Which of the following view displays only the thumbnails of all the slides so that you can change the order of slides?

Microsoft PowerPoint offers several different presentation views, which are the ways you can display your presentation and work on it or show it to your audience. Each of these views is optimised for a specific purpose making some operations easier and faster, but blocking access to other ones or making them more complicated.

For short and simple presentations you may choose to only work in Normal view and present your slide in Slide Show view. It’s perfectly understandable and may indeed be the fastest. For larger and more complex slide decks you will see the advantage of switching between all the views described below as you go through the different stages of presentation creation, revision, rehearsal and showing it to your audience.

What is a Normal view in PowerPoint?

The Normal view is the default view in PowerPoint. It’s the way you see all presentations when creating or opening them unless you changed your PowerPoint configuration to use a different view as default. It is by far the most frequently used view. 

Although it’s best for creating and editing presentation slides, PowerPoint users often perform all other operations using the Normal view, including arranging the slides, reviewing slide content and speaker’s notes and presenting in front of an audience. It may seem faster and more practical, but I definitely recommend learning about all available views and at the very minimum switching to Slideshow view for presenting. When dealing with longer and more complex ones it’s best to use multiple or even all views.   

What can you see in Normal view? 

1. One selected slide displayed large in the centre 
2. Thumbnails of all slides in a vertical column (pane) on the left side of the screen 
3. Speaker’s notes for the selected slide shown at the bottom of the screen

When to use the Normal view?

The normal view is best for creating and editing individual slides. This includes text, tables, graphics, sounds, videos and animations. You can access any of your slides by selecting its thumbnail in the left pane and perform any changes to the slide content. 

What are the limitations of the Normal view?

When using the Normal view you won’t be able to see the transitions or preview multimedia objects such as videos, sounds of GIFs by simply browsing through the slides. Although you can play or preview each of these elements separately, it will require more clicks and won’t have the same effect as in Slideshow or Presenter views. 

How to switch to the Normal view?

To access the Normal view go to View in the main menu and select Normal, which should show as the first option on the ribbon from the left. 

On Mac with Office 365, you can access the Normal view by pressing a keyboard shortcut Command + 1.

Slide Sorter view

The Slide Sorter view allows you to see your presentation as a whole and organise your slides. Each slide is represented by a thumbnail which you can drag and drop to, move between sections, delete, hide etc. 

What can you see in the Slide Sorter view? 

1. You will see the thumbnails of all slides in your presentation. Your slides are displayed in sequential order.
2. The slides are divided into sections (if you are using them) 
3. You can see which slides are hidden, which ones include animations or transitions etc. 

When to use the Slide Sorter view?

This view is very practical when you want to order or rearrange your slides, divide them into sections, check for duplicates etc. It allows you to see many slides (thumbnails) at once, so even for longer presentations, you may be able to view all your content at once or with minimum scrolling. 

Double-clicking any of the thumbnails opens the slide in Normal view, ready for editing. 

What are the limitations of the Slide Sorter view?

In the Slide Sorter view, you can’t change the contents of any slide, so you will have to switch to Normal view each time you want to make edits. In this view, you won’t be able to see the speaker’s notes. It is also not suitable for reviewing animations, embedded multimedia or hyperlinks.

How to switch to the Slide Sorter view?

To access the Slide Sorter view go to View in the main menu and select Slide Sorter on the left side of the ribbon.

On Mac with Office 365, you can access the Slide Sorter view by pressing a keyboard shortcut Command + 2.

Notes Page view

It’s a great view to try for anybody frequently using slide notes (also called speaker’s notes). It enables you to see each of your slides on a separate page with all its notes underneath. Speaker’s notes may be your private hints or key information you want to add verbally when presenting, questions you want to ask your audience etc. Or, you can use notes to provide additional information or reference for the audience in which case you may want to have them published together with the slides as PDF and distributed before or after your presentation. 

What can you see in Notes Page view? 

1. Preview of your slides (one per page), usually reduced in size to half a page or less
2. All notes for a given slide 

When to use the Notes Page view?

The Notes Page view is ideal for writing or reviewing the notes. You can format your notes easily by changing colours, fonts, highlighting text etc. 

What are the limitations of the Notes Page view?

In this view, you can’t edit or order the content of the slides. By double-clicking any of the slides, you can open it in Normal view, ready for editing. 

How to switch to the Notes Page view?

To access the Notes Page view go to View in the main menu and select Notes Page on the left side of the ribbon.

