How to start and stop a PowerPoint slide show

Updated: 09/30/2020 by Computer Hope

After creating a set of slides or a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint, you can play the slides as a slide show, displaying them as full screen on your computer. A PowerPoint slide show is an excellent visual aid when presenting important information and images to others on a web conference.

If you have a set of slides to show, review the steps below for how to start and stop a PowerPoint slide show.

Start a PowerPoint slide show

There are three ways to start a slide show in PowerPoint:

1. Open Microsoft PowerPoint, then open your presentation.
2. Click the Slide Show tab in the Ribbon.
3. To start the slide show from the first slide, click the From Beginning option in the Start Slide Show section.
   To start the slide show from a slide other than the first, select that slide in your presentation, then click the From Current Slide option in the Start Slide Show section.

or

1. Open Microsoft PowerPoint, then open your presentation.
2. In the lower-left or lower-right area of the PowerPoint program window, click the Slide Show  icon. The slide show starts from the currently-selected slide in your presentation.

or

1. Open Microsoft PowerPoint, then open your presentation.
2. To start the slide show from the first slide, press the F5 key.
   To start the slide show from a slide other than the first, select that slide in your presentation, then press the Shift+F5 key combination.

Stop a PowerPoint slide show

To stop a slide show that is currently running in PowerPoint, press the Esc key. Upon doing so, the slide show ends and the PowerPoint program window is displayed again.