how to add presentation notes in power point

• Start the presentation and see your notes in Presenter view Article
• Add speaker notes to your slides Article
• Rehearse and time the delivery of a presentation Article
• Record a slide show with narration and slide timings Article
• Print your PowerPoint slides, handouts, or notes Article
• Create a self-running presentation Article

Add speaker notes to your slides

When you're creating a presentation, you can add speaker notes to refer to later while delivering the slide show in front of an audience.

During your presentation, the speaker notes are visible on your monitor, but aren't visible to the audience. So the Notes pane is the place to store talking points that you want to mention when you give your presentation.

Add notes while creating your presentation

The Notes pane is a box that appears below each slide. (It is outlined in magenta in the picture below.) An empty Notes pane will prompt you with text that says, Click to add notes . Type your speaker notes there. If you don’t see the Notes pane or it is completely minimized, click Notes on the task bar across the bottom of the PowerPoint window (also marked in magenta in the picture below).

If your notes exceed the allotted length of the Notes pane, a vertical scroll bar appears on the side of the pane. You can also enlarge the Notes pane by pointing your mouse at the top line of the pane and then dragging upward after the pointer turns into a double-headed arrow.

What the notes look like in Presenter view

Tip:  You can add notes either while you’re presenting, directly from Presenter view, or as you’re editing your presentation. For information on how to add speaker notes to while editing your presentation, see  Add speaker notes to your slides.  

The notes appear in a pane on the right. If you need to add or delete something, simply click in the text box to edit it. The text wraps automatically, and a vertical scroll bar appears if necessary. You can also change the size of the text in the Notes pane by using the two buttons at the lower left corner of the Notes pane:

Presenter view isn't something you have to create. PowerPoint assembles it for you by gathering the notes you've typed for each slide and pairing them with a set of controls for navigating through your presentation.

By default, PowerPoint is set to use Presenter view when you run a slide show. You can change this setting on the Slide Show tab of the PowerPoint ribbon:

Read Start the presentation and see your notes in Presenter view for more details about how to see and use Presenter view.

Print speaker notes

See Print slides with or without speaker notes .

Print slides with or without speaker notes

Start the presentation and see your notes in Presenter view

Transfer slides from one presentation to another

Add notes to your slides

To add notes to your slides, do the following:

On the View menu, click Normal .

Select the thumbnail of the slide you want to add notes to.

The notes pane will appear beneath your slide. Click where it says Click to add notes and type whatever notes you'd like to add.

View your notes while you present

If you want to view your notes while you're presenting but make sure your audience only sees what you've put on the slide itself, use presenter view. Here's how:

On the View menu, click Presenter View .

You'll see the main slide that you're presenting, a preview of the next slide, and any notes you've added for the current slide below the preview of the next slide.

Your audience will only the slides that you're presenting in your presentation, and not your notes.

Print your slides and handouts

PowerPoint for the web lets you create speaker notes, but it doesn't have the ability to show you the notes while you're presenting your slide show.

Create speaker notes

The pane appears across the bottom portion of the PowerPoint window, with the cursor blinking, ready for you to begin typing.

If you're a Microsoft 365 business subscriber and your presentation is stored on OneDrive for work or school or SharePoint in Microsoft 365, you can print your speaker notes. See Print your PowerPoint slides, handouts, or notes for more information.

See speaker notes while presenting

Currently you must use a desktop version of PowerPoint to see speaker notes while you're presenting.

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How to add notes to your Microsoft PowerPoint slides

When you present a slideshow, it’s likely that you have more to say than what displays on the slides. You may want to expand on the text you’ve included, or if the slide only contains visuals, explain them further.

Add speaker notes to a slide in PowerPoint

Hide notes while editing a slideshow, view speaker notes during a slideshow.

Luckily, Microsoft PowerPoint provides a built-in feature for speaker notes. This allows you to add notes to each slide and then see them in Presenter View when you start the show.

