My previous attempts worked out well, but I recently found out that AutoHotkey has changed their configuration files and the project now defaults to AutoHotkey v2 with AutoHotkey v1/v1.1 being deprecated. I have updated my tutorial to AutoHotkey v2.

Big picture. We are going to install the Norwii Presenter software, configure the buttons on the presenter remote, and create a custom AutoHotkey v2 script to intercept the button presses and send them to PowerPoint. If you don’t do this, the presenter remote will only work when PowerPoint is in focus. That works well in some situations, but it doesn’t work as well for online meetings where you are moving around your desktop to monitor the chat, look a response, or find a document.

Buy a Norwii Presenter Remote on Amazon. I like the Norwii N28 model with its not easy to miss big button for advancing slides, but the other models are lovely too. The N28 is wireless and most buttons are customizable. I also like this model since it uses a AAA battery instead of a rechargeable battery. The rechargeable model sounds like a good idea, but I have found out that it is always dead when you want to use it. With the replaceable battery model, you just replace the battery if it is dead. From my experience and usage, the AAA battery lasts almost a year.

Install the Norwii Presenter Utility for Windows. This software has the driver for the wireless dongle and also a tool for remapping the buttons of your remote to new buttons. You can remap all of the buttons (except the laser pointer button). The software is not necessarily easy to use, but it gets the job done. Other presentation remotes lack the ability to be reprogrammed. This is why I love the Norwii models.

Customize the Norwii Presenter buttons. Click on the Customize tab in the utility and make sure N28 (M) is selected as the model. Under each key configure the short press function for each mapping that you have in AutoHotkey (more on that in a moment). The big yellow button is known as the “Page down” key. I use Shift + F12 to advance my slides in PowerPoint. you can do the other buttons if you like. I have experimented with programing all of the buttons to advance the slides. That way I don’t have to fumble around trying to pick the right button in the heat of the moment. But, I have expanded this to backing up a slide (page up key) and exiting the presentation with the enter key. I practiced a few times to get this right. Let me know in the comments what works for you.

Also, make sure that the Norwii Presenter Utility starts up with Windows. This will make sure that the utility is running in the background after you reboot to install Windows updates. Click the Setup tab and select, “Start Norwii Presenter after Windows startup.”

Install and configure AutoHotkey. We are going to use an awesome utility for Windows PCs called AutoHotkey. This utility listen for your custom key presses redirects the controls to PowerPoint. Let me warn you now ff this is your first time using AutoHotkey. You are going to get addicted to automation. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Install AutoHotkey v2 on your Windows PC. AHK will run in the background waiting for keyboard commands that match the rules that you have created. For help, check out the documentation and the Hello World video on YouTube. I know, it will be daunting at first, but a community of people for the last decade have been creating videos, examples, and tutorials. You just might be inspired to automate other computing tasks. My goal is to map Shift+F12 and Shift+F11 to Page Up and Page Down. Page Up and Page Down are keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint.

1. Right-click on your desktop
2. Find “New” in the menu
3. Click “AutoHotkey Script” inside the “New” menu
4. Name it PowerPoint.ahk
5. Right-click on PowerPoint.ahk and click “Edit Script”
6. Enter the this AutoHotkey 2 code and save the file:

#Requires AutoHotkey v2.0

;; Key Bindings for AutoHotkey v2 and PowerPoint
;; nothans.com/powerpoint

; Bind to Shift+F12 - Advance slide or start presenting from the last slide
+F12::
{    
    if WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate
        Send "{PgDn}"
        return
    }
    else
    {
        if WinExist("ahk_exe POWERPNT.EXE") {
             WinActivate
	     Send "+{F5}"	
        }        
        return
    }
}

; Bind to Shift+F11 - Go back one slide
+F11::
{
    if WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate
        Send "{PgUp}"
        return
    }

    return
}

; Bind to Shift+F8 - Exit slideshow
+F8::
{       
    if WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate
        Send "{Esc}"
	return
    }

    return
}

; Bind to Shift+F7 - Advance slide or start presenting from the first slide
+F7::
{    
    if WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate
        Send "{PgDn}"
        return
    }
    else
    {
        if WinExist("ahk_exe POWERPNT.EXE") {
             WinActivate
	     Send "{F5}"	
        }        
        return
    }
}

For more AutoHotkey button mappings, check out my GitHub repository.

