keynote presentation timer

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Insert a countdown timer in Keynote?

I'm sure this is an included feature that I just can't find somehow. I would like to insert a countdown timer into a slide. This seems pretty common; I've seen it done a lot. But I just can't find the Insert>timer link, or anything like it. And the iWork help file is forever searching and never going anywhere (second, embedded problem), so I can't search there.

I tried the iPresentee thing, but it didn't download properly. Plus, it seems like a basic feature available for a presenter, especially since there's a timer included in the Presenter view.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

iWork '09-OTHER

Posted on Feb 27, 2012 8:28 PM

Posted on Feb 27, 2012 10:44 PM

Keynote does not provide any countdown timer features. You need to seek third parties for them.

The iPresentee timers are a good start - their website provides a free "goodie" of timers in the form of a Keynote File where many choices of timers are available. Try downloading the file again or contact iPresentee for assistance.

Each Timer is actually a Quicktime video clip. You select the one with the closest time range to your needs, copy it to your presentation and adjust the start point.

Keynote > Inspector > Quicktime > Start & Stop controls

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Feb 27, 2012 10:44 PM in response to d moon

Apr 6, 2013 7:55 AM in response to d moon

Here you go. Keynote > Preferences > click Presenter Display click the presenter display button at the bottom of presenter display preferences. Choose Play > Customize Presenter Display. > Timer. the timer will give you the eleapsed time and time remaining, choose the option you want. Note that the timer starts once you click your first slide, not when you hit Play. Hope this helps.

Feb 28, 2012 4:45 PM in response to bwfromspring hill

Thanks bwfromspring hill. That's too bad. I'm starting to get a little wrestless with the few things it seems that iWork can do lately. Maybe thinking of switching to an alternative. Thanks for your response.

Apr 6, 2013 6:52 AM in response to d moon

FYI, Keynote does have a countdown timer feature. It may only be available when using a secondary monitor and running in presenter mode. Go to Play->cutsomize presenter display->select "time remaining". Default is elapsed time. Problem is, it's not working for me, which is what led me to this thread in the first place. It caused both the clock and the time remaining (per slide) to freeze, while the presentation carried on. Any advice?

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Custom keynote timers.

I love using animations to create shape timers. I prefer to have each shape disappear per minute. This helps with one to one counting and a very clear visual for students. Here are the instructions for how I make them. I also will add a template and a quick video to watch!

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Posted on October 20, 2023

This is really cool! Thanks for sharing.

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Super Aaron! Sure makes putting a timer on a Keynote slide easy and fun. Thanks for the video instructions.

Thanks Aaron, definitely using this!

Posted on March 06, 2024

Stealing this idea...

Here’s one I did with a line draw on a shape for a one minute timer

Posted on April 24, 2024

Love the line draw of the plane!

Love this! Thanks for sharing!

Here's where I went with the idea...

These are great!

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EricRenno.com

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Timer for Keynote and Other Presentations

So, i jumped into photoshop and designed one.

Exporting as a mp4 file means that the timer can be dropped into any Keynote presentation and started automatically or with a click. I’ve made the movie as 1 hour long but you can start from any point, here’s how;

Starting the Countdown Timer From Any Point

1. Add the movie, either through iPhoto or drag and drop. It’ll probably be too big, so resize if you’d like.

2. Choose the Format Inspector panel and then Movie from the sub menu

3. About half way down locate the Trim feature. As default the starting frame is set to 00:00:00:000, this being Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames.

4. Either click and drag the left most point, or more easily click in the starting frame and type in your start time.

In this example I’m setting up a 10 minute task so the timer starts 50 minutes in (00:50:00:000). The Poster Frame is what will be displayed prior to the movie starting, by default it is the first frame from where the movie will start and so for my case this is perfect 🙂

I hope you get some use from this, I’d love to hear your experiences and feedback and any other ideas you might like implementing.

Downloading the File

You are free to use this for any non commercial use, the selling of this file is strictly forbidden. Feel free to re-share with credit to this website .

Please show your appreciation by sharing via one of the social media icons below.

