What Add-in are you using?
Here is a quick overview of adding & presenting your polls with the Office 365 Add-in.
In this article we cover:
- How to poll your question in PowerPoint
- How to re-open your poll
- How to run your presentation automatically
- PowerPoint short cuts
How to poll your questions to your participants:
To present your polls, enter slideshow mode and run your presentation as usual. The Office 365 Add-in is compatible with PowerPoint Presenter View, allowing you to see your notes while presenting.
Each poll in your slide deck consists of:
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A question slide
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A results slide
Do not delete either slide, as they function as a pair.
When in slideshow mode, simply press Enter to advance through the slides. The control box in the top-right corner will indicate the poll's status.
Example of a Powerpoint slide deck going into slide show mode and advancing with the 'Enter' button with real time results.
Key Presentation Notes
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In normal PowerPoint view, result slide placeholders disappear but will display correctly in slideshow mode.
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Advancing from a regular slide to a poll slide automatically opens the poll.
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Once the control box shows that the poll is open, participants can start submitting responses.
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The response counter (top-left) shows how many participants have voted.
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Press Enter again to close the poll and display results.
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The control box will update from "Open Poll" to "Showing Results" (you may briefly see "Preparing Results"—this is normal).
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After displaying results, advance to the next slide by pressing Enter.
- Depending on your settings, the results will show on poll close (this is the default setting) or toggle the button to display real-time results.
- If you wish to conceal your results entirely from participant view, make sure to disable the option to 'Display results on poll close'. However, these results will still be accessible in your data report.
Re-open a poll
If you accidentally close a poll too soon or need to revisit a question:
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Use the left arrow key to return to the previous question slide.
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The poll will reopen automatically for participants to submit responses.
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Press Enter (or arrow/spacebar) to close it again. The updated results will be saved in your dashboard and data report.
Runnin polls automatically:
To automate your polling sequence and let your presentation run on its own:
Add poll slides to your presentation.
Go to the Transitions tab in the Advance Slide settings in PowerPoint.
Select the slides for timing adjustments (e.g., title and joining instructions slides gets a 5 sec delay before advancing).
Uncheck Advance on Mouse Click and check Advance Slide After, setting the desired duration.
Choose None as the transition effect.
Set polling slides to advance automatically after the preferred time (e.g., 10 seconds).
Start slideshow mode, and the slides will progress automatically.
Note: You must manually set timing for each slide, as there is no default setting.
PowerPoint short cuts
Enhance your presentation with these handy shortcuts:
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B – Blackout the screen
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W – Whiten the screen
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Enter slide number + Enter – Jump to a specific slide (useful for hidden or ad hoc polls)
These shortcuts allow you to maintain audience focus and navigate smoothly without exiting slideshow mode.
With these tips, you can confidently engage your audience and gather insights effortlessly using PowerPoint polls!
In this article we cover:
This video explains how to set up your laptop for PowerPoint polling.
To poll your question with your participants simply enter slideshow mode and run your presentation.
A quick way of entering slideshow mode in PowerPoint is by pressing the F5 key on your keyboard. This will take you to the start of your presentation. You can use 'Enter', 'Right Arrow' or 'Spacebar' to advance to the next slide.
There are 3 stages to running an interactive slide in PowerPoint.
- Ready
- Poll open
- Results
1. Ready
When your interactive poll slide is on screen this is the first stage that displays the text of the question. A control box will display on screen.
By default, this box appears in the top left corner of the screen. You can alter the setting of this box in the preferences menu in the PowerPoint ribbon under Poll Control > Position.
This control box is an indicator and a good reminder that this slide contains an interactive question. When you advance the slide the interactive poll will move to the second stage.
2. Poll Open
Once the poll is open the control box will change and display the number of respondents that are voting.
When ready to close the poll simply advance the slide as you normally would by pressing the 'Enter' key.
3. Results
When closing the poll, the results will be calculated and displayed in the presentation and on all connected devices.
Note that unlike Present view, the responses can only be viewed once the poll is closed in the PowerPoint add-in.
PowerPoint short cuts
PowerPoint has some simple, yet very effective keyboard short cuts to allow you to take the focus off the screen, jump to a supporting slide or run an ad-hoc audience vote WITHOUT needing to exit ‘slide show’.
Whilst in 'slide show' simply…
- Hit ‘B’- to turn the screen black
- Hit ‘W’- to turn the screen white
- (Press the same keys again to return to the presentation)
- Enter the slide number you wish to display and hit ‘Enter’ to ‘jump’ to a slide. Great for ad hoc polls or hidden slides!