Use a screen reader to print presentations in PowerPoint

Use PowerPoint with your keyboard and a screen reader to print the slides, handouts, and notes pages for your presentation. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

In this topic

• Print your presentation

  • Print your presentation using default settings 
  • Print your presentation using customized settings

• Optimize printing

  • Add a new printer
  • Print to file
  • Select the slides to print
  • Print multiple slides on a page
  • Set single-sided or double-sided printing
  • Set collation
  • Change page orientation
  • Print slides in color, black and white, or grayscale

Print your presentation

You can print slides, handouts, or notes pages of your presentation using the default settings or customize the printing settings.

Print your presentation using default settings

By default, PowerPoint prints all the slides in your presentation as full page slides (one slide per page).

1. In your presentation, press Ctrl+P. The Print menu opens and PowerPoint places the focus on the Print button.
2. To print your presentation with the default settings, press Enter.

Print your presentation using customized settings

You can specify the number of copies you want, select the range of slides to print, set the page orientation, and more.

1. In your presentation, press Ctrl+P. The Print menu opens and PowerPoint places the focus on the Print button.

2. To specify the number of copies to print, press the Tab key until you hear "Copies," and then type the number of copies you want.

3. To select a printer, press the Tab key until you hear "Printer," followed by the name of the currently selected printer. Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the name of the printer you want, and then press Enter. If you don't hear the name of the printer that you want to use, you can add a new printer to the list. For instructions, refer to Add a new printer.

4. To choose your printing settings, press the Tab key until you hear "Settings," and then do one or more of the following:

   Note

   The available options depend on your printer type and model.

   • If you don't want to print all slides in your presentation, you can select the slides to print. For instructions, go to Select the slides to print.
   • To save paper, you can print several slides on one page. For instructions, go to Print multiple slides on a page.
   • You can choose to print your slides on one side of the paper only or use both sides. For instructions, go to Set single-sided or double-sided printing.
   • To specify how multiple sheets of paper are gathered and arranged, you can select if they are collated or not. For instructions, go to Set collation.
   • You can choose if the presentation is printed using landscape or portrait orientation. For instructions, go to Change page orientation.
   • If you don't want to print the slides in color, you can choose to print them in black and white or grayscale. For instructions, go to Print slides in color, black and white, or grayscale.

5. To print your presentation, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Print button," and then press Enter. 

Optimize printing

You can customize the printing settings to better suite your printing needs.

Add a new printer

1. In the Print menu, to move to focus to the Printer list, do one of the following:

   • Press the Tab key until you hear "Printer," followed by the name of the currently selected printer.
   • Press Alt+P, I.

2. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Add printer," and then press Enter. The Printers & scanners page opens, and the focus is on the Add device button.

3. Press Enter. The list of available printers is displayed. Press the Tab key or arrow keys until you hear the name of the printer you want, and then press Enter.

Print to file

If you want to quickly make a PDF copy of your presentation, you can choose to print it to file, and the copy is saved to a file folder, for example. 

1. In the Print menu, to move to focus to the Printer list, do one of the following:

   • Press the Tab key until you hear "Printer," followed by the name of the currently selected printer.
   • Press Alt+P, I.

2. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Print to file," and then press Enter.

3. Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Print button," and then press Enter. The Print to File dialog box opens. The focus is on the File name text field.

4. Type a descriptive name for the file.

5. Use the Tab key and the arrow keys to navigate to the file location you want.

6. When in the right location, press Alt+S to save and print the presentation to file.

Select the slides to print

1. In the Print menu, press Alt+P, A. You hear the currently selected option, for example, “Print all slides.”

2. Use the Up or Down arrow keys browse the list of options. The following options are available:

   • Print All Slides. Select this option to print all slides in the presentation.
   • Print Selection. Select this option to print the current selection. This option only appears if you have already selected a set of slides.
   • Print Current Slide. Select this option to print only the current slide.
   • Custom Range. Select this option to specify the slides you want to print by the slide number.
   • Print Hidden Slides. Select this option to print hidden slides. This option only appears if you have hidden slides in your presentation.

