PowerPoint presentations are a staple in meetings, lectures, and conferences. While your slides capture the audience’s attention visually, your speaker notes are your personal script, filled with key points, reminders, and extra details that enhance your delivery. Knowing How To Print Powerpoint Notes is essential for both presenters who want a hard copy for reference and for audience members seeking a more detailed takeaway. This guide will walk you through the different methods to effectively print your PowerPoint notes, ensuring you have everything you need for a successful presentation or a helpful handout.
Printing Notes Pages with Slide Thumbnails
This is the simplest and most direct method to print your notes. It includes a thumbnail of the slide alongside your corresponding speaker notes, providing visual context.
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Access the Print Menu: Begin by clicking the File tab in the PowerPoint ribbon, located in the top left corner of the application window. From the dropdown menu, select Print. This will take you to the print settings interface.
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Choose Your Printer: Under the Printer section, you’ll see a dropdown menu displaying available printers. Select the printer you wish to use to print your notes. Ensure the printer is properly connected and ready to print.
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Configure Print Layout to Notes Pages: This is the crucial step. In the Settings section, you’ll typically see “Full Page Slides” as the default option. Click on the dropdown arrow next to “Full Page Slides.” Under the Print Layout section within this dropdown, you will find several options. Select Notes Pages. This setting tells PowerPoint to format each printed page with a slide thumbnail at the top and the speaker notes beneath it.
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Initiate Printing: Once you’ve selected “Notes Pages,” review your settings to ensure everything is correct (printer, number of copies, etc.). Finally, click the Print button to start printing your PowerPoint notes with slide thumbnails.
Printing notes pages layout selected in PowerPoint print settings
Important Note: With this method, each printed page will contain only one slide thumbnail and its associated notes. If you have lengthy notes, they might span across multiple lines below the slide.
Printing Notes Pages Without Slide Thumbnails
Sometimes, you might prefer to print only the text of your speaker notes without the slide thumbnails. This can be useful if you want to save ink, paper, or if the audience is already familiar with the slides. Removing thumbnails requires a manual step within PowerPoint’s Notes Page view.
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Switch to Notes Page View: Navigate to the View tab on the PowerPoint ribbon. In the Presentation Views group, click on Notes Page. This will open a view where you see each slide with its notes below, formatted as they would appear on printed notes pages.
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Delete Slide Thumbnails: In Notes Page view, click on the slide thumbnail on each page you want to modify. Once selected, the thumbnail will be outlined. Press the Delete key on your keyboard to remove the thumbnail. Repeat this process for each slide from which you want to remove the thumbnail. Remember, this action only deletes the thumbnail from the notes page view for printing; it does not delete the actual slides from your presentation.
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Access the Print Menu and Select Notes Pages: After removing the desired thumbnails, follow steps 1-3 from the “Printing Notes Pages with Slide Thumbnails” section above. Go to File > Print, choose your printer, and under Settings, select Notes Pages from the “Full Page Slides” dropdown.
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Print Your Notes: Click the Print button to print your notes pages. This time, the printed output will exclude the slide thumbnails for the pages where you deleted them in Notes Page view, showing only the speaker notes.
Exporting Speaker Notes to Word for Enhanced Printing Options
For more advanced control over the formatting and layout of your printed notes, exporting them to Microsoft Word is an excellent option. This allows you to leverage Word’s powerful editing and printing capabilities.
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Navigate to the Export Feature: With your presentation open, click on the File tab again. This time, select Export from the menu.
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Choose Create Handouts: In the Export panel, you will see several options. Select Create Handouts. This option is specifically designed to export your presentation content to Word in various handout formats.
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Open the “Send to Microsoft Word” Dialog: Click the Create Handouts button within the “Create Handouts” panel. This will open the Send to Microsoft Word dialog box.
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Select a Page Layout Option: In the Send to Microsoft Word dialog box, you’ll be presented with different layout choices for your exported notes. The most relevant options for printing notes are:
- Notes next to slides: This layout places a smaller version of each slide alongside the corresponding notes.
- Notes below slides: This option puts the slide thumbnail at the top and the notes directly underneath, similar to the “Notes Pages” print layout in PowerPoint, but now editable in Word.
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Choose the Paste Option and Export: At the bottom of the dialog box, ensure the Paste option is selected (this is usually the default and recommended option for creating a live link, though “Paste link” might also be available depending on your Word and PowerPoint versions). Click OK. PowerPoint will then export your presentation data and open a new Word document containing your slides and notes according to the layout you selected.
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Print from Word: Once your notes are in Word, you have full control over formatting. You can edit the notes, adjust fonts, change the layout further, and then use Word’s print function (File > Print in Word) to print your notes. Word offers more granular print settings, allowing you to customize margins, headers, footers, and more, giving you ultimate flexibility in how your notes are printed.
By mastering these methods, you can confidently print your PowerPoint notes in the format that best suits your needs, whether for personal preparation or for distributing valuable handouts to your audience. Printing notes is a simple yet powerful way to enhance the effectiveness of your presentations and ensure your key messages are clearly conveyed and remembered.
