Unable to access Presenter View when projecting my slideshow in Keynote

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Unable to access Presenter View when projecting my slideshow in Keynote

I am switching to Keynote after years of using Powerpoint. I have my 2019 MacBook Air connected to an Epson projector. I am unable to access Presenter View when projecting my slideshow. That is, the Presentation View without my presenter notes appears both on my MacBook screen and in the projection.

According to what I've read via Apple Support, it seems like things should automatically switch to Presenter View when I connect to the projector and launch my slide show, but this does not happen.

Various help pages on the Apple site offer options which don't seem available to me. For example, on this page - Add and view presenter notes in Keynote on Mac - Apple Support - under "View presenter notes while playing your presentation...," Step 1 suggests moving the cursor with the presentation playing and clicking a symbol, then to select "Presenter Notes." However, this symbol does not appear no matter what I do with the cursor. The only options that appear are those at the bottom to open the navigator and the keyboard shortcuts:

Similarly, on this discussion board thread - Presenter notes on MacBook - presentation… - Apple Community - the first answer suggests options in System Preferences that do not appear. My Display preferences look like this:

My Keynote slideshow preferences look like this:

Viewing a separate presenter view in Powerpoint was pretty straightforward, and I'd like to get it working in Keynote. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Mac OSX 12.6. Keynote version 12.2

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Nov 30, 2022 11:39 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Gary Scotland

Level 7

25,862 points

Dec 2, 2022 4:23 AM in response to skepticalthinker

Your Mac has been set to "Mirror Displays" this is Mac system setting and nothing to do with Keynote.

Keynote can't show Presenter Display [showing presenter notes, current and next preview windows] when the Mac is set to Mirror Displays.

Change your settings in this order:

1 - close Keynote

2 - go to System Preferences > Displays > Click on Display Settings button

3 - click the entry for your Mac in the left column

4 - click on the Use As dropdown menu and select Stop Mirroring

5 - Click the entry for the Projector in the left column and select Default for Display

6 - close System Preferences

7- open Keynote, open the Keynote project then go into Play

If Presenter Display is shown on the projector instead of the presentation, when in play,

press the x key on the keyboard

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Answer 2

Dec 1, 2022 9:02 AM in response to Gary Scotland

Thanks, Gary. That "Extended Display" option is not available. The only other option is "Stop Mirroring." If I select that, my MacBook screen goes gray, I lose access to my slideshow (and everything else), but the Keynote screen is still being projected. I have to make my way back to System Preferences just to get my screen back (by switching back to "Main Display."). That seems to be a default setting or something, but I never had to make these changes with Powerpoint.

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Answer 3

Dec 5, 2022 7:11 AM in response to Gary Scotland

Thanks. This was helpful. I was confused when I selected "Stop Mirroring" and my desktop went blank, and I didn't think to access it on the projector screen. When I did and followed these steps, everything worked. Much obliged.

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Answer 4

Dec 1, 2022 8:15 AM in response to skepticalthinker

You have set the projector as main display, change it to Extended Display as shown below:

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Unable to access Presenter View when projecting my slideshow in Keynote

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