Switch Views Between Multiple Presentations in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

There will be times when you have to work with more than one presentation in PowerPoint. You can easily open two or more presentation next to each other which makes it easy to compare presentations and edit them as well. This is also helpful when you want to copy or move slides from one presentation to another. However what if you do not want to compare or copy slides? Let's imagine you have four presentations open and you can only see the one that is active. What about the other three presentations? How do you navigate to those presentations without having to close the active presentation?

In this tutorial, you will learn how to switch between multiple open presentations in PowerPoint. With this option you can easily switch in between different presentation windows, without reducing the window size.

Follow these steps to switch views between multiple presentations in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows:

1. Open multiple presentations in PowerPoint, as shown in Figure 1, below. Do note that only the last opened presentation is visible, you'll wonder where did the other presentations go?
2. 
   Figure 1: Only one of the multiple open presentations is visible

See All Presentations?

You cannot see how many presentations you have opened within PowerPoint as only the active presentation can be seen within the interface, as shown in Figure 1, above.
2. There are two ways in which you can access other open presentations. The first way works in all versions of Windows whereas the second way will only work in Windows 7, 8, and perhaps newer versions of PowerPoint:

Way 1

1. Access the View tab on the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2, below.
2. 
   Figure 2: View tab on the Ribbon
2. Within the View tab, click the Switch Windows button, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 2, above.
3. Doing so opens the Switch Windows drop-down menu, as shown in Figure 3, below.
4. 
   Figure 3: Switch Windows drop-down menu
4. This drop-down list displays all the presentations which are open. To navigate to any of these open presentations, click on the name of the presentation within this menu.

Way 2

1. If you are using Windows 7 or 8, then you have another way of accessing one particular presentation from the multiple open presentations. When your presentations are open, you will find an instance of PowerPoint on the Taskbar, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 4, below.
2. 
   Figure 4: PowerPoint instance on the Taskbar
2. Hover your cursor over the PowerPoint instance to see a preview of all open presentations, as shown in Figure 5, below. Then, click on the preview of the presentation you want to access now.
3. 
   Figure 5: Preview of all open presentations
3. Save your presentation often.