How to Add Notes in PowerPoint

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Having your notes on your slides can be super handy because no matter how experienced a speaker you are, you can still get distracted or lose your train of thought when you start presenting. It can happen to the best, right?

This tutorial article will show you how to add speaker notes in PowerPoint presentations, so you can rest assured that everything runs smoothly in the end. The best thing about your notes is they’re only visible to you and not to your audience.

How do I add notes to my slides?

Open the slide you want to add notes to and click on the Notes pane – the box that appears beneath the slide.

Put the cursor in the Notes pane and type down your notes.

Simple as that. Your note was taken, and you can jump to other slides if you need to, you won’t lose what you wrote.

Do you want to learn more helpful features in PowerPoint? Then check out our FREE PowerPoint Tips&Tricks ebook.

How do I see my notes in PowerPoint?

We already said that your notes are only visible to you and not your audience, but what happens when you start presenting?

When presenting, you’re usually connected to a projector or a bigger screen where your presentation is displayed. Having either of those will help you get an idea of the whole process.

Go to Slide Show and select From Beginning to start the presentation. This will bring up the Presenter view option which allows you to glimpse at your notes whenever you want (as shown in the bottom picture). The notes will be visible just on your screen while the audience only has access to the slide – no notes, no nothing for them.

The same applies when you present with PowerPoint online. Note that with Teams and just one screen available, you can use the PowerPoint Live functionality to view your notes.

The speaker notes will be displayed automatically. The two A letters circled above allow you to adjust the font size of the text.

This is how you add speaker notes to your PowerPoint presentation slides. If you’re eager to learn more, why don’t you check out our PowerPoint Tips & Tricks course where we have a special module dedicated to Presenter View.