Speaker notes are the text only you see during your presentation

Speaker notes in PowerPoint are hidden text that appears on your screen while you present, but your audience never sees them. They sit below each slide and let you write reminders, talking points, statistics, or anything else you need to reference without reading directly from the slide itself.

You add speaker notes in the Notes section at the bottom of the slide editor, or you can switch to Notes Page view for a larger writing area. The notes stay with each individual slide, so you can have different notes for every slide in your deck.

Key Takeaways

  • Speaker notes appear only on your screen during presentation mode, never on the projector or audience display.
  • You can add notes in the Notes pane at the bottom of the normal editing view, or switch to Notes Page view for more space to write.
  • Each slide holds its own separate notes, so you can customize what you need to remember for every single slide.
  • During a presentation, you view notes on your computer screen using Presenter View, which shows your notes alongside the current slide.
  • Notes are saved as part of your PowerPoint file and travel with your presentation when you share or move it.

Adding notes in the Notes pane while editing

The fastest way to add speaker notes is to use the Notes pane that sits below your slide in the normal editing view. Click on the slide you want to add notes to, then click in the Notes area at the bottom of the screen and start typing. Your text appears immediately and stays attached to that slide.

If you do not see the Notes pane at the bottom, go to the View tab at the top of PowerPoint and click Notes. This toggles the pane on. You can resize it by dragging the divider line upward to give yourself more room if you are writing longer notes.

This method works well when you are building your presentation and want to jot down quick reminders as you go. You stay in the same view and do not have to switch screens.

Switching to Notes Page view for more writing space

If you have a lot to write for a particular slide, Notes Page view gives you a full page layout with the slide at the top and a large text area below for your notes. Go to the View tab and click Notes Page.

You will see your slide thumbnail at the top and a blank text box below it. Click in the text box and type your notes. You can format the text here — make it bold, change the font size, or add bullet points — just like you would in a regular document. When you are done with one slide, use the navigation arrows or page down to move to the next slide and add its notes.

Notes Page view is useful when you need to write detailed talking points, include sources, or organize your thoughts with multiple paragraphs. The downside is that you have to switch back to Normal view to edit your slides themselves.

Viewing your notes during a live presentation

When you start your presentation, your notes appear on your computer screen in Presenter View, but they do not show on the projector. You see the current slide, a preview of the next slide, a timer, and your speaker notes all on your monitor.

To use Presenter View, connect your computer to a projector or external display, then start your slideshow by pressing F5 (or Shift+F5 to start from the current slide). PowerPoint automatically detects the second display and sends the audience view to the projector while your notes appear on your laptop screen.

If Presenter View does not activate automatically, go to the Slide Show tab, click Set Up Show, and check the box that says Show Presenter View. This ensures your notes stay hidden from the audience.

Editing notes after you have written them

You can return to any slide and change its notes at any time. In Normal view, click the slide in the left panel, then click in the Notes pane and edit the text. In Notes Page view, navigate to the slide and edit the text box directly.

If you want to delete all notes from a slide, select all the text in the Notes pane (Ctrl+A) and press Delete. The slide itself stays intact — you are only removing the notes.

Notes are saved automatically when you save your PowerPoint file, so you do not have to do anything extra to preserve them. If you share your file with someone else, the notes travel with it unless you specifically remove them before sharing.

Printing your notes or sharing them separately

If you want a printed copy of your notes to study before presenting, go to File and click Print. In the print settings, find the dropdown that says Print Layout and select Notes Pages. This prints each slide with its notes below it on the same page.

You can also export your notes as a separate document. Go to File, click Export, and choose Create Handouts (in some versions this is under Send to Microsoft Word). This opens your notes in Word, where you can edit, format, or print them independently from your slides.

If you want to share notes with a colleague but keep them out of the main presentation file, export them to Word first, then remove the notes from your PowerPoint before sending the file to others.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my audience see my speaker notes?

No. Speaker notes appear only on your computer screen during Presenter View. The projector and audience see only the slide itself. The notes are completely hidden unless you manually share the file with someone and they open it in PowerPoint to read them.

What if I am presenting on someone else's computer?

Your notes will still be there and visible to you in Presenter View, as long as you open your PowerPoint file on that computer. Make sure you have access to a second monitor or the laptop screen while the projector shows the slides, or your notes will not be visible to you during the presentation.

Can I add notes to a presentation that already has slides?

Yes. Open the file, click any slide, and add notes in the Notes pane or switch to Notes Page view. You can add, edit, or delete notes on any slide at any time, whether the presentation is brand new or years old.

Do speaker notes take up file size?

Yes, but not much. Notes add a small amount to your file size, but the impact is minimal unless you write extremely long notes on every single slide. If file size is a concern, you can remove all notes before sharing by exporting to Word or printing to PDF.

Can I use speaker notes on a phone or tablet?

PowerPoint on mobile devices does not display speaker notes during presentation mode the way the desktop version does. If you need to present from a phone or tablet, consider printing your notes or keeping them on a separate device you can reference during your talk.