Using Outline View in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows

The Outline view in PowerPoint 2016 provides access to your presentation's text outline through the alternating Slides and Outline panes on the left side of the PowerPoint interface. The Outline view displays all the text contained within the title and text placeholders of your slides, and is one of the ten views in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows.

Here's a walkthrough of Outline view:

1. First open a presentation which has at least a few slides populated with text. Then access the View tab of the Ribbon and click the Outline View button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1.
2. 
   Figure 1: Outline button within Presentation Views group
3. You can use the Ctrl + Shift + Tab shortcut key to switch between Normal view and Outline view.


PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts

Do you want more keyboard shortcuts?

Explore our PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts and Sequences Ebook that is updated for all PowerPoint versions.

2. This opens the Outline pane on the left side of PowerPoint 2016 interface (highlighted in red within Figure 2, below). Note that this replaces the Slides pane that shows up in Normal view. As you can see in Figure 2, below, the Outline pane displays a list of the slide titles and text placeholders in an outline format. You can drag the Outline pane to resize it so that it occupies a larger part of the onscreen area.
3. 
   Figure 2: Outline pane within PowerPoint interface

No Text in the Outline Pane?

If you cannot see any text in the outline pane for some or all slides, then those slides may have no slide titles or even text placeholders. Explore our Text Placeholders vs. Text Boxes in PowerPoint tutorials to understand more.

Do you see slide titles in the Outline pane, but not on the slides? Look at our Hiding Slide Titles in PowerPoint page to know more.
3. Within the Outline pane, you can see the title and text content of the slides, as shown in Figure 3. Also, you can use the scroll bar to move and navigate up and down the Outline pane, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3.
4. 
   Figure 3: Scroll bar within Outline pane
4. Also, many Outline options can be accessed from the right-click menu within the Outline pane, as shown in Figure 4. These options are explained in our Outline Pane Options PowerPoint 2016 tutorial.
5. 
   Figure 4: Outline view edit options