Use your new power to deliver the ultimate PowerPoint presentation. Now that you are all powerful, open PowerPoint and click the big yellow button on the Norwii N28 remote. This will put your presentation into presentation mode. Click the big yellow button again. Your slides or animations advance. Click it again. Your slides advance. It is a beautiful thing.

Elgato Stream Deck Control

You can use the same AutoHotkey v2 configuration to control PowerPoint from the Elgato Stream Deck or Elgato Stream Deck Pedal as well.

1. Open up the Stream Deck Software and search for “Hotkey”

2. Drag the Hotkey option to an open button

3. Click into the Hotkey field and wait for it say, “Observing keystrokes…”, and press Shift+F12

4. Rename the title to, “Advance”, and set the icon to the forward icon

5. Create Stream Deck hotkeys for the rest of the key bindings in your AutoHotkey v2 configuration and enjoy the power!

Let me know in the comments if you try this out. Also, let me know if you have some tricks for PowerPoint or other Windows apps. I am always looking to optimize.

I also took a picture of someone taking a picture of someone taking a picture of a PowerPoint slide. This rabbit hole goes all the way down.

I have thought about this topic before. I have even given a talk about taking photos of PowerPoint slides. PowerPoint slides do not take up a lot of storage space as a PowerPoint slide. But, when you take a photo of a PowerPoint slide you take a small file size and make it over 20 times the size. Then, imagine more than one person taking a photo of the same slide. A small file could expand to thousands of times of its original size. And, those photos have to be stored on the cloud for the rest of time for everyone who captured that image.

I take photos of things all of the time: fireworks, weddings, PowerPoint slides. I am doing this more and more to capture the moment and to remind me of something in the future. It is my modern day way of note taking. The problem is that I just keep taking photos of moments of my life. I wonder how important the moments will be later in life. The late Norm MacDonald covered the evolution of photography and the absurdity of how many photos we are taking of our ourselves.

All of us are building data lakes filled with screenshots, photos, and texts. In the current state, this lake is only useful to the companies that use the data to understand our buying behaviors, but the data is not too useful for all of us. Many that is the next step for us? Maybe there will be a service that curates our photos, culls them, and extract meaningful insights for us to easily parse. Otherwise we are going to drown in the data lake.

Big pitcure. We are going to install the norwii Preernter woftware, config the buttons on the presenter remote, and create a custom AutoHotkey script to intercept the button presses and send them to PowerPoint. If you don’t do this, the presenter remote will only work when PowerPoint is in focus. That works well in some situations, but it doesn’t work as well for online meetings where you are moving around your desktop to monitor the chat, look a response, or find a document.

Buy the Norwii N28 Presenter Remote on Amazon. The N28 has a big button for advancing slides. It’s wireless. And, most of the buttons are customizable. I also like this model since it uses a AAA battery instead of a rechargeable battery. The rechargeable model sounds like a good idea, but I have found out that it is always dead when you want to use it. With the replaceable battery model, you just replace the battery if it is dead. From my experience and usage, the AAA battery lasts almost a year.

Install the Norwii Presenter Utility for Windows. This software has the driver for the wireless dongle and also a tool for remapping the buttons of your remote to new buttons. You can remap all of the buttons (except the laser pointer button). The software is not necessarily easy to use, but it gets the job done. Other presentation remotes lack the ability to be reprogrammed. This is why I love the Norwii models.

Customize the Norwii Presenter buttons. Click on the Customize tab in the utility and make sure N28 (M) is selected as the model. Under each key configure the short press function for each mapping that you have in AutoHotkey (more on that in a moment). The big yellow button is known as the “Page down” key. I use Shift + F12 to advance my slides in PowerPoint. you can do the other buttons if you like. I have experimented with programing all of the buttons to advance the slides. That way I don’t have to fumble around trying to pick the right button in the heat of the moment. But, I have expanded this to backing up a slide (page up key) and exiting the presentation with the enter key. I practiced a few times to get this right. Let me know in the comments what works for you.

