Powerpoint: insert invisible notes

With invisible notes, you can give a free PowerPoint presentation and still have a support ready should you ever get stuck. This practical tip explains how to create such hidden notes.

Create invisible notes in a PowerPoint presentation

Note: This tip refers to PowerPoint 2010 on Windows 7.

1. Open your presentation in PowerPoint.
2. Click on the "View" tab and underneath the "Notes page" option.
3. A new window is opening up. You can now enter your notes in the field below.
4. Finally, go back to the "View" tab and select the "Normal" item.
5. Your notes are then docked under the slide.

This is how you see the notes during the presentation

So that you can see the notes yourself and they are only invisible to your viewers, you have to adjust the view in PowerPoint accordingly.

1. To do this, connect the projector to your laptop and select "Expand display".
2. Open Powerpoint and click on "Slide Show" -> "Set Up Slide Show".
3. Select the "Display on screen 2" item at the bottom of "Multiple screens" and click on "Presentation view".
4. As soon as you start the presentation, your viewers will see the lecture in full size while you will see a smaller section with the notes.

Another practical tip tells you how to delete all slide notes.