How do I navigate through multiple slide shows at the same time?

The PowerShow add-in allows you to run multiple slide shows simultaneously. In many cases, you would want to navigate forward and back through all those slide shows simultaneously. While there are quite a few ways of achieving this, here are 3 methods.

Method 1: Using PowerShow SlideShow Navigator toolbar

When a PowerShow session starts, the PowerShow SlideShow Navigator gets created. The toolbar can be made visible by selecting View | Toolbars | PowerShow SlideShow Navigator menu item after starting a PowerShow session. The toolbar looks like:

It has buttons that allow you to navigate through all running slide shows at the same time.

Method 2: Using keyboard shortcuts provided by Shortcuts for PowerPoint add-in

Only one window can have keyboard input at any point of time. If you want to use the keyboard to navigate through both the slide shows simultaneously, you need to use Shortcut Manager add-in from http://officeone.mvps.org/ppsctmgr/ppsctmgr.html. The Shortcut Manager add-in allows you to define keyboard shortcuts to PowerPoint menu items and macros. The companion add-in Shortcuts for PowerPoint at http://officeone.mvps.org/ppshortcuts/ppshortcuts.html adds a lot of macros to PowerPoint and allows Shortcut Manager to define shortcuts to these additional macros.

Download and install "Shortcuts for PowerPoint" add-in as well as "Shortcut Manager". After that do the following:

1. Select Tools | Customize Shortcuts... menu item.

2. Locate and select Shortcuts for PowerPoint category.

3. Locate and select Next slide on all slide shows command.

4. Assign a keyboard combination in Assigned shortcut to command box.

5. Locate and select Previous slide on all slide shows command.

6. Assign a keyboard combination in Assigned shortcut to command box.

7. Click OK button.

Now during a PowerShow session, when you press the assigned keyboard combination, all your slide shows will navigate next or previous simultaneously.

Method 3: Make slide shows follow a "master" slide show

In this method, you elect one slide show as a "master" slide show and others as "followers". When you navigate through the master slide show, PowerShow will synchronize the follower slide shows to match the master slide show. This feature of PowerShow is called Synchronous Shows and is described in more detail at http://officeone.mvps.org/powershow/powershow_sync_shows.html.

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