Printing your PowerPoint presentations can be an important part of sharing your work with others. Whether you need to print slides, notes, or handouts for your audience, PowerPoint 2013 provides several printing options to fit your needs.
Accessing the Print Panel
To access the print settings in PowerPoint 2013, go to the File tab and click Print:
Print Panel
Here you will find options to:
- Select the printer
- Choose number of copies
- Adjust print settings
- Preview your printout
Key Printing Options
PowerPoint 2013 offers various printing layouts and settings:
Print All Slides vs Print Range
- All Slides: Prints every slide in your presentation.
- Custom Range: Prints a specific set of slides you define.
- To print individual slides, separate slide numbers with commas (e.g. 1,3,5)
- To print a range, use a hyphen (e.g. 5-12 prints slides 5 through 12)
Print Layout
Common print layout options:
- Full Page Slides: Each slide prints full page vertically.
- Notes Pages: Prints slides with speaker notes below each slide.
- Outline View: Prints an outline of slide text and titles.
- Handouts: Prints slides in horizontal rows for handouts. Choose how many slides per page.
Additional Print Settings
Other helpful print settings in PowerPoint 2013:
- Collated vs Uncollated: Determines print order of multi-page documents.
- Print in Color vs Grayscale: Saves ink if printing black and white.
- One Sided vs Two Sided: Prints on single or both sides of paper.
- Portrait vs Landscape: Changes slide orientation on the printed page.
Printing Slides vs Notes vs Handouts
The type of printout you need depends on your purpose:
Slides
Print slides as Full Page Slides when you want recipients to view your presentation as shown in slideshow mode. This preserves slide formatting and graphics.
Notes
Notes Pages print slides with your speaker notes below each slide. Print these when you will be presenting and want to reference detailed notes for each slide.
Handouts
Handouts print slides specifically for your audience. Often 3-6 slides per page with lines for notes. Handouts provide an outline or summary of key information you will present.
Customizing Printouts
Further customize your PowerPoint 2013 printouts:
Headers, Footers and Page Numbering
Add consistent headers, footers and page numbers to printed slides, notes or handouts for a polished, professional look.
Background Graphics
If desired, exclude background graphics from printed handouts and notes under Print Settings. This prevents grayscale backgrounds from using excess ink.
Slide Thumbnails
When printing notes, optionally exclude slide thumbnails to save space if you don’t need to reference slide images.
Previewing and Troubleshooting
Before printing a large job:
- Use the print preview to confirm layout, formatting and page breaks
- Print a test page to check alignment on paper size and catch issues
- Adjust printer settings like paper size, margins, page scaling, and duplexing
If you run into issues, try updating printer drivers, checking printer connection, or contacting the manufacturer.
Printing PDF Handouts
To print handouts or notes as a PDF:
- Go to File > Export and choose Create PDF/XPS Document
- Under Publish What, select Handouts or Notes Pages
- Adjust other settings like slides per page and page order
- Click Publish to output a PDF
PDF handouts are easy to share electronically with colleagues or email to attendees.
Conclusion
With a variety of printing options and layouts, PowerPoint 2013 makes it simple to print presentations as slides, notes or handouts tailored to your needs. Take advantage of settings like header/footer customization, page scaling, and duplex printing for professional results. Follow best practices like print previewing and testing pages before large print jobs.
