Use PowerPoint's Laser Pointer

Once you have started a presentation, PowerPoint has tools that you can use to enhance your viewers’ experience.

Laser Pointer

The Laser Pointer tool will display a red dot on the screen that you can use to direct the attention of your viewers.

1. While presenting, click the Pointer Tools button.
2. Select Laser Pointer.

   The pointer turns to a red dot.

3. Point to a specific area of the screen.
   
4. Press Esc to turn off the Laser Pointer.

To control whether the cursor is always hidden, always visible, or automatically appears and disappears, click the Options button and then select Arrow Options.

Annotations

There are two tools—a Pen and a Highlighter—that you can use to annotate the slides from within the presentation.

1. Click the Pointer Tools button.
2. Select either Pen or Highlighter.

   No matter which pen tool you select, you can change its color at the bottom of the menu.

   

   The arrow pointer changes shape, depending on the type of pen you selected.

3. Annotate a slide by drawing (using the pen) or by highlighting text (using the highlighter).

   To erase an annotation, press E on your keyboard.

   

4. Press Esc to turn off the annotation tool.

Zoom

Although you should make sure everything on your slide is big enough to see, there may be times when you want to zoom in on something.

1. While presenting, click the Zoom button.
   

   Some of the screen is washed out. What's still visible is the zoom area.

2. Click on the slide where you need to zoom.
   

   The area in the zoom box now fills the screen.

3. Press Esc to zoom out and view the entire slide once again.

Options Menu

The Options menu contains more settings that you can use to control how the presentation plays.

1. While presenting, click the Options button.
2. Select an option from the menu:
   • Last Viewed: Jumps to the last viewed slide.
   • Show Presenter View: Turns on Presenter View and gives you additional views and controls for presenting content.
   • Screen: Hide presentation content by temporarily showing a black or white screen, or display the taskbar on screen.
   • Arrow Options: Choose whether the cursor is visible, hidden, or automatically hidden after a given amount of time.
   • Help: Opens the Slide Show Help dialog box where you see options for navigating the presentation.
   • End Show: Stop presenting and return to PowerPoint.