What You Need

Microsoft PowerPoint

Open your PowerPoint presentation and select the first slide where you want to add notes.

Step 1: Go to the View tab and choose either Normal or Outline View . This allows you to see your slide along with the note you plan to add.

If you’re wondering how to add a note in PowerPoint without changing the view, the short answer is: You can’t. But if you prefer not to use Normal or Outline View, you can check out the Notes Page view in the same section of the ribbon.

While still technically a “view,” this displays your slide and a text box for your note as a printed page, as shown below.

Step 2: Display the Notes panel below the slide if it’s not visible using one of the following:

• Click the Notes button in the Status Bar at the bottom.
• Move your cursor to the bottom of the window. When you see the two-sided arrow, drag up until the panel displays.
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Step 3: When the panel is empty, you’ll see “Click to Add Notes” within it. Place your cursor in the box and type your note.

Step 4: You can apply simple formatting to your note using the tools on the Home tab or in the floating toolbar. This is handy if you want to add bullet points or emphasize the font with bold, italics, or an underline.

Step 5: If you have a lengthy note within the panel, you’ll see a scrollbar appear on the right so that you can move down and see the entire note. You can also drag up on the panel to enlarge it.

If you want your slide in full view as you're assembling or editing your slideshow, you can hide the presenter notes. This does not delete them; it merely moves the notes panel out of view.

Do one of the following to hide your notes:

• Drag the notes panel downward until it no longer displays.

When it’s time to present your slideshow, you can use Presenter View to see your speaker notes. This allows you to view the notes for each slide on your monitor while presenting the slideshow on another. Your audience will not see your notes.

Step 1: Go to the Slide Show tab. On Windows, check the box for Use Presenter View in the Monitors section of the ribbon. On Mac, click the Presenter View button in the Start Slide Show section.

If you’ve already started the slideshow, you can still turn on Presenter View. Click the Three Dots in the Presenter Toolbar and choose Show Presenter View (Windows) or Use Presenter View (Mac).

Step 2: You’ll then see your notes display on the right side of the screen, with your slide on the left. As you advance each slide, the notes will display accordingly.

Step 3: The text for your note wraps automatically to the next line, and you have a scrollbar to move through those lengthy notes.

To adjust the font size for the notes, use the buttons below the notes panel.

Whether you want to add notes to PowerPoint to talk through your slideshow or simply as references while you assemble your slides, be sure to take advantage of this built-in feature.

For additional ways to work in Microsoft PowerPoint, check out how A.I. can help you create your slideshows .

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PowerPoint makes it easy to give a great presentation thanks to intuitive software that lets anyone craft an eye-catching deck. What's even better, however, is the option to use Presenter View. This lets you leave notes for yourself that can be viewed on your computer screen while everyone else is only seeing your presentation.

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Home Blog PowerPoint Tutorials How to Add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint? A Quick Guide with Video Tutorials

How to Add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint? A Quick Guide with Video Tutorials

It can be hard to remember all the information you intend to discuss during a presentation. To avoid text-heavy slides and missing out on important information, some presenters use notes or flashcards. A more elegant method of presenting your slides is to use speaker notes in PowerPoint .

What are Speaker Notes in PowerPoint?

Speaker notes in PowerPoint are hidden notes in your PowerPoint slides that can be added to help you remember bits of information. Speaker notes are only visible to the presenter and can also be printed with slides for reference. You can use the printed version of speaker notes for yourself or the audience for later reading.

Speaker notes are visible to the presenter during Presenter View, which enables viewing the slide and notes side by side. This enables the presenter to show the audience only the slides, as he/she presents with the aid of notes visible on their screen.

What are the Benefits of using Speaker Notes?

Speaker notes can have a number of benefits and can enable you to not only appear more confident as you present but to also better organize your slides.

1. Speaker Notes Help Avoid Text-Heavy Slides

One of the benefits of using speaker notes is that you can avoid adding too much text to your slides and insert related points as Speaker Notes. This can provide your audience with a clutter-free view of your slides, as you use the notes to ensure you remember all the important bits of information during the presentation.

