Using Outline View in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

Outline view is new for PowerPoint 2013 for Windows, but wait, that's not absolutely true since you always had access to your presentation's text outline through the Slides and Outline pane on the left pane of the PowerPoint interface.

What's changed though is that you no longer need to switch tabs within the pane (as you would do in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows), now you just access the outline within a new view! 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 2013 for Windows.

Here's how you can use Outline view in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows:

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, below.
2. 
   Figure 1: Outline View button
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. Doing so opens the Outline pane on the left side of PowerPoint 2013 interface, as shown 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, the Outline pane displays a list of the slide titles and text placeholders in an outline format. You can drag the Outline pane to occupy 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 themselves? 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, below. 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 are available through right-click menus within the Outline pane, as shown in Figure 4, below. These options are explained in our Outline Pane Options PowerPoint 2013 for Windows tutorial.
5. 
   Figure 4: Outline view edit options