Same – Same But Different

These two PowerPoint shortcuts both create duplicates of things in PowerPoint, but there is a strategic difference worth mentioning.

First off though, these two shortcuts work in all versions of Microsoft PowerPoint. They also work on a Mac.

The duplicate shortcut (CTRL + D) creates a duplicate or copy, any PowerPoint object that you have selected (tables, charts, objects, slides, etc.). Right off the bat, using CTRL+D is twice as fast as a normal CTR+C to copy and CTRL+V to paste.

The duplicate slide shortcut (CTRL + SHIFT + D) creates a duplicate, or copy of the slide you are currently working on. It sounds like a repeat shortcut, but it plays a very strategic role in PowerPoint, and is definitely worth memorizing.

Getting Strategic…

The duplicate slide keyboard shortcut (CTRL + SHIFT + D) works REGARDLESS of what you are doing and what you have selected.

For example, you can be in the middle of typing text or tweaking a chart and simply hit CTRL + SHIFT + D to create a new, duplicate slide. That gives you an insurance policy to go back to your original layout, if you make a bunch of changes that you end up not liking.

As such, learning to add the SHIFT key to the equation is HIGHLY recommended, as it’s the fastest way to create a duplicate slide in PowerPoint.