This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Microsoft 365 screen reader support content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.
Use PowerPoint with your keyboard a screen reader to add, delete, and arrange slides in your presentation. We have tested it with Narrator, NVDA, and JAWS, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques. You'll also learn how to change the size and orientation of the slides.
Notes:
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New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
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To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
In this topic
Add a new slide
You can easily add new slides to your presentation, either based on the current slide’s layout or on a new template layout.
Add a new slide based on current slide’s layout
In a new presentation, the title slide is added automatically. You can add the new slide based on the previous slide’s layout.
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Press Ctrl+M. With Narrator and JAWS, you hear "Slide," followed by the number of slides and the place of the new slide on the list, and "Selected." With NVDA, you hear "Slide," followed by the number of the added slide.
Add a new slide based on a template layout
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In the Normal view, press Alt+H, I. With Narrator and NVDA, you hear the title of the first slide layout. With JAWS, you hear “Leaving menu bar, Office theme," followed by the number of the current slide.
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Use the arrow keys to navigate the slide layout options until you find the option you want, and then press Enter. With Narrator and NVDA, you hear the number of the new slide. With JAWS, you hear: “Enter, no selection.”
The focus moves to the slide pane.
Delete a slide
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In the thumbnail pane, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the number of the slide you want to delete.
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Do one of the following:
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With Narrator and JAWS, press Delete. With Narrator, you hear the number of the current slide and its place on the list, followed by "Selected.” With JAWS, you hear: “Enter, leaving menus, no selection.”
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With NVDA, press Shift+F10 to open the context menu. Then press the Down arrow key until you hear "Delete slide," and press Enter.
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Rearrange slides
You can rearrange your slides by cutting the slide out of the old location and pasting it into the new location.
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In the thumbnail pane, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the number of the slide you want to move.
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Do one of the following:
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To move the slide up the list of slides, press Ctrl+Up arrow key. With Narrator and JAWS, you hear the new number of the slide in the list. NVDA does not announce anything.
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To move the slide down the list of slides, press Ctrl+Down arrow key. With Narrator and JAWS, you hear the new number of the slide in the list. NVDA does not announce anything.
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To move the slide to the beginning of the presentation, press Ctrl+Shift+Up arrow key.
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To move the slide to the end of the presentation, press Ctrl+Shift+Down arrow key.
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Organize slides into sections
To group your slides into meaningful entities, you can organize them into sections. For example, if you work with others on a presentation, you can assign each colleague a section to work on.
The sections are displayed and announced in the thumbnail pane of the Normal view and in the Slide Sorter view. They are not displayed or announced in the Slide Show view.
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In the thumbnail pane, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the slide which you want to be the first slide in a section.
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Press Alt+H, T, 1. You hear: “Add section.”
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To add an untitled section, press Enter. You hear: "Rename section."
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Type the new name for the section and then press Enter.
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Move slides under the appropriate sections as instructed in Rearrange slides.
To hear Narrator announce the section names, in the thumbnail pane, press the Up or Down arrow key. JAWS and NVDA do not announce the section names.
Change the orientation of all slides in a presentation
You can change the orientation of the whole slide set from landscape to portrait or vice versa.
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In the Normal view, press Alt+G, S, C. The Slide Size window opens.
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In the Slide Size window, press the Tab key until Narrator announces “Slides, Selected," followed by the current slide orientation, for example, "Landscape."
With JAWS, you hear “Orientation, slides," followed by the current slide orientation, and "Radio button checked.” With NVDA, you hear "Orientation grouping, slides grouping," followed by the current slide orientation, and "Radio button checked."
Tip: With Narrator, to listen to and move through the options in the Slide Size window, you can also press the SR key+Up or Down arrow key.
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To change the orientation, press the Up or Down arrow key. You hear the selected orientation.
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Once you’re done with your selection, press Enter. With Narrator and JAWS, you hear: “Microsoft PowerPoint window, button.” With NVDA, you hear: "Microsoft PowerPoint dialog." A confirmation window opens.
