Missing the McKinsey PowerPoint Shortcuts?

Are you a McKinsey Alumni who misses the McKinsey PowerPoint shortcuts? PPT Productivity is a timesaving plug-in for PowerPoint. There are 200+ features, including a preconfigured set of PowerPoint Shortcut keys to match the McKinsey Shortcuts. Get your consulting tools back and boost your PowerPoint productivity!

The McKinsey aligned PowerPoint shortcuts is a variation of PPT Productivity's customizable PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts feature, developed. Some McKinsey alumni customers asked if we could offer a preconfigured set of shortcut keys to align to the shortcuts from the Marvin PowerPoint Tools add-in at McKinsey (keyboard shortcut muscle memory!). 

Some of the 70 pre-assigned McKinsey aligned PowerPoint shortcuts in PPT Productivity...

• Shortcut CTRL + ALT + LEFT for alignment to left of first selected object
• Shortcut CTRL + ALT + RIGHT for alignment to right of first selected object
• Shortcut CTRL + ALT + UP for alignment to top of first selected object
• Shortcut CTRL + ALT + DOWN for alignment to bottom of first object
  • Note that the Alignment Anchor feature on the toolbar let you customize the default alignment point for these shortcuts (e.g. to first selected object, last selected object, or most extreme positioned object)
• Shortcut SHIFT + ALT + H for evenly distributing selected objects horizontally
• Shortcut CTRL + ALT + P to swap position of two selected objects
• Shortcut CTRL + ALT + 1 to Color Bold text (or use the feature button)
• Shortcut for group by row and group by column features (There are no default shortcut keys set for this feature, but you can add custom shortcut keys for them)
• Shortcut ALT + SHIFT + A for Cycle Accent colors - when selecting shapes this cycles through template colors
• Shortcut ALT + G for Align Top and Group
• Shortcut Ctrl + O for Add sticky note
• Shortcut Alt + Z for Make same height + width

Coming soon (in Beta release as of September 2025, coming to general release November 2025. Or contact us to request early Beta access)

• Shortcut Ctrl+Alt+F for Insert Footnote and
• Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+L for Insert Legend

These new shortcuts are part of the new Slide Builder Toolbar. Note that you will also be able to customize them to be the exact format, style, colors and location you need.

You also have the option to add shortcuts for another ~700 PowerPoint functions. Plus you can change any of the existing shortcuts to suit your preferences. PPT Productivity's PowerPoint shortcuts for consultants are a massive timesaver!

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How to enable the McKinsey PowerPoint Shortcut Keys

To use the McKinsey PowerPoint shortcuts, download the PPT Productivity free trial if you haven't already signed up. Then:

• Go to Shortcut Keys on the right of the PPT Productivity Ribbon in PowerPoint.
• Click the dropdown and select ‘McKinsey Shortcut Keys’. The McKinsey aligned shortcut keys will now be enabled. A green check mark should appear
• That's it! You've got your McKinsey slides superpowers back! To view a list of the shortcut keys available, use the Shortcut Keys menu on the PPT Productivity ribbon and select 'Generate my PowerPoint Shortcuts guide'.

More PPT Productivity Features for McKinsey Alums

PPT Productivity was built by consultants, for consultants. Here's a few other features of our PowerPoint add-in that McKinsey alumni customers love (all features mentioned on this page are included in PPT Productivity Power Tools and the Free Trial):

• Marvin tables: PPT Productivity's PowerPoint Box tables feature lets you decompose a table into boxes or group a box table into a standard PowerPoint table.
• Slide Library: Save slides or elements in the Slide Library and easily reuse them from the Slide Library Toolbar, which displays to the right of screen.
• Slide Library/ downloadable elements: The slide library also has 2000+ items you can download and use including org chart templates, slide layouts, number balls, flags, maps, strategy frameworks, arrows, loads of icons (icons are resizable and recolorable) and more. These are all included in the Power Tools license at no extra cost, and available for use in the free trial.
• Embed Moons and Status indicators in Tables: You can add Moons (aka Harvey Balls) or Status indicators to PowerPoint tables. The moons and indicators embed in tables for easy formatting and alignment.
• Color bold text: The color bold text in PowerPoint feature lets you click to color bolded text on a PowerPoint slide. Or select multiple slides to recolor in a single click (feature avoids slide titles). The bold text defaults to your template color, with the option to change it to another preferred color!
• Group by Row/ Group by Column: formatting Box Tables is easy with the Group by Row and Group by Column features.
• Straighten lines: simply select one or more lines and click to Straighten vertical or Straighten horizontal
• Fit text options: Fit text to textbox buttons or shortcut keys to quickly fit text to textbox, fit textbox to text or turn off Autofit

Here's a quick overview video of some of the PPT Productivity PowerPoint add-in features we created with McKinsey alums in mind:

PowerPoint Agenda Wizard feature

PPT Productivity's Agenda Wizard for PowerPoint feature combines the meeting details slide features (you probably used overnight production services to make these!) as well as Table of Contents and Divider slides. You can use PowerPoint sections or not. Plus it's "Partner-proof" - if someone moves the sections of the document around, you can update the agenda and divider slides by clicking the sync Agenda button!

Agenda Wizard is now available to all PPT Productivity Power Tools users, including those on the free trial.

PowerPoint Proofing Tools

PPT Productivity's Proofing Tools for PowerPoint features make it easy to check and finalize your presentation. Features include:

• Formatting check: Features to check your formatting in PowerPoint and auto correct for consistency of things like line weights, table cell margins and more.
• Font check: Check fonts in your PowerPoint presentation to make sure they are the correct template fonts. The feature lets you specify preferred Slide Title and presentation text fonts, and shows you other instances of fonts in your presentation - you can choose to fix all or review each instance.
• Template check: review the slide templates used in your PowerPoint presentation and remove duplicate slide masters

... and more.

NEW! Slide Builder Toolbar coming November 2025

PPT Productivity's new Slide Builder Toolbar is currently in Beta release, due for General release in November 2025. The Slide Builder Toolbar makes it easy to setup consulting style PowerPoint slide layouts, with design guides to specify spacing (eg 2 column layout, 3 column layout) and snappable elements that auto align. Contact us to get early beta access.

McKinsey VIP Extended PPT Productivity Trial Offer

We offer McKinsey alumni an extended 60 day free trial. To access the extended trial offer, download the 30 day trial and register using your current work email address, then contact us to request the McKinsey VIP offer. Our team will verify your alumni status via LinkedIn and add the bonus month to your trial.

Can I use McKinsey PowerPoint Shortcut keys on a Mac?

The team are working on a version for PowerPoint for Mac - we do not currently have a 'Mac native' version. In the interim, PPT Productivity runs on Macs if you use a virtual PC solution like Parallels Desktop for Mac. Learn more about using Parallels Desktop for Mac.

Other Consulting Firm Alumni Shortcut Key Information

If you’re an alumni from another consulting firm, contact us if you'd like us to add other preconfigured sets of consultant shortcut keys to our roadmap!  Keen to choose your own shortcuts? PPT Productivity's Customizable Shortcut keys feature lets you select your preferred shortcut keys for Standard PowerPoint and PPT Productivity features (the difference here is we've set up a configuration option for McKinsey alums based on user demand).  Check out an overview of the Customizable PowerPoint shortcut keys feature for more information.