PowerPoint – Adding Notes to your presentation (Presenter View)

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Presenter View in Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to deliver your presentation full‑screen to your audience while privately viewing your notes, the current slide, and a preview of the next slide.

To use Presenter View, you must have two display devices, such as a laptop screen and a projector or a second monitor

This image give a preview of presenter mode in PowerPoint.
Presenter View

Adding Notes

  1. At the bottom of the PowerPoint window, select Notes.
  2. A notes area will appear beneath the slide where you can type any speaker notes you need.
  3. These notes are only visible to you while presenting or anyone accessing the file directly. (e.g. a submission to Moodle)
This animation shows using the notes panel on powerpoint.

Entering Presenter View

You can start your presentation in Presenter View by doing either of the following:

  • Press F5 on your keyboard
  • Select Start Presentation from the bottom‑right corner of the PowerPoint window

Switching the Presenter and Audience Screens

If the wrong screen is showing Presenter View, you can swap them:

  1. In Presenter View, select Display Settings.
  2. Choose Swap Presenter View and Slide Show.

Using Presenter View in Microsoft Teams

Presenter View works in Teams with a small but important condition:
Do not share your entire screen.

To use Presenter View in a Teams meeting:

  1. In Teams, select SharePowerPoint Window, and choose your presentation.
  2. Once shared, press F5 in PowerPoint to enter full‑screen presentation mode.
  3. If you are using multiple monitors, Presenter View will appear on one screen with the audience seeing the full‑screen slide on the other.
  4. If you are using a single monitor, right‑click the slide and select Show Presenter View. Your audience will still see the full‑screen presentation while you see your notes.
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Updated on January 22, 2026