You're presenting with PowerPoint Live in Teams, and suddenly attendees are already reading the final slide with the conclusion. By default attendees can browse through your presentation on their own. That's handy for someone who wants to look back, but not when you have a surprise, run a quiz or want to reveal the answers later. Here's how to turn it off, and how to decide when it is useful.
Turn off private viewing
- In the meeting, select Share and pick your presentation under PowerPoint Live. You can also start from PowerPoint itself with the Present in Teams button.
- At the top of the presentation window, select the eye icon (Private viewing).
- The icon gets a line through it. Attendees now only see the slide you're showing.
You can turn the setting back on at any time, for example after your presentation when questions come in and people want to look back at an earlier slide. The exact place and name of the button may differ slightly between Teams versions.
What do attendees see?
With private viewing on, attendees can browse slides with the arrows. You don't notice anything: your presentation simply continues. Attendees return to your slide with Sync to presenter. With it off, those arrows disappear and everyone automatically follows your pace.
Other benefits of PowerPoint Live remain, even with private viewing off. Attendees can still click links in your slides, zoom in on slides or follow along with a screen reader. Only you as the presenter see your notes.
On or off?
- Turn it off for a quiz, a training session with exercises, an announcement you build up step by step or a sales conversation where you show the price only at the end.
- Leave it on for a technical explanation or a discussion, where people want to reread something calmly while you keep talking.
- In doubt? Turn it off during your story and back on for the Q&A.
Frequently asked questions
Can attendees download the file? Private viewing only concerns browsing during the meeting. Anyone with access to the file in OneDrive or SharePoint can still open it there. If you don't want that, check who the file is shared with.
I don't see the eye icon. Check that you're really sharing via PowerPoint Live and not your screen. Also update Teams. If you present from your phone, not all buttons are available; read present a PowerPoint deck from the Teams app on your phone.
Does the setting also apply to other presenters? The setting belongs to the presentation being shared at that moment. If a colleague takes over with their own file, they'd better check the eye icon themselves.
Does it work with Cameo? Yes. With Cameo you put your camera feed in your slides, and that's separate from private viewing.
Other ways
If you share your screen or window instead of PowerPoint Live, attendees can never browse on their own. But you lose the benefits of PowerPoint Live, such as sharp slides on a slow connection, your notes on screen and the option to let another presenter take over. Read present a PowerPoint in Teams with PowerPoint Live. Want to stay visible next to your slides? Also look at presenter modes in Teams. Used to the old Present Live button in PowerPoint? That has been replaced, see Present Live in PowerPoint is gone.
Tip
Don't give your surprise away in the file name or in the title of your first slide either. A title like New prices 2027 - final reveals a lot before you even start.
Nederlandstalige versie: Voorkomen dat deelnemers door je presentatie bladeren in Teams