Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Storyboarding and Presentation Writing (33-slide PowerPoint presentation). You may have heard that management consultants spend the majority of their time cranking out PowerPoint slides. There is much truth to do this--and for good reason. A PowerPoint presentation is not only a great communication tool, it is also the form of most consulting deliverables--i.e. the [read more]
Tips from a Consultant: Some Not-so-Obvious PowerPoint Shortcuts
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Creating PowerPoint slides can be a very time consuming process. When I first started working in consulting, some slides would take me several hours to create. Hundreds of slides later, I can produce the same quality and complexity of slides in a matter of minutes.
How do we become much more productive? Partly, it’s just from knowing your shortcuts. In this article, I’ve compiled a short list of “not-so-obvious” PowerPoint shortcuts. These are also very useful shortcuts–ones that I find myself using the most often.
Font Shortcuts
| Ctrl + [ Ctrl + ] |
Decrease font size Increase font size |
| Ctrl + Shift + G | Jump to the “Font Face” dropdown menu |
| Ctrl + Shift + H | Jump to the “Font Size” dropdown menu |
| Shift + F3 | Toggle among various capitalization formats: all lower case, capitalize first letters of words, all upper case |
| Ctrl + Alt + right arrow [->] Ctrl + Alt + left arrow [<-] |
Increase indent of a bullet by one level Decrease indent of a bullet by one level |
AutoShape/Object Shortcuts
| Ctrl + arrow key | Moves objects pixel by pixel (invaluable for positioning objects to the exact pixel you need) |
| Shift + while changing size of an object | Maintains ratio of dimensions (e.g. if your AutoShape is a square, holding down the “Shift” key while resizing will keep the shape as a square–and not a rectangle) |
| PowerPoint 2003 Ctrl + Shift + G Ctrl + Shift + H |
PowerPoint 2003 Group objects together Ungroup objects |
| PowerPoint 2007+ Ctrl + G Ctrl + Shift + G |
PowerPoint 2007+ Group objects together Ungroup objects |
| Ctrl + click and move object with cursor | Creates duplicate copy of the object |
Use a shortcut that’s missing from our list? Please share in the comments section below.
Speed Things Up through Automation
If you use PowerPoint a lot, take a look at our free PowerPoint plugin, Flevy Tools. Flevy Tools allows you to quickly create common business diagrams, such as Harvey/Booz Ball diagrams, Gantt charts, and Step Box charts. It’s been compared to similar plugins developed in-house at top-tier consulting firms and said to be better.
If you use PowerPoint a lot, take a look at our free PowerPoint plugin, Flevy Tools. Flevy Tools allows you to quickly create common business diagrams, such as Harvey/Booz Ball diagrams, Gantt charts, and Step Box charts. It’s been compared to similar plugins developed in-house at top-tier consulting firms and said to be better.
Of course, another huge driver to increased productivity is just having a large collection of slides that can be re-positioned and reused.
You can find tons of of customizable PowerPoint templates, diagrams, and slides here on Flevy. Here are some specific PowerPoint templates and collections to get you started:
39-slide PowerPoint presentation
Clarity is critical in business communication of all kinds, yet difficult to achieve.
To add insult, clarity is necessary, but not sufficient.
Powerful professional communication must also deliver an insightful message, while often prepared in collaboration with others and under great [read more]
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28-slide PowerPoint presentation
This document teaches the basics of developing an effective business presentation. It covers methodologies widely practiced by top management consulting firms, such as McKinsey, Bain, and BCG. This document is divided into 3 sections:
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About David Tang
David Tang is an entrepreneur and management consultant. His current focus is Flevy, the marketplace for business best practices (e.g. frameworks & methodologies, presentation templates, financial models). Prior to Flevy, David worked as a management consultant for 8 years. His consulting experience spans corporate strategy, marketing, operations, change management, and IT; both domestic and international (EMEA + APAC). Industries served include Media & Entertainment, Telecommunications, Consumer Products/Retail, High-Tech, Life Sciences, and Business Services. You can connect with David here on LinkedIn.
