Home·Keyboard shortcuts

PowerPoint · Show or hide the guides

View

Windows · Linux

Alt+F9

Mac

Ctrl+Cmd+Option+G

Turns the alignment guides on and off; the Mac wants three modifiers at once, and the lines appear neither in print nor in the show.

Group
View
Keys held
2

Half of PowerPoint's shortcuts only listen while the show is running — blanking the screen with B, the laser on Ctrl+L — and in edit view those same keys do something else entirely.

Reading the key names

  • Keys joined by + are pressed together: Ctrl+Shift+P means hold Ctrl and Shift, then P.
  • On a Mac, Cmd is ⌘, Option is ⌥ (labelled Alt on some keyboards), Control is ⌃ and Shift is ⇧.
  • Windows Ctrl usually becomes Cmd on a Mac, but not always — this reference lists both combinations separately.
  • With a Korean, Japanese or Chinese input method active, shortcuts built on letter keys may not fire. Switch to Latin input and try again.
  • When a combination does nothing, another program has often claimed it as a global shortcut first.

Common questions

Q. What is the shortcut for Show or hide the guides in PowerPoint?

Turns the alignment guides on and off; the Mac wants three modifiers at once, and the lines appear neither in print nor in the show. It is Alt+F9 on Windows and Ctrl+Cmd+Option+G on a Mac.

Q. Is it the same on Windows and Mac?

No — Alt+F9 on Windows, Ctrl+Cmd+Option+G on a Mac.

Q. How many keys is that?

2 pressed together. The combination sits under View in PowerPoint.

Shortcuts nearby