Also, make sure that the Norwii Presenter Utility starts up with Windows. This will make sure that the utility is running in the background after you reboot to install Windows updates. Click the Setup tab and select, “Start Norwii Presenter after Windows startup.”

Install and configure AutoHotkey. We are going to use an awesome utity for Windows PCs called AutoHotkey. This utility listen for your custom key presses redirects the controls to PowerPoint. Let me warn you now ff this is your first time using AutoHokey. You are going to get addicted to automation. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Install AutoHotkey on your Windows PC. AHK will run in the background waiting for keyboard commands that match the rules that you have created. For help, check out the documentation and the Hello World video on YouTube. I know, it will be daunting at first, but a community of people for the last decade have been creating videos, examples, and tutorials. You just might be inspired to automate other computing tasks. My goal is to map Shift+F12 and Shift+F11 to Page Up and Page Down. Page Up and Page Down are keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint.

1. Right-click on your desktop
2. Find “New” in the menu
3. Click “AutoHotkey Script” inside the “New” menu
4. Name it PowerPoint.ahk
5. Right-click on PowerPoint.ahk and click “Edit Script”
6. Enter the v1 or v2 and save:

+F12::
    
    If WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate ;
        Send {PgDn}
        return
    }
    Else
    {
        ControlSend,mdiClass1,+{F5},ahk_exe POWERPNT.EXE
        return
    }

+F11::

    if WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate ;
        Send {PgUp}
        return
    }

    return

+F8::
       
    if WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate ;
        Send {Esc}
	return
    }

    return

For more AutoHotkey button mappings, check out my GitHub repository.

Use your new power to deliver the ultimate PowerPoint presenation. Now that you are all powerful, open PowerPoint and click the big yellow button on the Norwii N28 remote. This will put your presentaiton into presentation mode. Click the big yellow button again. Your slides or animations advance. Click it again. Your slides advance. It is a beautiful thing.

Let me know in the comments if you try this out. Also, let me know if you have some tricks for PowerPoint or other Windows apps. I am always looking to optimize.

Update: July 11, 2023 – New AutoHotkey v2 Config File

I got a new laptop and had to reinstall my PowerPoint control setup. I noticed that AutoHotkey has changed their configuration files a lot and have defaulted to AutoHotkey v2 and deprecated v1.

I re-wrote the config file for AutoHotkey v2 and updated the code on the GitHub repo: https://github.com/nothans/autohotkey-config-for-powerpoint

Microsoft Teams now detects if you are talking while you are on mute. This is a handy feature as we all have probably experienced with online meetings over the past year. Someone goes to start talking and the others on the meeting don’t hear anything.

“You’re on mute!”

Online meeting participants

Teams pops up a message on your screen to tell you, “You’re muted.” I hope this new feature shaves off a few seconds of embarrassment for you and I.

After giving some feedback in a meeting, I put myself on mute to enjoy a snack. I discovered the mute feature while crunching away on the chips. I was making a lot of noise, mouth open. When we return to the office, I have a lot of habits that I have to readjust. I wouldn’t have done this in a conference room with a bunch of people watching a PowerPoint with a lot of focus. And, even if I would have, I probably would snacked quieter, mouth closed. I can hear my mom’s advise echoing in my head. It will definitely be an adjustment going back to work, being in the same room with other humans, starring at a larger screen together instead of being alone starring at a smaller screen.

What other Microsoft Teams features should exist to help with habits?

I have a solution for you. And, it’s way cheaper… and it’s also the way that I present on camera. I use a $10 PowerPoint presenter device by KNORVAY/NORWII. The trick with this device that it comes with a little utility that enables you to remap the buttons on the presenter remote to almost anything that you want. The default button mappings do work with PowerPoint, but they only work when PowerPoint is in focus. In our modern world presenting with Microsft Teams or Zoom, it’s easy to lose your PowerPoint presentation and then get all flustered trying to find it. By using an AutoHotkey script, you can also always advance your slides no matter what window is in focus.