On Mac with Office 365, you can access the Notes Page view by pressing a keyboard shortcut Command + 3.

Outline view

The Outline view focuses on presentation text, removing any other distractions such as formatting, graphics, multimedia or animations. 

What can you see in the Outline view? 

1. Titles and the main text of each slide.
2. Slide preview
3. Notes

You can move the screen divider to enlarge or reduce the size of text and slide panes or hide the notes.

When to use the Outline view?

You can use the Outline view for creating your presentation, especially when you are just starting. It helps to organise your thoughts and divide content between slides, bullet points etc. It can be useful for reviewing, checking consistency or making sure you don’t have an excessive volume of text. 

Similar to the Slide Sorter view, the Outline view is most useful when you are working on longer presentations, with many slides and lots of graphics. 

What are the limitations of the Outline view?

In the Outline view, you have access to edit both your text and the slide layout, although it is best suited for working on the content and structure. 

In this view, you won’t see which slides are hidden.

For slides with very little text or unusual layout, the Outline view may not show any content. 

How to switch to the Outline view?

To access the Outline view go to View in the main menu and select Slide Sorter on the left side of the ribbon.

On Mac with Office 365, you can access the Outline view by pressing a keyboard shortcut Command + 4.

Slide Show view

This view allows you to see your presentation as it will look to the audience when you run it. 

What can you see in the Slide Show view? 

It displays one slide at a time in full-screen mode, including animations, multimedia and links. 

When to use the Slide Show view?

You should always use either the Presenter view or the Slide Show view to deliver your presentation to your audience. They both guarantee the best use of the screen space and hide unnecessary options, menus, notes or buttons. If you have one screen to present (eg. showing slides from your laptop) the Slide Show view will be your only and best option to use during your presentation. 

You should also use the Slide Show view for rehearsing the presentation and reviewing the slides. It delivers slightly different results from the Normal view, therefore the presenter should run the entire presentation in this mode before showing it to the audience. 

What are the limitations of the Slide Show view?

In the Slideshow view, you can’t make any changes to your presentation, all menus and edit options are hidden. To modify the slides you will need to switch back to the Normal. You can do this by using your mouse or pressing the Esc button on your keyboard. 

How to switch to the Slide Show view?

To access the Slide Show view go to Slide Show in the main menu and select Play from Start or Play from Current Slide.

The Slide Show view can also be accessed via the toolbar at the bottom of the screen.

On Mac with Office 365, you can access the Slide Show view by pressing a keyboard shortcut Shift + Command + Enter.

Presenter view

The Presenter view is an extension of the Slide Show view described above. It allows you to view your presentation in Slide Show mode (as in the Slide Show view) with additional support elements such as the presenter’s notes on your screen. The audience looking at a different screen than you, through a projector or an online videoconference system (eg. Teams) can only see the presentation slides without these elements.

What can you see in the Presenter view? 

On the presenter’s screen:

1. Current slide
2. Next slide preview
3. Timer
4. Speaker’s notes
5. Space for the presenter to take notes during the presentation

On the audience screen, PowerPoint will show the current slide in the Slide Show mode, as described in the Slide Show view above.

When to use the Presenter view?

The Presenter view is best used when presenting in front of an audience. It allows the speaker to see not only the slide currently displayed for the viewers but also some additional support elements facilitating the presentation. It should be the first choice unless presenting with only one screen. 

This view includes more presentation controls than the Slide View, allowing better interaction with the audience.

Read Microsoft instructions more on how to set up multiple monitors in PowerPoint.

What are the limitations of the Presenter view?

The Presenter view should be used when more than one screen is available during the presentation (one for the presenter and one for the audience). Typically the presenter would use a laptop with Presenter view, while the audience would follow the slides projected on the big screen or via a videoconferencing system. 

All the limitations related to the Slide Show view are also applicable to the Presenter view. Most importantly, you can’t edit or organise your slides. 

How to switch to the Presenter view?

On Windows, to access the Presenter view go to Slide Show in the main menu and make sure the checkbox Use Presenter View is checked and start the slide show.

On Mac, to access the Presenter view go to Slide Show in the main menu and select Presenter View.

You may also check the Set Up Slide Show option on the same ribbon. Make sure that the Presenter View is enabled (set “Show type” to “Presented by a speaker”). 

On Mac with Office 365, you can access the Slide Show view by pressing a keyboard shortcut Shift + Command + Enter.