3. When on the option you want, press Enter. If you selected Custom Range, PowerPoint places the focus in the Slides text box. Type a range of slides to print, for example, 10-12 or 1,2,5.

Print multiple slides on a page

1. In the Print menu, press Alt+P, H. You hear: “Print layout,” followed by the currently selected print layout.

2. Do one of the following:

   • Use the Right or Left arrow key browse the list of print layout options. The following print layout options are available:

     • Full Page Slides. Select this option to print each slide on its own page.

     • Notes Pages. Select this option to print slide notes, either for a speaker or as handouts for your audience. This option prints one slide per page with speaker notes printed below it.

       Tip

       The other options in the Print Layout list and all of the options in the Handouts list print only slides or slide content, not speaker notes.

     • Outline. Select this option if you want to print only the text in your slides, without images.

   • Use the arrow keys to browse the available handout layouts.

3. When on the option you want to use, press Enter.

Set single-sided or double-sided printing

The option to choose between single- and double-sided printing is only available if your printer supports double-sided printing. 

1. In the Print menu, press Alt+P, D.
2. Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Enter.

Set collation

The option to specify the collating settings is available only if your printer supports collating.

1. In the Print menu, press Alt+P, C.
2. Press the Down or Up arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Enter.

Change page orientation

1. In the Print menu, press Alt+P, O.
2. Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the option you want, and then press Enter.

Print slides in color, black and white, or grayscale

You can print your whole presentation — the slides, outline, notes pages, and audience handouts — in color, grayscale, or pure black and white.

1. In the Print menu, press Alt+P, Y, 1. The menu for selecting the color mode opens.

2. Press the Down and Up arrow keys until you hear the option you want. The following options are available:

   • Color. If you choose the Color option but don’t have a color printer, the printout will be similar to, but not of the same quality as, a printout in grayscale.
   • Grayscale. If you don’t have a color printer or don’t require a color printout, choose Grayscale to print all objects on the page in shades of gray. Objects such as charts and tables will appear crisper and cleaner than if you choose the Color option on a noncolor printer.
   • Pure Black and White. This option prints slides in black and white without any shades of gray. As a result, some objects in the slide design theme, such as embossing and drop shadows, will not print. Text will print as black even if you choose gray as the original color of the text.

See also

Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint

Use a screen reader to insert and edit pictures and tables in PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations

Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver PowerPoint presentations

Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate PowerPoint

Use PowerPoint for the web with your keyboard and a screen reader to print your slides. We have tested it with Narrator in Microsoft Edge and JAWS and NVDA in Chrome, but it might work with other screen readers and web browsers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

Print a presentation

You can print your slides with or without notes or as handouts.

1. In your presentation, do one of the following:

   • To print full page slides, one slide per page, press Alt+Windows logo key, F, P, and R.

   • To print the slides with the notes pages, press Alt+Windows logo key, F, P, and N.

   • To print your slides as handouts, press Alt+Windows logo key, F, P, and H.

     Tip

     Instead of using the keyboard shortcuts listed above, you can press Alt+Windows logo key, F, P to open the Print menu. To move to focus to menu, press the Tab key once. To navigate to the option you want, press the Down or Up arrow key, and then press Enter to select.

2. You hear: "Microsoft PowerPoint, all done, your file is ready to print." The focus is on the Open PDF button. Press Enter. The Print dialog box opens.

3. You can now select the printer, number of copies, page layout, the range to print, and more. To move through the options in the dialog box, press the Tab key. To expand option menus, press Alt+Down arrow key. To make a selection, press Enter.

4. To print, press the Tab key until you hear "Print button," and then press Enter.

See also

Use a screen reader to work with slides in PowerPoint

Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations

Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver PowerPoint presentations

Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate PowerPoint