How to play PowerPoint slides automatically without clicking

Are you setting up a slideshow for a convention or trade show, or maybe in a conference room or waiting area?

Here's how you can easily set up a Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow to run automatically without anyone controlling the computer. This lets you present your product, service, or company mission to a broad audience without manual intervention.

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Set up the slide timings or transitions

Before you set your presentation to play on its own, you’ll want to decide on the timings for your slides. 

This allows you to display each slide for a specific amount of time before advancing to the next slide, and it's especially important if you use effects on your slides.

To set timings, go to the Slide Show tab and check the box for Use Timings in the Set Up section.

Slide timings

With slide timings, you rehearse and record the timings for all slides. Simply move through the slideshow at your desired pace (we'd recommend reading the slides out loud as if you were a new viewer), use the control to advance to each effect and slide, and save the recorded timings when you finish.

1. Go to the Slide Show tab and select Rehearse Timings.

2. When the slideshow show begins, stay on the first slide for the amount of time you want and click the Next arrow in the Rehearsal toolbar to advance.

3. If necessary, you can use the Rehearsal toolbar to Pause, Play, or Repeat the recording as it progresses.

4. At the end of the presentation, press Esc (Escape key) and you’ll see a message letting you know the total duration of the slideshow. To save the recorded timings, click Yes.

You can review the timing for each slide by going to the View tab and choosing Slide Sorter. The timings will show up at the bottom right of each slide preview.

Now when you set up your presentation to play automatically, your slides advance according to the timings you recorded.

Slide transitions

Another way to automatically choose the slide advance timings is using the Transitions tab. If you use slide transitions to enhance the appearance of your presentation, this is a good option.

(However, you can also None for the transition if you want to advance the slides without effects.)

1. Select your first slide and go to the Transitions tab.
2. Optionally choose an effect in the Transition to This Slide box and set the Duration for the transition to the right. You can enter a number in seconds or use the arrows to move up or down in small increments.

3. In the Advance Slide group, uncheck the box for On Mouse Click and check the box for After. Then, enter the seconds for advancing to the next slide to the right.

4. Repeat these steps for each slide in the presentation or choose Apply to All.

When you set up your presentation to play automatically, you’ll see your slides advance for the “After” time you entered.

Note: Recording Slide Timings overrides the Slide Transition “After” settings. If you want to use both, record the timings first and then fine-tune the “After” timing for the selected slides.

Make PowerPoint play automatically

Once your slide timings are in place, it's easy to set up your PowerPoint presentation to run automatically.

Tip: New product, new company? Look at these helpful productivity apps for startups.

Open your slideshow in PowerPoint on Windows or Mac and follow these steps to set up automatic play.

1. Go to the Slide Show tab and select Set Up Slide Show.

2. In the pop-up window, mark Browsed at a kiosk in the Show type section. This automatically loops the slideshow continuously until you press the Esc key.

3. Adjust any remaining settings for the presentation:
   • Show options: Check the boxes for those settings you want to use. Note that the Loop setting is marked by default for this Show Type.
   • Show slides: Choose all slides, specific slides, or a custom slide show.
   • Advance slides: Using Timings is selected by default when you check the box described earlier and works with those timings you set.
   • Multiple monitors: Choose the Slide Show Monitor and Resolution (Windows).
4. Click OK when you are done choosing your slideshow settings.

Edit slides using Plus AI

When you create a self-running presentation, you have to be sure that your slides can speak for themselves. This might require you to adjust the text for clarity or shorten lengthy paragraphs or sentences. Luckily, Plus AI can help you make these types of changes effortlessly.

If you are looking at AI presentation makers to speed up your presentation workflow, check out Plus AI. Plus is an add-on that uses AI to write content, format slides, and more. Once you create or edit a presentation with Plus AI, you can edit it like a regular PowerPoint presentation and set up autoplay as described above.

Along with rewriting slide content, you can use Plus AI to reformat slides with different layouts and create custom designs that you can reuse for future presentations. If you need help getting a first draft, you can create slide decks with attractive templates, custom instructions, and even PDF uploads.

Conclusion

When you can’t be there to walk your audience through your slides, set it up to play automatically.