaining.
• Nothing to learn mid-talk: hold Ctrl+Space for the Wheel, pick a tool and draw. Ctrl+Win+B clears the ink.

Set up SHARA beside your slides

1. Install SHARA free from the Microsoft Store. There is no account, and it waits in the background for a hotkey.
2. Start your slide show as usual, in Presenter View or not.
3. Hold Ctrl+Space to open the Wheel, then choose Draw and mark the slide or the app on screen.
4. Press Ctrl+Win+B to clear the ink when you move on.
5. In Teams or Zoom, share your entire screen, not one window. A window share sends only that window, so the ink isn’t included; see sharing your screen on Teams.

The screen annotation page lists every tool, and teachers will find the same setup in SHARA for teachers.

When SHARA isn’t the right fit

It is Windows only, and after the 14-day trial its zoom modes are a one-time upgrade. It does not show your notes: that stays PowerPoint’s job. If you only present slides from PowerPoint on a local screen, PowerPoint’s own pen and laser are enough. A window share also leaves SHARA’s ink out.

PowerPoint Presenter View: FAQ