2. Speaker Notes can Help Replace Paper Notes

Flashcards or paper notes can look inelegant and can cause confusion if they get mixed up. Many presenters end up stuttering or scrambling their notes during a presentation due to this very problem. Presenters can avoid this hassle by simply using speaker notes in PowerPoint.

3. Speaker Notes can be Helpful in Recalling Information

Speaker notes can be helpful in remembering important information when you find it difficult to recall the information. In such a case the notes can be added as a precaution so that you can quickly recall that important piece of information when you have a hard time recalling something.

4. Speaker Notes can Enable You to Stay on Point

With a presentation with a bit of text and an elaborate theme, a presenter can easily lose focus. To stay on point, you can add speaker notes to set the right sequence for you to follow as you present your slides.

5. Speaker Notes can Help you Appear More Confident

The audience appreciates a presenter when he/she has the confidence to look them in the eye and speak their heart out. Presenters who scramble for notes or keep looking at their flashcards can appear less confident.

How to Add Notes to PowerPoint?

Adding speaker notes in PowerPoint is very simple. In this short tutorial we explain how to add notes to PowerPoint depending on your preferred platform.

How to Add Speaker Notes to PowerPoint for Windows?

Step 1. Select the Slide you want to add speaker notes to.

Step 2. Select Notes in the bottom right section of your screen.

Step 3. Add the notes you want below the PowerPoint slide.

How to Add Speaker Notes to PowerPoint for macOS?

How to Add Speaker Notes to PowerPoint for web?

PowerPoint in the web version lets you create Speaker Notes but does not let you view them when you are presenting.

Which option is used to create speaker notes in the PowerPoint Slide?

On the View tab of the ribbon, in the Show group, select Notes.

The pane appears across the bottom portion of the PowerPoint window, with the cursor blinking, ready for you to begin typing.

Also, you can add speaker notes in PowerPoint by clicking the Notes option at the bottom of the slide to open the notes pane. The option can be used to open or hide the pane anytime.

Expand Notes Pane: To expand the notes pane, hover your mouse to reveal the vertical scroll bar and drag to adjust the size of the pane according to need.

How to View Speaker Notes in PowerPoint while Presenting?

How to present with speaker notes? Now that you know how to add notes to PowerPoint, you can use this feature to deliver your presentation while visualizing the speaker notes as a presenter. Here we will see how to view speaker notes in PowerPoint in Presenter View.

Enable Presenter View: You can view Speaker Notes in PowerPoint in Presenter View . To make sure this option is enabled in PowerPoint, go to the Slide Show tab, and check Use Presenter View .

Select Monitor Settings: From the Slide Show tab, you can also select which monitor you want your presentation to appear on. This can help you ensure that the monitor selected for the speaker notes does not swap with the monitor screen intended for the audience. Usually, setting the monitor settings to Automatic should automatically show speaker notes on your laptop and the view with only your slides to the audience. However, checking these settings beforehand can help you avoid swapping the screens.

Adjust Text Size for Notes: When in Presenter View, you can also expand or reduce the size of the text using the buttons on the bottom right corner of the screen.

Navigate Slides: The arrow keys enable you to move between slides in Presenter View.

Annotate Slides: You can enable the Pen tool or highlighter to annotate slides during your presentation or use the Laser Pointer to focus on parts of your slide using an onscreen laser tool. These options are available via the Pen and Laser Pointer Tools option at the bottom of the Presenter View menu.

Zoom Slides: You can zoom in to a specific slide by selecting the Zoom option and then clicking on a specific section of the slide that you intend to zoom in.

Switch to a Specific Slide: You can also jump to a specific slide via the See all slides option. This can help you instantly change your slide in a single click, without moving back and forth to find it.

Black or Unblack Slideshow: You can hide or unhide a slide by using the Black/Unblack Slideshow option.

