Create slide shows in Photos on Mac
In Photos, there are two ways to create slide shows:
Quickly play an instant slideshow of the photos, complete with a theme and music.
Create and save a slideshow project. You select a group of photos, then add text, choose a theme, add music and set how long each slide appears. You can export a slideshow project to play it on a Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Apple Vision Pro.
Create a quick slideshow
When you create a slideshow, you can select photos, videos, and a theme and music for the slideshow.
Go to the Photos app on your Mac.
Click Library or Days in the sidebar.
Select some photos and videos, then choose File > Play Slideshow.
To personalise the slideshow, do any of the following:
Click to change the music. To see more options, click Browse.
Click to change the look of the slideshow.
Note: Your slideshow is automatically saved as a memory. To view it later, click Memories in the sidebar.
Create a slide show project
Go to the Photos app on your Mac.
Select the photos you want in your slideshow.
Choose File > Create > Slide show > Photos.
Click the Slideshow pop-up menu and choose New Slide Show.
Type a slideshow name, then click OK.
To reorder photos, drag the thumbnails at the bottom of the window into the order you want them.
To select a theme, click , then click a theme.
You can change the theme at any time. The theme you choose determines text position, fonts and the transitions that appear between slides.
To select music for the slideshow, click , click the down arrow next to Music Library, then select a song or songs.
Choose Theme Songs from the pop-up menu to see music included with Photos, or choose Music to see music from your library. Drag the songs you selected to change the order they play in. To delete a song, select it and press Delete.
Note: If you don’t see music from your music library listed, quit Photos, then open Music and sign in. With Music open, open Photos again, then select your slide show. Click and choose Music from the pop-up menu to see your music list appear.
To change how long each slide appears, click , then do any of the following (not all options are available for all themes):
Set the slide show to match the length of the selected music: Select Fit to Music.
Set a specific display time for the slide show: Select Custom, then drag the slider to specify how long the slide show should play.
Set transitions for the entire slideshow: Select the Transition tick box, then choose a transition type from the pop-up menu.
Set slides to fit the screen: Select the “Scale photos to fit screen” checkbox.
To see a preview of the slide show, click the Preview button.
Click Preview again to stop the preview. You can also set the slideshow to loop continuously by clicking .
To play the slideshow, click .
To stop playing a slideshow, press the Esc (Escape) key. Press the arrow keys to skip forwards or back through the slides, and press the Space bar to pause the slideshow.
Note: Slideshows appear under Projects in the sidebar. If you use iCloud Shared Photo Library, you must choose Both Libraries from the Library pop-up menu in the toolbar to see projects you’ve created.
To share a slideshow, see Export slide shows.
Add or remove photos and text in a slideshow project
Go to the Photos app on your Mac.
Double-click a slideshow under Projects in the sidebar.
Note: If you use iCloud Shared Photo Library, you must choose Both Libraries from the Library pop-up menu in the toolbar to see projects you’ve created.
Do any of the following:
Add more photos to a slide show: In the row of thumbnails at the bottom, click , then click Add Photos. Select the photos you want to add, then click Add.
Add text to a slide: Select a photo, click , then click Add Text. Select the text in the text box, then type the text you want.
Delete text from a photo: Select the text in the photo, then press Delete.
Delete a photo from the slide show: Select the photo you want to delete, then press Delete.