Did you know that you can temporarily hide your slides in PowerPoint during a screen presentation?
Learn the two keyboard shortcuts that allow you to display a blank screen instead of the slide during your presentation, thus avoiding distractions.

Let's say you're asked a question during your presentation that doesn't relate to your current slide. While you're addressing this question, your audience might be distracted by the slide that's still displayed.

Or perhaps you want to moderate an emerging discussion or discuss your content with participants in a workshop. To temporarily hide your PowerPoint slides during the presentation, there are shortcuts and advanced functions you can use.

White screen: Displaying a blank, white slide

Press the "W" key (for White) during your presentation to display a blank, white slide. Pressing "W" again will return you to your previous slide. Alternatively, the comma key also works to display a white screen. Pressing the comma key again will return you to your content.

Black screen: Displaying a blank, black slide

Press the "B" key (for Black) to display a blank, black slide. To undo this, press "B" again. Alternatively, the period key can also be used to display a black screen. Pressing the period key again will return you to your content.

Conclusion: Avoid distractions

This trick ensures you're always prepared for spontaneous questions from the audience and can briefly hide distracting content on your slides. You can also use this feature if, for example, you're interrupted by other attendees during a confidential presentation.

Then simply press the "B" or "W" keys and your PPT slides will be hidden during the presentation. Generally, hide your slides during longer Q&A sessions, discussions, or breaks.