Chances are you will want a printed version of your slide show presentation as slides, handouts, notes, or an outline. In Microsoft PowerPoint, you now have a view that lets you preview what you are printing. Print preview is handy not only for when you're ready to print, but also as a resource while you create your presentation.

For example, if you are printing to a black and white printer, and you want to see how your slide design and colors will look when printed in black and white, click the Print Preview button on the Standard toolbar and have a look.

Print preview first shows your slide in grayscale; however, this view usually hides any background fill — the goal being to increase the contrast for printing, as the grays in a background texture could make text on the slide less readable. To see how the slide will print when all colors (including background fill) are represented in grayscale, click Options, and on the Color/Grayscale submenu, select Color (On Black and White Printer).

In normal view, click Print Preview and follow the steps below to do various types of previewing as you edit.

When you're ready to print, note some of the additional features on the Print Preview toolbar that help you navigate the view and control the output.

• Use the Next Page and Previous Page buttons on the toolbar and scrollbar to see other slides or pages. (Note that if, in the Print dialog box, you select a range of slides to print, only those slides appear in print preview. Too make all slides available to preview, select All under Print Range in the Print dialog box.)
• Use the Print button to print now.
• Use the Portrait and Landscape buttons to change the page orientation of notes and handouts.
• Use the Options button to frame slides, scale slides or notes to fit the paper, print hidden slides, and set a slide order for multiple slides on handouts.
• Select the Handouts (3 slides per page) option in the Print What box to get a handout that includes space for audience notes.