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Do one of the following:
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To maximize the size of your content, press the Tab key until you hear: “Maximize.” If you have a lot of content on a slide, all the text might not fit on the slide when using this option.
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To scale your content down to fit it on the slide, press the Tab key until you hear: “Ensure Fit.” This option might resize your content to a smaller font size to fit everything on the slide.
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Press Enter. The focus moves to the thumbnail pane.
Change the size of your slides
To change the slide size, you can choose between two default size options, Standard (4:3) and Widescreen (16:9), or you can customize the size of your slides.
Change the slide size from widescreen to standard or vice versa
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In the Normal view, press Alt+G, S. With Narrator and NVDA, you hear the first item in the Slide Size menu. With JAWS, you hear: “Lower ribbon, customized group box.”
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In the Slide Size menu, do one of the following:
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To select the standard size, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear: “Standard."
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To select the widescreen size, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear: “Widescreen.”
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Press Enter. With Narrator and JAWS, you hear: “Microsoft PowerPoint window, button.” With NVDA, you hear: "Microsoft PowerPoint dialog." A confirmation window opens.
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In the Microsoft PowerPoint window, do one of the following:
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To maximize the size of your content, press the Tab key until you hear: “Maximize.” If you have a lot of content on a slide, all the text might not fit on the slide when using this option.
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To scale your content down to fit it on the slide, press the Tab key until you hear: “Ensure Fit.” This option might resize your content to a smaller font size to fit everything on the slide.
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Press Enter. The focus moves to the thumbnail pane.
Customize the size of your slides
You can resize your slides to use custom dimensions for different screen or paper sizes.
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In the Normal view, press Alt+G, S, C. The Slide Size window opens.
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In the Slide Size window, to change the size of your slides, either select the target format of your presentation or set the height, width, and the orientation of the presentation:
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To select the target format of the presentation, press the Tab key until you hear: “Slides sized for.” Press the Down arrow key to expand the drop-down menu. Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Enter.
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To set width and height:
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To change the slide width, press the Tab key until you hear: “Width.” Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the value you want, or type a value.
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To change the slide height, press the Tab key until you hear: “Height.” Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the value you want, or type a value.
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Tip: With Narrator, to listen to and move through the options in the Slide Size window, you can also press the SR key+Up or Down arrow key.
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Once you’re done with your selection, press Enter. With Narrator and JAWS, you hear: “Microsoft PowerPoint window, button.” With NVDA, you hear: "Microsoft PowerPoint dialog." A confirmation window opens.
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In the Microsoft PowerPoint window, do one of the following:
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To maximize the size of your content, press the Tab key until you hear “Maximize.” If you have a lot of content on a slide, all the text might not fit on the slide when using this option.
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To scale your content down to fit it on the new slide, press the Tab key until you hear: “Ensure Fit.” This option might resize your content to a smaller font size to fit everything on the slide.
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Press Enter. The focus moves to the thumbnail pane.
See also
Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint
Use a screen reader to insert and edit pictures and tables in PowerPoint
Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations
Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Use PowerPoint with your keyboard and VoiceOver, the built-in macOS screen reader, to add, delete, and arrange slides in your presentations. You can also change the size and orientation of the slides.
All of the following tasks are performed in the Normal view in PowerPoint. To go to the Normal view, press Command+1.
Notes:
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New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
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This topic assumes that you are using the built-in macOS screen reader, VoiceOver. To learn more about using VoiceOver, go to VoiceOver Getting Started Guide.
In this topic
Add a new slide
You can easily add new slides to your presentation, either based on the current slide’s layout or on a new template layout.
Add a new slide based on the current slide
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In your PowerPoint presentation, in the Normal view, press F6 until you hear: "Thumbnail pane, collection, 1 item selected."
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Press Control+Option+Shift+Down arrow key to enter the thumbnail pane. VoiceOver announces the currently selected slide. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate the slides until you find the slide after which you want to add the new slide.
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Press Command+Shift+N to add a new slide based on the layout of the current slide. VoiceOver announces the number of the added slide.