Steps

1. Buy a KNORVAY/NORWII presenter device on Amazon. I prefer the N27 at $10. They make a rechargeable version, but I like the idea of throwing a AAA battery in when I need it. You could also get both for less than $25.
2. Install the NORWII Presenter utility for Windows and remap the buttons to point to your AutoHotkey macros buttons.
3. Install AutoHotkey on your Windows computer and upload the scripts for each key

Remapping Buttons

On Windows, you need to install a utility for the KNORVAY/NORWII presenter devices. This utility allows you to remap the buttons on the presenter: Page Up, Page Down, Volume Up, Volume Down, and Tab. Other models have different buttons, but they all at least have the Page Up and Page Down buttons. I actually mapped all of the buttons to advance my slides. This way, I don’t have to think about what button I am pressing to move my slides forward or advance an animation.

AutoHotkey

Install AutoHotkey on your Windows PC. AHK will run in the background waiting for keyboard commands that match the rules that you have created. For help, check out the documentation and the Hello World video on YouTube. I know, it will be daunting, but a community of people for the last decade have been creating videos, examples, and tutorials. You just have to stick with it for a while. You just might be inspired to automate other computing tasks. My goal is to map Shift+F12 and Shift+F11 to Page Up and Page Down. Page Up and Page Down are keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint.

1. Right-click on your desktop
2. Find “New” in the menu
3. Click “AutoHotkey Script” inside the “New” menu
4. Name it PowerPoint.ahk
5. Right-click on PowerPoint.ahk and click “Edit Script”
6. Enter and save the code below:

+F12::
    
    If WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate ;
        Send {PgDn}
        return
    }
    Else
    {
        ControlSend,mdiClass1,+{F5},ahk_exe POWERPNT.EXE
        return
    }

+F11::

    if WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate ;
        Send {PgUp}
        return
    }

    return

The Else clause in the the first part of the script will put your PowerPoint into presentation mode if it is not already. I have found this also to be really useful for when I am sharing my screen and presenting.

Profit

Now that you have this all rigged up, you can PowerPoint like a pro. I use this for all of my presentations now. It is more natural for me to be holding the KNORVAY/NORWII Presenter devices and be able to sit back while looking into the camera. Have fun messing around with your new setup. It is a low-cost way to get into controlling PowerPoint and giving you some new tricks to try out.

Update – July 2023 – New AutoHotkey v2 Config File

I got a new laptop and had to reinstall my PowerPoint control setup. I noticed that AutoHotkey has changed their configuration files a lot and have defaulted to AutoHotkey v2 and deprecated v1.

I re-wrote the config file for AutoHotkey v2 and updated the code on the GitHub repo: https://github.com/nothans/autohotkey-config-for-powerpoint

But, I do own an Elgato Stream Deck. I am always discovering more ways to use it: home automation, muting the right audio source, and loading programs with a touch of a button. A Stream Deck is a grid of physical buttons that have a little display behind them. The buttons can do whatever you want whenever you press them. The displays can show you icons, animations, and statuses.

I have spent a fair amount of time learning how to customize my Stream Deck and incorporate it into my daily work.

Vicious Cycle

The one thing that I do every day is give PowerPoint presentations on Microsoft Teams. Frequently during a presentation, I am getting messages in the chat. When I click over into Teams to check on what the chatter is, I lose focus on PowerPoint. Then, I try to advance the slides. PowerPoint doesn’t move. I look stupid. I question my worth. I am spiraling. And then I realize! I click back on PowerPoint and save the day. Slides are now moving forward. Then, someone sends a message, I click on Teams to check out what I am saying wrong and try to advance the slides and nothing.

A Solution

I have found a solution. Admittedly, it’s complicated. If you use Windows, this solution might work for you too. I dedicate two buttons on the Stream Deck to move the slides forward and backward (for those times I have to go back a slide). This works because the Stream Deck can be customized to send a keyboard command to your PC, then AutoHotkey can map the command to a little script. The script brings PowerPoint into focus and sends a keyboard command to PowerPoint. So, no matter where you have clicked during a presentation, your slides move forward and backward and you don’t have to question your self-worth!