Toggle Subtitles: In a previous post, we showed you how to enable subtitles and captions in PowerPoint . The subtitle button in Presenter View enables you to toggle the subtitles on or off.

Hide Presenter View: To turn off Presenter View anytime, you can select Hide Presenter View from the More slideshow options button.

How to print PowerPoint with Speaker Notes?

Print PowerPoint with Speaker Notes is very simple:

Printing Speaker Notes with Slide Thumbnails: You can print speaker notes directly in PowerPoint by going to File -> Print -> Settings -> Notes Pages.

Printing Speaker notes without Slide Thumbnails: If you would like to print the notes without thumbnails, go to View – > Notes Pages, delete the thumbnails for each slide, and then print your notes via File -> Print -> Settings -> Notes Pages.

Creating and Printing Handouts using Speaker Notes in PowerPoint

You can create handouts from your speaker notes by exporting them to a Microsoft Word file or printing them directly from PowerPoint.

Export Handouts to Word

To export your handouts to Word, go to File -> Export -> Create Handouts .

This will provide you with the option to select whether you would like to export notes next to slides or export blank lines next to slides, notes below slides, blank lines below slides, or the outline only.

Below is an example of handouts exported to Microsoft Word from PowerPoint. You can print these handouts from Word anytime via File -> Print.

Final Words

Speaker notes in PowerPoint can help presenters create uncluttered slides and present information without worrying about messy paper notes or missing out information because of an oversight. Speaker notes provide much needed support to cater to the needs of the modern presenter, with the added advantage of printing or providing handouts to the audience after the presentation, such as citations and links for further reading.

If it’s your first time presenting with speaker notes in PowerPoint, you should try to acquaint yourself with the necessary settings and features of speaker notes to avoid getting confused when using them for the first time. Sometimes, monitor settings can flip, especially amidst an online presentation via Zoom or other video calling apps. To prevent that from happening, you can have a mock call with a colleague to make sure speaker notes aren’t visible. To do that, you can rehearse your presentation by adjusting your screen share view while hiding speaker notes.

Discover our step-by-step guide on how to make a presentation .

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• PowerPoint Tutorials

How to Add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint

Speaker notes can be very useful to highlight the ideas you want to talk about during your presentation. In this new Slidesgo School tutorial, you’ll learn how to enter speaker notes , how to activate the Presenter View and how to use its tools .

Adding Speaker Notes

Presenting with speaker notes, using the presenter view.

• Open your presentation in PowerPoint.
• At the bottom of the screen there’s a text field with the message “Click to add notes”. The text that you enter here will be visible for you during your presentation, but not for your audience.
• If you can’t see this text field, click View → Notes. You can also click the Notes button located at the bottom of the screen.
• To display the speaker notes, you must have two screens: one for the presentation and another for the notes.
• Go to the Slide Show tab.
• In the Monitors group, check “Use Presenter View”. If you have two screens, this box will be automatically checked. Your presentation will be displayed on the secondary screen and the Presenter View will be on the main screen. You can change this by selecting a different option from the Monitor drop-down list.
• Click the Slideshow button located at the bottom of the screen. As an alternative, you can click From Beginning, on the Slide Show tab, or just press F5. Your presentation will start in Presenter View.

There are different options at your disposal during your presentation. Some of them are exclusive of this view, so let’s talk about this. 

• Current slide and Next slide: The current slide and the next one will always be visible for you.
• Slide number: At the bottom of the screen, click the left arrow to go back to the previous slide, or click the right arrow to move on to the next one.
• Pen and laser pointer Tools: You can activate the pen to draw on the slides, or the laser pointer to highlight the contents of the slide.
• See all slides: If you click this button, you’ll see all the slides of your presentation.
• Zoom into the slides: You can zoom into any part of the screen.
• Black or unblack slide show: This allows you to hide or unhide the current slide.
• Toggle subtitles: If you click this button, the subtitles will appear on the screen. This button is only available in Office 365 and newer versions.
• Zoom: Under the speaker notes you’ll find two buttons that allow you to increase or decrease the size of the text.
• More slide show options: These include hiding the slide, changing the position of the subtitles and disabling the speaker notes.
• At the top of the screen you’ll find three buttons that allow you to access the taskbar, change the main screen or end the presentation.