Tip: To duplicate the content of the current slide, not only its layout, press Command+Shift+D instead.
Add a new slide based on a template layout
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In your PowerPoint presentation, in the Normal view, press F6 until you hear: "Thumbnail pane, collection, 1 item selected."
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Press Control+Option+Shift+Down arrow key to enter the thumbnail pane. VoiceOver announces the currently selected slide. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate the slides until you find the slide after which you want to add the new slide.
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Press F6 until you hear the current tab, for example, "Home, selected, tab." If you are not on the Home tab, press the Left arrow key until you hear "Home, tab," and press Control+Option+Spacebar to select the tab.
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Press the Down arrow key once to move to the ribbon, and press Control+Option+Shift+Down arrow key.
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Press the Right arrow key repeatedly until you hear: "New slide, menu button."
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Press Control+Option+Shift+M to open the menu, and press Control+Option+Shift+Down arrow key to enter the gallery.
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Use the arrow keys to navigate the layout options. VoiceOver announces the items as you move. To add a slide with the selected layout, press Return.
Delete a slide
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In your PowerPoint presentation, in the Normal view, press F6 until you hear: "Thumbnail pane, collection, 1 item selected."
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Press Control+Option+Shift+Down arrow key to enter the thumbnail pane. VoiceOver announces the currently selected slide. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate the slides until you find the slide you want to delete.
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Press Shift+F10 to open the context menu. Then press the Down arrow key until you hear "Delete slide," and press Return. The slide is removed.
Rearrange the slides
You can rearrange the slides by cutting a slide out of the current location and pasting it into a new place.
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In your PowerPoint presentation, in the Normal view, press F6 until you hear: "Thumbnail pane, collection, 1 item selected."
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Press Control+Option+Shift+Down arrow key to enter the thumbnail pane. VoiceOver announces the currently selected slide. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate the slides until you find the slide you want to move.
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Press Command+X to cut out the slide.
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Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate the slides until you find the slide after which you want to place the cut slide, then press Command+V to paste the slide.
Change the orientation of the slides in a slide set
PowerPoint slides are automatically set up in landscape orientation, but you can change the slide orientation to portrait or vice versa.
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In your PowerPoint presentation, in the Normal view, press F6 until you hear the current tab, for example, "Home, selected, tab." If you are not on the Design tab, press the Right or Left arrow key until you hear "Design, tab," and press Control+Option+Spacebar to select the tab.
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Press the Tab key repeatedly until you hear: "Slide size, menu button."
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Press Control+Option+Spacebar to open the menu, then press the Down arrow key until you hear: "Page setup."
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Press Control+Option+Spacebar. The Page Setup dialog box opens.
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Press the Right arrow key until you land on the orientation option you want, such as "Portrait Orientation for Slides" or "Landscape Orientation for Slides," and then press Control+Option+Spacebar to select it.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "OK, default, button," and press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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If the current contents do not fit the selected orientation, a dialog box opens asking how you want to scale the content to fit the selected orientation:
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To scale your content down, press the Tab key until you hear: “Scale down, button.” This option resizes your content and might use a smaller font size to fit everything on the slide.
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To maximize the size of your content, press the Tab key until you hear: “Scale up, button.” If you have a lot of content on a slide, all of it might not fit on the slide when choosing this option.
To select an option, press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Resize your slides
To change the slide size, you can choose between the two default options, Standard (4:3) and Widescreen (16:9), or customize the size for a perfect fit.
Change from widescreen to standard size or vice versa
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In your PowerPoint presentation, in the Normal view, press F6 until you hear the current tab, for example, "Home, selected, tab." If you are not on the Design tab, press the Right or Left arrow key until you hear "Design, tab," and press Control+Option+Spacebar to select the tab.
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Press the Tab key repeatedly until you hear: "Slide size, menu button."
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Press Control+Option+Spacebar to open the menu, then press Control+Option+Shift+Down arrow key.
