• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

AppleToolBox

Tools and Fixes for Mac, iPad, iPhone & iPod

Search posts

  • About
  • Contact

CONNECT WITH US

CATEGORIES

  • iPhone
  • iPad
  • Mac/MacBook
  • Apple Watch
  • Reviews
  • Mac
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Apple Services
  • AirPods

SITE

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Advertise

Search posts

You are here: Home / Mac / Save your Keynote presentation so it automatically opens as a slideshow

Save your Keynote presentation so it automatically opens as a slideshow

By Dan Helyer 1 comment Last updated October 17, 2019

You don’t get a second chance at a first impression. So if you’re putting on an important presentation, and it needs to go well, you should save your Keynote document so it opens as a slideshow automatically.

You won’t need to fumble around for the play button, letting the audience steal a glance at future slides. Just open the file and start presenting.

Related:

  • How to open a Keynote file in Powerpoint on your PC
  • Extract files or objects from a Keynote presentation, how-to
  • How do I open Mac’s .pages file format on Microsoft Windows?

Contents

  • How to make your Keynote presentation play automatically
  • How to create a self-playing Keynote slideshow on your iPad

How to make your Keynote presentation play automatically

When you’ve finished editing your Keynote, save it to automatically play upon opening. If you do this, the next time you open the file it immediately launches the slideshow ready for you to start the presentation.

  1. Open your presentation in Keynote.
  2. In the top-right of the screen, click Document.
    Document sidebar button in Keynote
  3. Under Slideshow Settings, turn on Automatically play upon open.
  4. You can also choose to loop your slideshow or have it reset to the first slide after an idle period.
    Automatically play upon open button in Keynote document settings
  5. Under Presentation Type, choose how you want to change slides:
    1. Normal: Changes to the next slide when you click or press the spacebar.
    2. Links: Slides only change when the viewer clicks a link.
    3. Self-Playing: Automatically plays slides based on custom timings.
  6. Finally, save your presentation to ensure these changes take effect.
Keynote presentation in edit mode
You can still make changes to the presentation if you need to.

The next time you open your Keynote presentation, it’ll automatically open as a slideshow based on the settings you chose.

Don’t worry about making future edits, you can press Escape at any time to leave the slideshow and return to Keynote’s normal view.

How to create a self-playing Keynote slideshow on your iPad

Unfortunately, you can’t automatically open a Keynote file in slideshow mode on your iPad or iPhone. However, you can still save it to self-play the slides and loop around once started.

  1. Open your presentation in Keynote on your iPad.
  2. In the top-right of the screen, click the More (…) button.
  3. Tap Settings > Presentation Type.
  4. Choose to automatically Loop, Restart, or Self-Play slides.
Keynote Self-Playing Settings on iPadOS
There’s no need to save your Keynote after making changes on the iPad.

Hopefully that adds an extra level of polish to your presentations. But don’t forget to prepare for all scenarios; find out how to open your Keynote file on a Windows PC as well. Now get out there and break a leg!

Dan Helyer( Senior Writer )

Dan writes tutorials and troubleshooting guides to help people make the most of their technology. Before becoming a writer, he earned a BSc in Sound Technology, supervised repairs at an Apple Store, and even taught English in China.

Related Posts:

  • How to Open Word and PDF Files on Your iPad or iPhone
    How to Open Word and PDF Files on Your iPad or iPhone
  • How To Scan Documents On iPhone And iPad
    How To Scan Documents On iPhone And iPad
  • 5 Easy Tips To Get Going with the New Features in Pages
    5 Easy Tips To Get Going with the New Features in Pages
  • iOS 13 or iPadOS problems and how to fix them - Troubleshooting Guide
    iOS 13 or iPadOS problems and how to fix them -…
  • The Best Automator Routines For Mac
    The Best Automator Routines For Mac
  • External hard drive not working with iPad or iPhone using iPadOS or iOS 13?
    External hard drive not working with iPad or iPhone using…
  • How to manage all of your Cloud File Services from your iPad
    How to manage all of your Cloud File Services from your iPad
  • AirPods Pro---The Complete Guide
    AirPods Pro---The Complete Guide
  • How To Start Using Regex With The Shortcuts App
    How To Start Using Regex With The Shortcuts App

Reader Interactions

Write a Comment Cancel reply

Show 1 Comments

  1. Anthony says

    December 31, 2020 at 9:32 AM

    Even though a Keynote file is saved to open as a slide show, it opens in edit mode for a fraction of a second first – enough for some people to see things I would rather they didn’t. Is there any way to stop this?

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • How to Turn Websites Into Desktop Apps on macOS
  • How to Play Background Sounds on macOS Ventura
  • Mac Randomly Wakes from Sleep, How-to Fix
  • How to Change Screen Orientation on Apple Watch
  • How to Link Focus on Lock Screen With iOS 16
  • How to Use Apple Passkey

Connect with us

Footer

ABOUT

  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use

DEVICES

  • iPhone
  • Mac & MacBook
  • Apple Watch
  • iPad
  • AirPods
  • Apple TV
  • iPod Touch

GUIDES

  • iOS 13 & iPadOS
  • Apple ID
  • iCloud
  • App Store
  • iTunes
  • FaceTime
  • iMessage
  • Siri
  • Books and iBooks
  • Game Center
  • AirPlay

CONNECT

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • FeedBurner
  • YouTube

© Copyright 2010-2022 AppleToolBox · All Rights Reserved

This site and its content are in no way affiliated or endorsed by Apple, Inc. · Reproduction without explicit permission is prohibited