How to Pause and Resume a PowerPoint Slide Show Mid-Presentation

During a live presentation, you often need to stop the slide show to answer a question, discuss a topic, or handle an interruption. Pressing Escape or switching windows can break the flow and show your desktop to the audience. PowerPoint includes built-in tools to pause the slide show without exiting full-screen mode. This article explains the keyboard shortcuts and on-screen controls that let you pause and resume a slide show smoothly.

How PowerPoint Pause Controls Work in Slide Show Mode

When you press B or W during a slide show, PowerPoint does not stop the presentation. It simply hides the visible slide and shows a black or white screen. The slide show engine continues to run in the background. This design ensures that when you resume, the slide returns instantly without reloading or flickering. The audience sees a blank screen, not your desktop, slide sorter view, or presenter tools.

The same keyboard shortcuts work in both Slide Show view and Presenter View. No special setup or configuration is required before the presentation. The feature has been present in PowerPoint since version 2007 and works identically in PowerPoint for Microsoft 365, PowerPoint 2021, PowerPoint 2019, and PowerPoint 2016 on Windows and Mac.

The black screen pause is the most common choice because it creates a clean break. The white screen pause is useful when you need to project a bright background for writing notes on a whiteboard or when the room lighting is dim and a black screen feels too abrupt.

Steps to Pause and Resume a PowerPoint Slide Show

You can pause a slide show using keyboard shortcuts or the on-screen toolbar. Both methods work in full-screen Slide Show mode and in Presenter View. Follow the steps below for each method.

Method 1: Pause With the Black Screen Shortcut

1. Start the slide show
   Press F5 to start the presentation from the first slide, or press Shift+F5 to start from the current slide.
2. Press the B key on your keyboard
   This turns the screen black immediately. The audience sees a solid black screen. The current slide is hidden but not closed.
3. Resume the slide show
   Press the B key again, or press any arrow key, Spacebar, Enter, or click the mouse. PowerPoint returns to the exact slide that was visible when you paused.

Method 2: Pause With the White Screen Shortcut

1. Start the slide show
   Use F5 or Shift+F5 to begin the presentation.
2. Press the W key on your keyboard
   The screen turns white. This works the same way as the black screen but shows a blank white surface.
3. Resume the slide show
   Press the W key again, or press any arrow key, Spacebar, Enter, or click the mouse. The presentation resumes from the paused slide.

Method 3: Pause Using the On-Screen Toolbar

1. Start the slide show
   Press F5 to begin.
2. Move the mouse to show the toolbar
   In the lower-left corner of the screen, a small toolbar appears with navigation buttons.
3. Click the pen or menu icon
   The icon looks like a pen or a three-dot menu, depending on your PowerPoint version. A pop-up menu appears.
4. Select Screen > Black Screen or White Screen
   Click Screen, then choose Black Screen or White Screen. The display changes immediately.
5. Resume the slide show
   Click the same menu item again, or press B, W, Spacebar, or click the mouse. The slide show continues.

Method 4: Pause in Presenter View

1. Enable Presenter View
   Check the box for Use Presenter View in the Slide Show tab of the ribbon. Start the slide show with F5.
2. Click the Pause icon on the presenter screen
   On the secondary monitor or your laptop screen, the presenter tools show a pause button with two vertical bars. Click it. The audience screen turns black.
3. Resume from the same button
   Click the play icon that replaces the pause button. The audience screen returns to the paused slide.

Common Issues When Pausing a Slide Show

Pressing B or W Does Nothing During the Slide Show

This usually happens when another application, such as a remote desktop client or a screen recorder, intercepts keyboard shortcuts. Close any overlay programs that capture keystrokes. If you use a presentation remote, try the keyboard directly. Some third-party remotes do not pass the B or W keystrokes to PowerPoint.

The Screen Goes Black but the Audience Sees the Desktop

This occurs when you are not in true full-screen Slide Show mode. If you started the presentation in Reading view or Windowed Slide Show mode, the B key minimizes the window instead of blacking the screen. Press Alt+F5 to enter full-screen Slide Show mode, then use B or W. Also check your display settings in Slide Show > Set Up Slide Show and ensure Browsed by an individual (window) is not selected.

The Slide Show Exits Instead of Pausing

If pressing B or W exits the slide show, another program has remapped those keys. Test with a different keyboard. On some laptops, the function key Fn must be pressed simultaneously. For example, on a Dell laptop, press Fn+B if the B key is mapped to a brightness control.

Black Screen vs White Screen vs Hide Slide: Key Differences

Item	Black Screen (B key)	White Screen (W key)	Hide Slide (right-click)
Purpose	Pause and hide content	Pause with bright background	Skip a slide entirely during a show
Audience sees	Solid black	Solid white	Next visible slide
Resume method	Press B, W, Spacebar, or click	Press W, B, Spacebar, or click	Right-click > Go to Slide > select the hidden slide
Slide content	Preserved in memory	Preserved in memory	Still exists but skipped automatically

The black screen and white screen pauses are temporary. The Hide Slide feature permanently removes a slide from the normal show order until you unhide it in Normal view. Use B or W for live interruptions. Use Hide Slide for slides you want to keep in the file but never show during a timed run.

You can now pause your slide show without leaving full-screen mode using B for black or W for white. Resume by pressing the same key or clicking the mouse. For presenters using dual monitors, the Presenter View pause button offers a visual alternative. To extend this control, consider adding a custom toolbar button or using a presentation remote that supports the B key passthrough.