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Use the Up and Down arrow keys to move between the size options. VoiceOver announces the options as you move. To select a size, press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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If you're converting to a smaller size, you might get a dialog box asking if you want to scale the content to fit the selected size:
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To scale your content down, press the Tab key until you hear: “Scale, default, button.” This option resizes your content and might use a smaller font size to fit everything on the slide.
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To maximize the size of your content, press the Tab key until you hear: “Don't scale, button.” If you have a lot of content on a slide, all of it might not fit on the slide when choosing this option.
To select an option, press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Customize the size of your slides
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In your PowerPoint presentation, in the Normal view, press F6 until you hear the current tab, for example, "Home, selected, tab." If you are not on the Design tab, press the Right or Left arrow key until you hear "Design, tab," and press Control+Option+Spacebar to select the tab.
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Press the Tab key repeatedly until you hear: "Slide size, menu button."
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Press Control+Option+Spacebar to open the menu, then press the Down arrow key until you hear: "Page setup."
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Press Control+Option+Spacebar. The Page Setup dialog box opens. VoiceOver announces the currently selected size, such as "Widescreen" or "On-screen-Show (4:3)."
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To open the list of options, press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Use the Down and Up arrow keys to browse the options. VoiceOver announces them as you move. To select one, press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "OK, default, button," and press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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When converting to another size, you might get a dialog box asking if you want to scale the content to fit the selected size:
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To scale your content down, press the Tab key until you hear: “Scale down, button.” This option resizes your content and might use a smaller font size to fit everything on the slide.
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To maximize the size of your content, press the Tab key until you hear: “Scale up, button.” If you have a lot of content on a slide, all of it might not fit on the slide when choosing this option.
To select an option, press Control+Option+Spacebar.
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See also
Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint
Use a screen reader to insert and edit pictures and tables in PowerPoint
Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations
Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Use PowerPoint with VoiceOver, the built-in iOS screen reader, to add, delete, and arrange slides in your presentations.
Notes:
-
New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
-
This topic assumes that you are using the built-in iOS screen reader, VoiceOver. To learn more about using VoiceOver, visit Apple accessibility.
In this topic
Add, rearrange, and delete slides in PowerPoint
You can easily add new slides to your presentation either based on the current slide’s layout or on a new template layout, or delete the ones that you don't need anymore. You can also rearrange the slides by cutting a slide out of the current location and pasting it into a new place.
Add a new slide
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After opening your presentation, swipe right or left until you hear "Edit, button," and double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right or left until you find the slide after which you want to add a slide. Double-tap the screen to open the slide in the content pane, unless you hear "Selected," in which case the slide is already open.
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Swipe right until you hear "New slide, button," and double-tap the screen. The slide is added to your presentation.
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To change the layout of the inserted slide, swipe right until you hear "Layout, button," and double-tap the screen. To browse the template options, swipe left until you find the first layout option, for example, Picture with Caption, and keep swiping left to browse the other options. VoiceOver announces the templates as you move. For the currently selected layout, you hear "Selected" and the layout name. To select a template, double-tap the screen.
Rearrange the slides
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After opening your presentation, swipe right or left until you hear "Edit, button," and double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right or left until you find the slide you want to move. Double-tap the screen to open the slide in the content pane, unless you hear "Selected," in which case the slide is already open.
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Double-tap the screen with two fingers. A context menu opens and you hear: "Show more items, menu item."
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Swipe left until you hear "Cut, menu item," and double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right or left until you hear the slide after which you want to move the cut slide and then double-tap the screen. You hear: "Selected."
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Double-tap the screen with two fingers. You hear: "Show more items, menu item."
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Swipe left until you hear "Paste, menu item," and double-tap the screen. The slide is moved to the new location.
Delete a slide
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After opening your presentation, swipe right or left until you hear "Edit, button," and double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right or left until you find the slide you want to delete. Double-tap the screen to open the slide in the content pane, unless you hear "Selected," in which case the slide is already open.
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Double-tap the screen with two fingers. A context menu opens and you hear: "Show more items, menu item."
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Swipe left until you hear: "Delete, menu item." To delete the slide, double-tap the screen.
