P PowerPoint
PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts: the complete cheat sheet
Including the ones that only matter once you’re actually presenting — not just building the deck.
By the Hidden Ribbon staff · Updated September 2026 · 3 min read
These apply to PowerPoint on Windows. Presentation-mode shortcuts (the last table) work identically on a Mac.
General Shortcut What it does Ctrl + N / O / S / P New / Open / Save / Print Ctrl + M Insert a new slide Ctrl + D Duplicate the selected slide or object
Editing objects Shortcut What it does Ctrl + G Group selected objects Ctrl + Shift + G Ungroup Ctrl + drag Duplicate an object while moving it Shift + drag Resize while keeping proportions Alt + F9 Toggle alignment guides on or off
Formatting text Shortcut What it does Ctrl + B / I / U Bold / Italic / Underline Ctrl + E / L / R Center / left / right align text Ctrl + K Insert a hyperlink
Presenting Shortcut What it does F5 Start the slideshow from the beginning Shift + F5 Start from the current slide Esc End the slideshow B Show a black screen (press again to return) W Show a white screen Ctrl + P Turn the cursor into a pen for annotating Number + Enter Jump straight to that slide number
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