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Google Slides, like PowerPoint, has different presentation modes that can come in handy when you’re presenting and you want your slideshow to look smooth. Whether you’re looking for slides only, speaker notes or the Q&A feature, in this new Google Slides tutorial, you’ll learn about these and their respective settings. Ready? Then let’s explore the presenter view! 

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How to add notes to your Microsoft PowerPoint slides for presentation reminders or editing collaboration

• To add notes to your PowerPoint slides, you'll need to have your presentation set to "Normal" view. 
• You can add notes to individual slides through a button using the "Notes" button. 
• Presentation notes appear next to your slides on the screen as your slideshow plays, but they can also be printed out with the slides.
• You can add notes to your PowerPoint slides to have you with the editing process or while you're presenting a project. 
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PowerPoint presentation notes are meant to help you remember some of your slideshow's finer details in a quickly accessible format. During a presentation, the notes show up on the screen in Presenter view, but not on the screen of anybody else seeing the slideshow. 

If you're presenting in front of a room and can't keep returning to your laptop, you can still use your presenter notes. Just print the slideshow out with the notes. You can also hand these notes out to your audience if you think they'll need them, or the group with whom you're collaborating on the presentation. 

Adding presentation notes to your PowerPoint slideshow is easy, you merely have to know where to look. Here's how to do it.

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Microsoft office (from $149.99 at best buy), apple macbook pro (from $1,299.00 at apple), acer chromebook 15 (from $179.99 at walmart), how to add notes to your powerpoint presentation.

1. Launch your PowerPoint presentation. 

2. Go to the "View" tab in the toolbar at the top of the screen.

3. Choose "Normal" view on the far left of the toolbar if it isn't already selected. 

4. Click the slide you want to add a note to.

5. At the bottom of the screen, towards the right side and to the left of "Comments," click the button that reads "Notes." 

6. Type any notes you want to make in the box and hit the Enter key or click away from the box.

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How to Add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint

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• April 8, 2019

In this article, you will learn the ins and outs of how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint. This includes printing, presenting, deleting, and formatting your speaker notes so that your handouts look professional.

If you are brand new to adding notes to your PowerPoint presentations, there are three common ways professionals use speaker notes in PowerPoint.

#1. Presenter View: Use your speaker notes as prompts during your presentation. This is the most common use case for adding speaker notes in PowerPoint. You present your slide on a monitor, and you have your main points bulleted out in the Presenter View of PowerPoint.

#2. Normal View: Use your notes as reference documentation for your slides. Instead of listing out the main points for your slides, some professionals use the Notes Pane to capture where their information came from. In this case, you never present or print your speaker notes, you simply keep the links or references to your materials in the Notes Pane.

#3. Notes Page View: use your notes as the final client deliverable like a Word document. The Notes Page View displays your slide at the top of the page and all your speaker notes below it, detailing your comments, recommendations, or action steps like a Word document. While the Notes Page View is NOT as easy to use as Microsoft Word, the fact that the notes stay with each PowerPoint slide makes this very convenient.

How to add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint

There are two different places where you can type your speaker notes in PowerPoint. You can either type them in the Notes Pane at the bottom of your PowerPoint Window, your you can type them in the Notes Page view.

Which of these two views is better? It depends on what level of formatting you want to see your speaker notes in.

The main difference between using these two views when working on your speaker notes is the level of formatting that is displayed. The Notes Pane only displays plain text formatting, whereas the Notes Page View displays all formatting just like Microsoft Word.

Notes added in either view are both viewable and editable in the other view. So, you can flip back and forth between the views depending on what you are doing.

