PowerPoint slideshow runs full-screen on Windows desktop but not on iPad Pro

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PowerPoint slideshow runs full-screen on Windows desktop but not on iPad Pro

I created a presentation with PowerPoint on my Windows desktop (I have a subscription to Microsoft 365), with the documents themselves residing on OneDrive so I can access them anywhere. The slide show runs fine and full-screen on my monitor.

I went over to my 12.9” iPad Pro and loaded up PowerPoint and the presentation which I have access to with OneDrive. I ran the slideshow, and instead of being full screen it displays that black-space-on-top-and-bottom look that indicates some video misalignment. If I tap on the black space at top it opens up a small toolbox at the upper right where you can see that as far as the app is concerned it IS in full-screen mode (the symbol gives you the option to shrink the app to be NON-full screen which makes the slides even smaller).

I poked around online and don’t see anything that is quite on the mark for me. Is there a setting to force PowerPoint to adapt to full-screen mode of whatever device it’s running on? I don’t see anything like that, either in PowerPoint for Windows that I created the slides with, or PowerPoint for iOS that I want to run the slideshow on. I looked at "Presenter View" but that's not relevant.

Any thoughts?

iPad Pro 12.9-inch, 2nd Gen, Wi-Fi

Posted on Feb 22, 2022 6:07 PM

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Answer 1

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ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,660 points

Feb 22, 2022 6:20 PM in response to rick7

Did you create the presentation in Standard 4:3 format, or widescreen 16:9 format? I'm not sure if you can make changes to those settings in the PowerPoint app on the iPad. I'm checking now but wanted to find out how you created it.

I have mine in Widescreen, but I'm on an iPad Pro 11 and it works just fine. If you have PowerPoint setup in Edit mode, then you can go to Design>Slide Size to check.

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Answer 2

rick7 Author

Level 2

254 points

Feb 22, 2022 6:42 PM in response to ChrisJ4203

Yup, that was the problem. I guess in Windows (or maybe it sensed my monitor?) the default slide size is Widescreen, so that’s what it got created in. But when I ran the slideshow on the 12.9” iPad Pro it wasn’t happy. Turns out on the iPad you can change the setting in Design > Slide Size to STANDARD, and after doing that it runs (mostly) fine. I will have to make some changes to some of the slides where the formatting and spacing is a bit off now.

Thanks very much.

Do the screens of the iPad Pro 11 and the 12.9 have different aspect ratios?

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Answer 3

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,660 points

Feb 22, 2022 6:59 PM in response to rick7

To be honest, I don't believe so. I know that some things done in widescreen mode can provide the black bars at the top or bottom of the screen depending on what orientation you have it set at. I have my iPad in Landscape mode, and like I said, the Widescreen slides worked fine. It may take you a couple of times of trial and error to determine what is going to be the best you use with the iPad. I teach college and I do most of my slides in widescreen, since that is the standard monitors we have at the school. But if you try to change one of those to standard, you squeeze in the slide and it will need to be edited. The same with changing the standard to widescreen, you would need to adjust the text and other settings to fill the new size.

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PowerPoint slideshow runs full-screen on Windows desktop but not on iPad Pro

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