AutoHotkey

Install AutoHotkey on your Windows PC. AHK will run in the background waiting for keyboard commands that match the rules that you have created. For help, check out the documentation and the Hello World video on YouTube. I know, it will be daunting, but a community of people for the last decade have been creating videos, examples, and tutorials. You just have to stick with it for a while. You just might be inspired to automate other computing tasks. My goal is to map F13 and F14 (yes there are function keys beyond F12) to Page Up and Page Down. Page Up and Page Down are keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint. I am using the nowhere to be found F13 and F14 keys so I don’t accidentally press those keys on my keyboard. I want the Stream Deck to have control over the PowerPoint slides.

1. Right-click on your desktop
2. Find “New” in the menu
3. Click “AutoHotkey Script” inside the “New” menu
4. Name it PowerPoint.ahk
5. Right-click on PowerPoint.ahk and click “Edit Script”
6. Enter and save the code below:

F13::
    if WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate ;
        Send {PgDn}
        return
    }

    return 

F14::
    if WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate ;
        Send {PgUp}
        return
    }

    return

Stream Deck

On the Stream Deck app, drag over a “Hotkey” to one of your buttons. In the Hotkey field, click the down arrow, select F-Keys, and F13. Do this for F14 as well. For the icons, I just used icons found on Wikipedia pages.

Demo Time

I have to say that this really makes giving a PowerPoint easier. I hope you find it useful. Let me know if you try it our modify this project to solve something else.

Update – March 2021

I received a bunch of email after I posted my Stream Deck project to control PowerPoint. Some were happy to see the clues to make their AutoHotkey scripts work properly and others were wondering how to do this without a Stream Deck. Stream Deck controllers are really awesome and have been in high demand over the past year. I have a solution for you. I discovered a $10 PowerPoint presenter device by KNORVAY/NORWII where the buttons are programmable to control PowerPoint with AutoHotkey. Check out the full tutorial here.

Update – November 2021

A person on YouTube asked me about using this solution for jumping to a particular slide of a PowerPoint presentation that is running in the background. The keyboard shortcut for jumping to a specific slide number is to type the slide number and then enter. If you have a slide that you want a Stream Deck button to jump to, all you have to do is add another function key in your PowerPoint AutoHotkey script.

F15::
    if WinExist("PowerPoint Slide Show")
    {
        WinActivate ;
        Send {Text} 12 ; This represents slide number 12
        Send {Enter} ;
        return
    }

    return

Update – July 2023 – New AutoHotkey v2 Config File

I got a new laptop and had to reinstall my PowerPoint control setup. I noticed that AutoHotkey has changed their configuration files a lot and have defaulted to AutoHotkey v2 and deprecated v1.

I re-wrote the config file for AutoHotkey v2 and updated the code on the GitHub repo: https://github.com/nothans/autohotkey-config-for-powerpoint

I also noticed that during a keynote talk that I gave last year that no one took photos of my slides. Was I doing something wrong? Did I need something provocative on the slides?

Some slides have a lot of information on them. This slide from the Pentagon is the densest slide that I have ever seen.

I started thinking about how much data is contained on a normal PowerPoint slide. The average slide is about 150 KB. My Pixel 2 phone has a 12.2 MP camera. When I take a photo of a PowerPoint slide, I blow up the slide to 3,400 KB. That is a 22x multiplier of data.

No one is doing the studies, so I had to make up some stats. I assume that 2% of conference attendees take photos of slides.

“2% of all [conference] attendees take photos of PowerPoint slides.”
– Hans Scharler

Let’s play that out. For every 1,000 attendees of a conference, 68,000 KB of data gets generated by one 150 KB PowerPoint slide. 24 million people went to a conference in the United States last year. Yikes. Almost all of us back up our photos to Google or iCloud. So, now we have photos of slides stored beside photos of kids, significant others, and vacations forever. We will need to build data centers just to store photos of PowerPoint slides.

If you are interested in seeing my slides from my talk, check out SlideShare.