Collaborate on a shared presentation in Keynote on iPad
Whether you’re the owner of a shared presentation or have been invited to collaborate, after you open the presentation you can see the edits made by others in real time, hide or show editing activity and more. The number of people editing or viewing the presentation (not including you) appears on the Collaborate button, and their names appear in the participant list.
Accept an invitation to collaborate
When you receive a link to a shared presentation, what happens when you tap the link depends on the access and permission set by the owner, the version of Keynote, iOS, or iPadOS installed on your device, and whether you’re using iCloud Drive.
Before you begin, make sure you meet the minimum system requirements for collaborating.
Tap the link in the email, message or post you received.
If the email address or phone number used to invite you isn’t associated with your Apple ID, follow the instructions that appear to add that email or phone number to your Apple ID.
Note: If you don’t want to associate another email address with your Apple ID, you could instead ask the owner of the shared presentation to invite you again using an email address or phone number that’s already associated with your Apple ID.
If asked, sign in with your Apple ID or follow any instructions that appear.
The presentation opens based on the following:
On a Mac: The presentation opens in Keynote for Mac or in Keynote for iCloud, depending on whether iCloud Drive is set up on your Mac and you’re signed in; where you clicked the link (for example, in Mail on your Mac or on a webpage) and whether you have macOS Catalina 10.15 or later and Keynote 11.0 or later installed on your computer.
On iCloud.com on a Mac or Windows computer: If you’re signed into iCloud.com in a web browser, the presentation opens in Keynote for iCloud, and it’s added to your presentation manager and to iCloud Drive.
On an iPhone with iOS 13.1 or later and Keynote 11.0 or later: The presentation opens in Keynote on your iPhone and is added to the presentation manager.
On an iPad with iPadOS 13.1 or later and Keynote 11.0 or later: The presentation opens in Keynote on your iPad and is added to the presentation manager. If you don’t have Keynote installed on your iPad, the presentation opens in Keynote for iCloud in a web browser.
On an Android device or a device without iOS 13.1, iPadOS 13.1 or later, and Keynote 11.0 or later: The presentation opens in a browser where you can view but not edit it.
Collaborate on a shared presentation
Open the shared presentation.
Tap Recent at the bottom of the presentation manager to see all shared presentations and find the one you want. If you can’t find the shared presentation, tap the link in the email, message or post you received and, if asked, sign in with your Apple ID.
If you can’t open the presentation, see “Accept an invitation to collaborate”, above.
Edit the presentation.
Edits you and others make to the presentation appear in real time. Coloured cursors and coloured selections of text and objects indicate where others are currently editing.
Do any of the following:
See who’s working in the presentation: Tap
to open the participant list, which shows who has joined the presentation and who is currently editing or viewing it. The number of people editing or viewing the presentation (not including you) also appears as a badge next to the button.Follow someone’s edits: tap the coloured dot next to the person’s name. If you don’t see a coloured dot, the person has the presentation open but isn’t actively participating.
Hide or show activity (coloured cursors or selections): Tap
, tap Settings, then turn Collaboration Activity off or on.Resolve clashes: If there are conflicts, you see a dialog. Select the version you want to keep; if you keep more than one, the most recent remains the shared version.
If the Collaborate button changes to a cloud with a diagonal line through it, your device is offline. Any changes you make are uploaded to iCloud automatically the next time your device is connected.
Edit while offline
When you’re not connected to the internet, the Collaborate button changes to a cloud with a diagonal line through it. You can continue to work on the presentation and the next time you’re online, changes are uploaded to iCloud automatically.
Here are a few things to keep in mind while editing a shared presentation while offline:
If you make changes and want to send a copy of the presentation with your changes to someone else before your changes are uploaded, tap
, then tap Share or Export to send a copy. This method ensures that your changes are included. By contrast, if you use the Files app to attach the presentation to an email message, for example, the edits you made while offline are not included.If you’re not sure whether your changes have synced, you can check their status. In the presentation manager, tap the Sync Status button in the top-right corner of the screen (it looks like an up arrow).
If other participants who are online delete objects or slides that you’re editing, the edits you made to those objects are no longer in the presentation when you go back online.
For more information about offline editing, see this Apple Support article.
Opt out of a shared presentation
If you no longer want to have access to a presentation that was shared with you, you can remove yourself from the participant list.
Do one of the following:
If the presentation is open: Tap
.If the presentation is closed: In the presentation manager or Files app, open the Keynote folder in iCloud Drive, tap Select in the top-right corner, tap the presentation (a tick appears), tap Share at the bottom of the screen, then tap Show People.
Tap your name, then tap Remove Me.
Removing your name from the participant list removes the presentation from your iCloud Drive. If you later want to access the presentation again, you can use the original link to open it.
Note: Not all Keynote features are available for a presentation that’s shared with others. See this Apple Support article for information.