See also
Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint
Use a screen reader to read or add speaker notes and comments in PowerPoint
Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations
Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Use PowerPoint for Android with TalkBack, the built-in Android screen reader, to add, delete, and arrange slides in your presentations.
Notes:
-
New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
-
This topic assumes that you are using the built-in Android screen reader, TalkBack. To learn more about using TalkBack, go to Android accessibility.
In this topic
Add, rearrange, and delete slides in PowerPoint
You can easily add new slides to your presentation either based on the current slide’s layout or on a new template layout, or delete the ones that you don't need anymore. You can also rearrange the slides by cutting a slide out of the current location and pasting it in a new place.
Add a new slide
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After opening your presentation, swipe right or left until you hear "Edit, button," and double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right or left until you find the slide after which you want to add a slide. Double-tap the screen to open the slide in the content pane.
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Swipe right until you hear "Add slide," and double-tap the screen. A new slide is added to your presentation with the same layout as the slide you selected in the previous step.
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To change the layout of the inserted slide, swipe right until you hear "Layout menu," and then double-tap the screen. In the Layout menu, to browse the template options, swipe right. TalkBack announces the templates as you move. When you land on the currently selected layout, you hear "Selected" before the layout name. To select a template, double-tap the screen.
Rearrange the slides
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After opening your presentation, swipe right or left until you hear "Edit, button," and double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right or left until you find the slide you want to move. Double-tap and hold the screen to open the context menu. You hear: "Cut, button." Double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right or left until you find the slide after which you want to place the cut slide, and double-tap the screen.
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To paste the slide, double-tap and hold the screen to open the context menu. You hear: "Cut, button." Swipe right until you hear "Paste, button," and double-tap the screen. The slide is moved to the new location.
Delete a slide
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After opening your presentation, swipe right or left until you hear "Edit, button," and double-tap the screen.
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Swipe right or left until you find the slide you want to delete. Double-tap and hold the screen to open the context menu. You hear: "Cut, button." Swipe right until you hear "Delete, button," and double-tap the screen.
See also
Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint
Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations
Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Use PowerPoint for the web with your keyboard and a screen reader to add, delete, and arrange your slides in your presentations. We have tested it with Narrator in Microsoft Edge and NVDA and JAWS in Chrome, but it might work with other screen readers and web browsers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.
Notes:
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If you use Narrator with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, you have to turn off scan mode in order to edit documents, spreadsheets, or presentations with Microsoft 365 for the web. For more information, refer to Turn off virtual or browse mode in screen readers in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.
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New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
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To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
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When you use PowerPoint for the web, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because PowerPoint for the web runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in the desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not PowerPoint for the web.
In this topic
Add a new slide
You can add new slides to your presentation, either based on the current slide’s layout or on another layout.
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In the Editing View, press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Thumbnail panel."
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Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the number of the slide after which you want to add a slide.
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Press Alt+Windows logo key, N, S, I. The New Slide menu opens.
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In the menu, a slide layout based on the current slide is selected. Do one of the following:
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To insert a slide with the same layout as the current slide, press Enter.
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To browse other layouts, use the arrow keys to navigate until you find the layout you want, and then press Enter. The new slide is added to your presentation.
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Rearrange slides
You can move the slides around to change their sequence in your presentation.
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In the Editing View, press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Thumbnail panel."
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Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the number of the slide you want to move.
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Do one of the following:
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To move the slide towards the beginning of the presentation, press Ctrl+Up arrow key. The slide is moved one slide up.
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To move the slide towards the end of the presentation, press Ctrl+Down arrow key. The slide is moved one slide down.
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To place the slide as the first slide in the presentation, press Ctrl+Shift+Up arrow key.
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To place the slide as the last slide in the presentation, press Ctrl+Shift+Down arrow key.
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Delete slides
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In the Editing View, press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Thumbnail panel."
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Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the number of the slide you want to remove.
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Press Delete.
Tip: To undo the deletion, press Ctrl+Z.
See also
Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint
Use a screen reader to insert and edit pictures and tables in PowerPoint
Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations
Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader
Technical support for customers with disabilities
Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.
If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.