Download the Timer Movie from Here

(The file is held on my Adobe Creative Cloud account – Click the download link on the top right of the page)

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Keynote User Guide for iPad

• What’s new in Keynote 14.0
• Intro to Keynote
• Intro to images, charts, and other objects
• Create a presentation
• Choose how to navigate your presentation
• Open a presentation
• Save and name a presentation
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• Print a presentation
• Prevent accidental editing
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• Customize the toolbar
• Copy text and objects between apps
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• Use Apple Pencil with Keynote
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• Add a chart border and background
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• Animate objects onto and off a slide
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Make a presentation advance automatically in Keynote on iPad

You can set your presentation to advance automatically, like a movie, with no interaction needed. You can also set it to play immediately when it’s opened, or to play continuously in a loop.

Tap Self-Playing, then adjust the sliders to change the timing of transitions or build effects.

Set any of the playback options:

Loop Slideshow: Turn on to have the presentation return to the first slide at the end of the slideshow.

Restart Show if Idle: Turn on, then drag the slider to set the amount of idle time with no viewer interaction before the presentation returns to the first slide.

Presentation Timer

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How to automatically play, loop, or restart a slideshow in Keynote

When you’re presenting a slideshow, the last thing you need to worry about is actually playing it. That should be the easiest part. Keynote offers a few simple ways to play your slideshow automatically . You can set it to start, loop, and restart without lifting a finger. This is handy for presentations that you want to play continually in a waiting room, conference room, or trade show.

Here, we’ll show you how to set up your Keynote slideshow to do just that – automatically play, loop, and restart.

Automatically play, loop, or restart a Keynote slideshow

You have a few different options depending on your situation and when or where you’re playing your presentation:

• Automatically play upon opening : You can set the presentation to automatically play when you open it. This is handy if you set up the slideshow and someone else needs to start it.
• Loop the slideshow : This is an easy way to continually replay the slideshow after it ends.
• Restart when idle : Maybe you don’t want to loop the presentation but have it automatically restart after a set amount of inactive time.

Presentation options in Keynote

• Open your presentation in Keynote on your Mac and then access the settings by clicking the Document button on the top right.
• Make sure the Document tab is selected at the top of the sidebar.
• Check the box for the action you want to use: Automatically play upon open , Loop slideshow , or Restart show if idle for [time period]. You can use more than one at a time, too, if you like.

On iPhone and iPad

• Open your presentation in Keynote on your iPhone or iPad and then access the settings by tapping the three dots at the top.
• Select Presentation Options > Presentation Type .
• Enable the toggles for Loop Slideshow and/or Restart Show if idle [time period]. To automatically play the show, tap Self-Playing to mark a check for that option. This is different than playing the slideshow when it opens, like on Mac. Take a look at our how-to for the self-playing option .
• Finally, tap Done to save the changes.

Play your presentation your way

These convenient options let you play your slideshow, so you don’t have to keep hitting a button to start or restart. Just set it up and let it play your way.

Are you going to use one of these automatic settings for your next Keynote presentation? Let us know how the one(s) you pick work for you!

Related tips:

• How to use the Play Slideshow in Window feature in Keynote
• How to animate objects on a slide in Keynote on Mac
• How to play a movie or audio across slides in Keynote on Mac and iOS

“I was trying to find out how to create a timer in Keynote…and was shocked to find you that you can’t just do it through some animation. So then I started looking for videos to insert but they were all fairly ugly. Yours was the only visually appealing one I found”

David Burkus

“Today I had a workshop with 15 participants via Teams-Video-Chat … thanks Corona … and 20 min before I thought I needed a timer for the workshop tasks, which I could integrate into the presentation. Because we were all only present via video and still had to keep the timing. So: searched, found, installed and the timer worked very well”

Martin Verdino

“I found this through a google search after seeing a colleague using it during their lecture. I teach a large contemporary art lecture course and this is perfect for our exams which are slide image-based”

Rachel A. Widomski

“The timer is awesome, did an online goal-setting retreat where we reflected and planned for the upcoming months, the worked flawlessly.”

Rogier van Wagtendonk

“I used the timer in my lessons. It works great”

Juli Singer

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COUNTDOWN TIMERS FOR KEYNOTE

Bundle includes 16 countdown timers ready to be used with Keynote 5 or later version. Countdown Timers for Keynote can be used to show the time before the actual presentation, meeting or lecture should start. Furthermore you can set the time limit for test, questions or other task. Track time and manage tasks on any Keynote slide. Countdown timers can start countdown from 3 hours or less. Each Countdown Timer can be used on any presentation color scheme. Moreover timers can be changed in size, rotated or overlapped with other objects to create extra effects.

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Countdown Timers for Keynote

Click on any countdown timer to preview it.