Note: You can only add text as your speaker notes in PowerPoint. You cannot add pictures, charts, tables, etc.  Any picture, chart, or graphic you want to reference in your notes must remain on your slide.

#1. The Notes Pane in the Normal View

#2. The Notes Page View

The other way you can add and edit your speaker notes in PowerPoint is using the Notes Page View. The advantage of this view is it displays all your text formatting including font size and font color.

There are four different ways you can open the Notes Pane to add your notes in PowerPoint listed below (and referenced in the picture above).

• Navigate to the View tab and click the Notes command.
• Hit Ctrl+Shift+H on your keyboard to open the Notes Pane.
• Click the Notes command at the bottom of your PowerPoint workspace.
• With your mouse, click and drag the Notes Pane up from the bottom of the PowerPoint workspace.

Regardless of how you open the Notes Pane, once it is open, you can directly type or edit your speaker notes into it. As you will see in the formatting section below, the Notes Pane only displays plain text formatting like bold, italics, numbered lists, bulleted lists, etc.

To add or edit your speaker notes using the Notes Page view in PowerPoint, simply:

• Navigate to the View tab
• Select the Notes Page view
• Click into the input box to type or edit your notes

Note: If you type a lot of text in this view, your notes will run off the bottom of the page. You do not have to worry about losing any of these notes. Any runoff notes will properly display in the Notes Pane and will print properly on the correct number of pages as needed.

Formatting Speaker Notes in PowerPoint

You can apply formatting to your notes in both the Notes Pane and the Notes Page view. That said, not all your formatting properly displays in the Notes Pane .

For example, in the picture below, the red font color I applied in the Notes Pane only displays in the Notes Page view. In this way, only the Notes Page view fully displays all the formatting that has been applied to your speaker notes, so make sure to check this view before you print your notes.

The Notes Pane and the Presenter View only display simple formatting like bold, italics, underlines, bulleted lists, etc. On top of that, these views do not display Font Size. Instead, they only display a zoom level. If you zoom in or out within the Notes Pane or the Presenter View , your Font Size appears to change, but it is only the zoom level changing, not your Font Size.

If you need to see all the formatting applied to your speaker notes in PowerPoint before you print them, the best place to do that is the Notes Page view. See section above for opening the Notes Page view in PowerPoint.

How to remove all your speaker notes at once

You can remove all your speaker notes (known in PowerPoint as Presentation Notes) before you share your presentation with someone using the Inspect Document feature . To remove all your notes at once, simply:

• Navigate to the File menu
• Click the Info
• Open the Check for Issues drop down
• Select Inspect document (select Yes if a dialog box opens)
• Make sure the Presentation Notes option is selected
• Click Inspect
• For Presentation notes, select Remove all

After you select Remove All , all your speaker notes will be removed from your presentation. Just keep in mind that once you remove them, you cannot undo this selection.

So, if you want to keep a copy of your notes, you should first save a copy of your presentation.

How to view your speaker notes in Presenter View

Regardless of how you add your speaker notes to PowerPoint, you can view them in the Presenter View of PowerPoint. You can access this view using shortcuts, or you can set it to run automatically if you are connected to a second monitor.

To set up the Presenter View to run automatically when you connect to an overhead projector or monitor, simply.

1. Navigate to the Slide Show tab 2. Put a checkmark next to Use Presenter View

After selecting Presenter View, the next time you hook up to a monitor or overhead projector and run your presentation, your slides will display on the screen and the Presenter view will display on your computer.

You can alternatively launch the Presenter View at any time using the Alt+Shift+F5 shortcut. To expand your knowledge and learn a variety of ways to present a PowerPoint slideshow (including hidden shortcuts), read our guide here .

How to print your PowerPoint with notes as handouts

To print your PowerPoint speaker notes as handouts, simply:

• Select File then Print (or hit Ctrl+P)
• Change the slides dropdown to Notes Pages
• Click Print

If you want to print your speaker notes next to your slide, you’ll need to first export your slides to Microsoft Word (discussed below).

