Save your Keynote presentation so it automatically opens as a slideshow

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?

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.
   
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.
   
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.

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.

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

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.