Presenter View shows your notes on your screen while the audience sees
only the slides - this guide covers it in PowerPoint and Google Slides,
on two screens or one, plus the fixes for screen-sharing and multiple
presenters.
The same notes, on every
screen you give them to - in sync.
The native ways below work - but they get fiddly on one screen, leak
your notes the moment you screen-share, and can't give multiple
presenters their own notes.
PowerPoint Presenter View
With two screens (a projector or second monitor):
On the Slide Show tab, check Use Presenter View.
Set your displays to Extend (not Duplicate) in your system display settings - Presenter View needs two separate displays.
Click From Beginning. Your notes and next-slide preview appear on your screen; the audience sees only the slide.
Notes on the wrong screen? In Presenter View, open Display Settings and choose Swap Presenter View and Slide Show.
With one screen: start the slideshow, move your mouse to the slide, click the three dots (More slideshow options) in the lower-left, and choose Show Presenter View. Or jump straight in with Alt+F5 (Windows) or Option+Enter (Mac).
00:04:32Presenter View
···Slide 2 of 12‹›
Next slide
Notes
PowerPoint Presenter View - notes and next-slide preview on the presenter screen
Google Slides presenter view
Open your presentation. If you don't see your notes while editing, turn them on with View → Show speaker notes.
In the top-right corner, click the arrow next to Slideshow and choose Presenter view.
Your notes open in a separate window with a timer and a next-slide preview. The audience sees only the current slide.
Presenter view04:32
‹Slide 2 of 12›
Next
Speaker notes
Presenter view opens your notes in a separate window - the audience still sees only the slide.
The two-monitor setup
In the room, this is the classic setup: connect your laptop to the
projector or a second monitor, set your displays to Extend
(not Duplicate), and start Presenter View. Your notes stay on your laptop
while the big screen shows only the slides.
Extend, not Duplicate
Your notes stay on the laptop - the big screen gets only the slide.
What if you only have one screen?
Presenter View was built for two screens, but you can still use it on one.
In PowerPoint, use the three-dots Show Presenter View (or
Alt+F5) to run it on your single screen. If you need to
keep other things visible too, run the slides in a window instead:
Slide Show → Set Up Slide Show → Browsed by an
individual (window), then start the show - now the slides sit in
a resizable window you can place beside your notes.
Faster with NextSlide: open your notes link on your phone, and your one screen only ever needs to show the slides - nothing to window-juggle.
What if you're presenting online or screen-sharing?
This is where it gets awkward: meeting apps share a whole screen or a
single window, so sharing your screen leaks your notes. The reliable fix:
Start the slideshow and switch to Presenter View.
In your meeting app, choose Share → Window and pick the Slide Show window - not the Presenter View window.
Your audience sees only the slides; your notes stay on your side.
Share → Window
Slide Show Share this
Presenter View Not this
Pick the Slide Show window - your notes stay in Presenter View, on your side only.
This works in Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet. It does
not work in Webex, which shares every
window of an app at once. In Teams you can also use PowerPoint
Live; in Google Meet, present a tab and click the speaker-notes
button in the Slides controls.
Easier with NextSlide + Zoom (or Teams and Meet): your notes live on a second device, so there's no wrong-window risk - you share just the slides, and the notes were never on the shared screen.
What if there are multiple presenters?
Native Presenter View is one screen, one presenter, one machine. The
moment you hand off to a co-presenter - or someone's presenting remotely -
there's no built-in way for each person to see the notes on their own
device. That's the case native tools just don't cover.
This is where NextSlide shines: because the notes are just a link, every presenter opens their own on their own device, all in sync.
The simplest way: put your notes on a second device
With NextSlide, your presentation is hosted online, so your speaker notes
get their own link. The mechanics are exactly this simple:
On the presenting machine, open the slides full screen - and
screen-share or project that. It's the only thing your audience ever
sees.
On another device - your phone, a tablet, or even a second browser
tab - open your notes link. Your notes and the current slide stay in
sync with the live presentation.
Advance from either device: arrow keys on the presenting machine, or
the big buttons on your phone. Every screen follows, and your notes
move with you.
No second monitor, no window-sharing trick, and it keeps working while
you screen-share. Because it's link-based, every presenter can open
their own notes on their own device, all in sync. One screen is plenty.
Machine 1 - the slides, full screen. This is all you share or project.
Trail Forward: FY2026 Growth Review6/16
Notes −+
$4.1M to $18.2M in six years - a 35% compound rate, no outside
capital.
Device 2 - your notes, full screen, in sync.
6/16
‹›
Anywhere - and you still drive it all from your phone.
Yes. In PowerPoint, start the slideshow and choose Show Presenter View from the three-dots menu (or press Alt+F5). In Google Slides, open Presenter view from the Slideshow dropdown and your notes open in a separate window. You can also keep your notes on a second device with NextSlide, so one screen is all you need.
Can I see my notes while presenting on Zoom?
Yes, but not by sharing your whole screen. Start the slideshow, switch to Presenter View, then in Zoom share the Slide Show window - not the Presenter View window. Your audience sees the slides while you keep your notes. Or open your notes on a second device so there is nothing to hide.
Can I see speaker notes in Google Slides while presenting?
Yes. Click the arrow next to Slideshow in the top-right corner and choose Presenter view. Your notes open in a window only you can see, with a timer and a preview of the next slide.
Can each presenter see their own notes?
Not with native Presenter View - it is built for one presenter on one machine. A link-based tool like NextSlide gives every presenter their own notes on their own device, in sync.
Keep your notes on your phone, your slides on the screen
Upload your presentation, open the notes link on any device, and present - free to start.
