Get a Little PowerPoint Slide Show Help

PowerPoint masters know that help is never far away when performing for an audience. They know that clicking the mouse advances to the next slide, and that pressing the left arrow returns to the previous one while a show is running.

There is no shortage of key presses available to navigate a presentation. Press N or P for next or previous, respectively. Or, just tap the spacebar to advance. My favorite move, however, is jumping to a specific slide:

1. While the show is running, type a slide number and then hit Enter.
2. PowerPoint skips to the slide number you entered.

From the spectator's point of view, the transition is seamless. There's no way to tell that any slides were skipped over. In fact, with this trick one can jump back and forth through a presentation at will, which can transform a simple presentation into a custom experience, tailor-made for an audience.

Get Help While a Show is Running

While the show is running, press F1 to summon a dialog box that reveals all available show commands. See the screenshot below.

With a little PowerPoint Slide Show Help, you can master your presentations, too. On with the show!