Using Apple Keynote to make presentations on your Mac is easy. But you might have been missing out on some features that can elevate your projects from good to great. Here’s what you need to know.

1 Create a Custom Toolbar

The ideal presentation workspace looks different for everyone. With Keynote, you can set up a custom toolbar that helps you get work done the way you want.

After you open up a new presentation, head to Keynote > View > Customize Toolbar at the top of the screen. A new window pops up with several action items that you can drag and drop directly into your toolbar. This will help you play around with the default bundle of actions and prioritize what you want to work with.

A few items you can add include outdent and indent options, a rehearse button, “Guides,” and “Mask.” A “default toolbar” option is also displayed in this window, which you can drag and drop into your toolbar if you get carried away and want to reset to stock.

While in this editing mode, you can also rearrange the order of items on your toolbar. To exit the customization window, click “Done.”

2 Use Another Apple Device as a Remote Control

Apple Keynote is a native app that syncs across your compatible Apple devices through iCloud integration. This means more than just the ability to access presentations you have created. You can add your iPhone or iPad as a remote control that you can use to present slideshows on your Mac’s Keynote.

To add devices as remotes for Keynote, open the app and click “Keynote” on the menu bar then head to Settings > Remotes and toggle the “Enable” checkbox. Now, open Keynote on your “remote control” iPhone or iPad. Tap the Keynote Remote icon, after which your device will search for your Mac.

Follow the instructions on your screen to add the device to your Mac as a Keynote remote.

3 A Personalized Presenter View

Presenting and rehearsing with Keynote is a simple task, and you can customize the way your backstage view as a presenter looks. To rehearse your presentation, go to “Play” on the menu bar and click “Rehearse Slideshow” to see a preview of your slideshow.

From the “Play” menu, you can click on “Customize Presenter Display” and rearrange what you want your backstage view to look like. You can move and resize items, add items like a timer and clock, or choose whether you want the next slide to be shown as a preview. Press the “esc” (Escape) key to exit this mode.

4 Use Dynamic Backgrounds

If you have explored the vast library of templates on Keynote, you will know that you can create visually stunning presentations without breaking a sweat. But you can take visuals to the next level with one of Keynote’s best features, Dynamic Backgrounds.

This lets you do something different with your slide backgrounds. Instead of sticking to templates, Dynamic Backgrounds lets you add motion to slides through fluid animations without increasing the file size significantly. You can even save your designs as templates for future presentations.

To use Dynamic Backgrounds, open a new presentation on Keynote. Click the slides you want to work on from the navigator, then on the “Backgrounds” settings on the right side of your screen, click the “Dynamic” option. You can now change the motion, speed, colors, and design options to customize the slide background.

5 Password-Protect Presentations

Sharing confidential presentations can be a privacy concern, but Keynote has a solution by allowing you to protect files with passwords. From the menu bar on top of your screen, go to File > Set Password. Now set up and verify a password for the presentation you have opened, add a password hint for your collaborators, and also enable Touch ID to open the presentation quickly on your Mac.

6 Align Everything, Perfectly

Aligning elements in your presentation slides can be a frustrating affair, especially when working on your Mac’s trackpad. Keynote solves this problem with rulers and guides. These are in-built lines and slide element guides that help you arrange text, objects, and other items in perfect alignment, down to the most minute details.

You can view layout guides and rulers while working on your presentation by clicking on “View” from the menu bar and selecting “Show Rulers” and “Show Slide Layout Guides” from “Guides.”

Once these are turned on, you can arrange slide elements according to the lines and measurements shown, so that every element is in perfect tandem. Go back to the “View” menu and click “Hide Ruler” and “Hide Slide Layout Guides” to exit this view.

7 Animate Seamlessly

Keynote has a large collection of animation effects, more than what counterpart Google Slides offers. To elevate transitions and animations for your slides, Magic Move can come in handy. This is a transition that creates causes objects in one slide to move from their original position to another position on the next slide while playing your presentation.

You can use Magic Move by first duplicating a slide with multiple elements and moving, deleting, resizing, or reordering them. Select the first slide, go to the Animate section of the sidebar then Add an Effect > Magic Move. Click on “Preview” to see how the duplicated elements move seamlessly to their new positions on the second slide. Magic Move can be duplicated in this same manner across multiple slides to keep the movement going.

I find Magic Move to be an absolute gem of an animation that provides a cohesive and smooth way to present your slideshow.

8 Present via FaceTime

A collaboration feature that lets you present your Keynote creations to teammates or in a video conference is the app’s integration with FaceTime. You can present your slideshow by sharing your work in full-screen mode.

Once you start a FaceTime call, click the FaceTime button on the menu bar then Share Screen > Window. Then, open your Keynote presentation on the slide you want to start with. Choose Play > In Fullscreen follow b the play button and “Share Slideshow.” Once you are finished presenting, you can stop sharing by clicking the FaceTime > Stop Sharing This Window.

9 Use HDR Movies

Keynote has unrivaled multimedia options, with live video feeds and gallery options on slides that can seal the deal for the perfect presentation. You can also add High Dynamic Range (HDR) movies to your presentation.

Presenting your Keynote presentation with HDR movies will show them in high dynamic range on HDR-capable displays. You can also add standard dynamic range (SDR) movies to Keynote. These movies can be added in HEVC or Apple ProRes formats across your Mac’s native productivity apps like Keynote, Pages, and Numbers.

10 Create Presentations Hands-Free

As a native app perfectly optimized for your Mac’s in-built features, Keynote lets you create presentations hands-free with the help of accessibility feature Voice Control.

Voice Control lets you navigate and interact with your Mac, including opening apps, editing text, and customizing commands with just your voice. On Keynote, Voice Control can help you create presentations from scratch with nothing but voice commands.

I find it useful when I want to multitask on another screen or simply let my Mac do most of the work for me. It is also helpful to write and edit text, which can come in handy if you are in a rush to finish a Keynote presentation since you can simply dictate and complete your content.

While it can take you some time to get used to the way Voice Control works, the suggested prompts and ability to customize commands certainly help.

To enable Voice Control, go to your Mac’s System Settings > Accessibility > Motor > Voice Control and turn it on. Switch on “Show Hints” to help you get used to the commands, and click “Commands” to see, add, and edit commands.

Keynote is an excellent productivity resource with many customization options to make the best out of your presentations. Exploring and personalizing these features can help you create and present professional and creative presentations in no time.