Help centre · Slides (presentations)
Slides — Presenter mode and external displays
Last updated · 6 June 2026 · 4 min read
Presenter mode only opens on a second display. How to enable it, dual-screen tips, and the keyboard remote.
Presenter mode in Slides is built for the real shape of presenting — speaker notes and a next-slide preview on your laptop, only the deck on the projector or external display.
Turning it on
- Plug in an external display (HDMI, USB-C, or AirPlay).
- Open the deck in Slides and click the Present button (or press F5).
- The audience view opens fullscreen on the second display. Presenter view stays on your laptop.
Without a second display attached, Slides will tell you a second display is required. This is by design — most laptop presenters waste the laptop screen on the deck and lose their notes.
The presenter view
- Current slide (large)
- Next slide (small, top right)
- Speaker notes (right side, scrollable)
- Timer and clock
- Slide thumbnails strip (bottom)
The keyboard remote
- →, Space — Next
- ← — Previous
- B — Black out audience screen
- W — White out audience screen
- Esc — End presentation
Was this helpful?