To expand your knowledge and learn other nuances and tips for printing PowerPoint with notes, read our guide here .

To learn how to print your presentation with multiples per page as handouts, read our guide here .

Below are some important things to keep in mind as you start to print your PowerPoint notes as handouts.

1. Slide Numbers are different than page numbers

The number you see in the lower right-hand corner in the print preview are your slide numbers, not the actual page numbers. This can cause a lot of confusion when you are printing your slides with lots of notes, like when using your speaker notes as the client deliverable.

For example, in the picture below, notice that the number is the same on both pages. That is again because it is the slide number, not the page number. So, if you have five pages of notes for slide number 2, the number for all five pages of printing speaker notes will be 2.

Slide numbers in PowerPoint are notoriously tricky to get right. They are much more difficult than managing page numbers in Microsoft Word. If you need help adding and managing your slide numbers in PowerPoint, read our guide here .

2. Slide thumbnails only display on the first page of notes

When printing speaker notes, the slide thumbnail only displays on the first page of your notes. So, if you have four pages of notes for a single slide, your thumbnail only displays on the first page (as pictured above).

3. Formatting your Notes Master for professional handouts

If you want your printed speaker notes to look professional, you will need to format your Notes Master. Notice in the picture below the difference in professionalism between formatted and non-formatting handouts.

If your presentation is important, I highly recommend formatting your Notes Master with your company logo, website address, etc. That way when you print your slides as handouts, they will look sharp, clean, and professional.

To navigate to your Notes Master to format your handouts, simply:

• Click the Notes Master command.

You can add anything you like to your Notes Master just as you would add it to a PowerPoint slide. At a bare minimum, I recommend adding your company logo (as a PNG) and website address. If you are holding a training seminar, I also recommend adding your contact details too.

How to export your speaker notes to Microsoft Word

Another option for printing and editing your notes is to first push them to Microsoft Word.

This gives you the additional option to have your speaker notes on the right of your slides. On top of that, once in Word, you can format and edit your speaker notes in the full Microsoft Word editing environment.

To convert your speaker notes into Microsoft Word document, simply:

• Navigate to the File tab
• Click the Export command
• Select Create Handouts once
• Select Create Handouts a second time
• Pick either Notes next to slide or Notes below slide

Clicking okay, your slides and speaker notes are pushed to a new Microsoft Word document where you can edit them.

Special note when exporting to Microsoft Word. The Create Handouts dialog box gives you the option to Paste Link . In my experience this linking feature is unreliable and rarely works the way you’d expect it to. So, I do not recommend using it.

To expand your knowledge and learn how to convert Microsoft Word to PowerPoint, and some of the common pitfalls that can take place, read our guide here .

How long should your speaker notes be?

Although you can add as much information as you want to your notes, if you are using them as presentation prompts, I recommend keeping them short and punchy. Just enough to remind you of your next topic, or your key points.

Most people hate it if you stand up on stage and read your slides aloud, right? Well, the same is true if you stand on stage and read your speaker notes to them. This is the classic death by PowerPoint.

In addition, hiding behind your computer during your presentation creates an awkward relationship between you and your audience. So, if you are using your notes as speaking guides for your presentation, then use them sparingly.  Instead of writing long sentences or paragraphs, try adding short prompts or highlights to jog your memory.

If you are looking for ideas on how to start your presentation with a bang, read our guide here .

If you need help ending your presentation on a high note, read our guide here .

Speaker notes in PowerPoint can be used in a variety of ways depending on what you are using PowerPoint for. Some use them as presentation prompts, others for research documentation, and others as the final client deliverable. Thankfully, PowerPoint gives you the flexibility to use your speaker notes any way you like.

Just remeber that the formatting of your notes appears differently in the different PowerPoint views.

If you enjoyed this article, you can learn more about our PowerPoint training courses and other useful resources here .

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