Play a Keynote presentation on Mac
There are two ways to play a Keynote presentation on your Mac:
Present in full screen: Shows the current slide on your primary display while the presenter display, with your notes and controls, is hidden. If you have a separate display connected to your Mac, the presenter display is shown on your Mac while the slideshow plays on the secondary display. This is useful when you’re presenting the slideshow in person and have a separate display or projector.
Present in a window: Shows the slideshow in one window and the presenter display in another. This is useful when you don’t have a secondary display or projector and need to access your presenter notes, desktop or other apps without interrupting the presentation.
Present in full screen
Choose Play > In Full Screen (from the Play menu at the top of your screen).
In the slide navigator, click to select the slide you want to begin with.
Click
in the toolbar.The presentation begins with the slide you selected displayed in full screen.
To advance through the presentation, do any of the following:
Go to the next slide or build: Press the Right Arrow key.
Go back a slide or reset the builds on the slide: Press the Left Arrow key.
Jump to a different slide: Press any number key to make the slide navigator appear, enter the slide number in the text field at the top, then press Return.
To show the slideshow controls with options to show the slide navigator, keyboard shortcuts, live video sources or multi-presenter slideshow controls, move the pointer over the bottom of your screen.
Note: To always hide the controls (for example, when you don’t want your audience to see the slideshow controls during a presentation), click Keynote > Preferences, click Slideshow at the top of the window, then turn off Show slideshow controls when pointer is at the bottom of the screen.
To stop playing the presentation, press Esc.
Tip: To see all the keyboard shortcuts you can use as you present, press the Question Mark (?) key on your keyboard. To close the overlay, press the Question Mark (?) key again.
By default, when you play a slideshow in full screen the pointer is only visible on slides with a link, film or live video. To make the pointer visible anytime you move it, click Keynote > Preferences, click Slideshow, then turn on “Show pointer when using the mouse or trackpad.”
Present in a window
When you play a presentation in a window, the slideshow and presenter display appear in two windows on your screen. If you’re presenting virtually with a videoconferencing app, you can share the slideshow window so the other meeting participants can see it. You can edit your notes and navigate the presentation in the presenter display window.
In the slide navigator, click to select the slide you want to begin with.
Choose Play > In Window (from the Play menu at the top of your screen).
Click
in the toolbar. The presentation begins with the current slide shown in one window and the presenter display in the other.Note: If you don’t see the presenter display, move the pointer over the top part of the slideshow window and click
or choose Play > Show Presenter Display in Window.To advance through the presentation, do any of the following:
Go to the next slide or build: Press the Right Arrow key.
Go back a slide or reset the builds on the slide: Press the Left Arrow key.
Jump to a different slide: Click
, then click the slide’s thumbnail in the slide navigator. You can also press any number key to make the slide navigator appear, enter the slide number in the text field at the top, then press Return.
While presenting, you can also do any of the following:
Change the size of the text in the presenter notes: Move the pointer over the Notes window, then click a font button in the top-left corner to make the font smaller or larger.
Change which slides appear in the preview: Click
, then select or deselect the tickbox next to an item to show or hide it.Close the presenter display: Click the red close button in the top-left corner, or choose Play > Hide Presenter Display in Window.
Reveal the toolbar in the current slide window: Move the pointer over top of the window, then click a button to show the slide navigator, keyboard shortcuts, live video sources or multipresenter slideshow controls.
To stop playing the presentation, press Esc.
Tip: To see all the keyboard shortcuts you can use as you present, press the Question Mark (?) key on your keyboard. To close the overlay, press the Question Mark (?) key again.
If you want to take a screenshot of the presenter notes or make them visible to your audience with a videoconferencing app, first choose Keynote > Preferences, click Slideshow at the top of the Preferences window, then select the tickbox next to “Show presenter display in other applications”. Play the presentation, then take a screenshot of the window or share it with your videoconferencing app.
Use the Touch Bar when you present
If your Mac has a Touch Bar, thumbnails of your slides appear in the Touch Bar as you present, as well as buttons for quickly accessing other Keynote features. You can use the thumbnails and buttons to view and control your presentation.
Scroll through slides: Swipe the thumbnails. You can scroll through slides without changing what viewers see.
Advance to the next slide: Press an arrow key. If you scrolled ahead, the thumbnails scroll back to the slide you advanced to.
Switch between the clock and the timer: If you’re presenting on your Mac, tap the clock or timer.
Switch the display showing the presentation: If you’re presenting on a separate display, tap
.See keyboard shortcuts you can use to present: Tap the Question Mark (?) button.
Require a password to exit a presentation
You can require a password to stop or exit a presentation. This password requirement is useful, for example, when the presentation is set to play automatically in a kiosk.
With the presentation open, choose Keynote > Preferences (from the Keynote menu at the top of your screen).
Click Slideshow at the top of the preferences window, then select the “Require password to exit slideshows” tickbox.
Type a password, then click Set Password.
To remove the password, choose Keynote > Preferences, then deselect the “Require password to exit slideshows” tickbox.
This password applies only to slideshows played on the Mac where you set the password.