How to Loop Presentations in LibreOffice Impress

Configuring a presentation to run continuously on an unattended display screen is an effective way to showcase information for digital signage, trade show booths, or public kiosks. This guide explains how to set up automated slide transitions and configure LibreOffice Impress to automatically restart a presentation in an infinite loop without requiring manual interaction.

Step 1: Set Automatic Slide Transitions

For a presentation to run unattended, each slide must advance automatically based on a timer rather than a mouse click.

  1. Open your presentation in LibreOffice Impress.
  2. Select all slides in the Slides pane on the left side (press Ctrl + A on Windows/Linux or Cmd + A on macOS).
  3. Open the Slide Transition panel in the right sidebar (the icon looks like a slide with a star or arrow).
  4. Under the Advance slide section, select After.
  5. Set the number of seconds each slide should remain on the screen before advancing.
  6. If you want specific slides to stay visible longer than others, select those individual slides in the Slides pane and adjust their transition duration separately.

Step 2: Configure the Continuous Loop

Once the slide timings are established, configure the slide show playback mode to repeat continuously.

  1. Go to the top menu and select Slide Show > Slide Show Settings… (or Slide Show > Slide Show Properties… depending on your LibreOffice version).
  2. In the Type section, select the Loop and repeat after: radio button.
  3. Set the pause duration. To restart the presentation immediately without any delay, set the timer to 00:00:00.
  4. (Optional) Check or uncheck Show logo depending on whether you want the LibreOffice logo displayed during any pause between loops.
  5. Click OK to save the settings.

Step 3: Run and Test the Presentation

  1. Press F5 (or go to Slide Show > Start from First Slide) to start playback.
  2. Allow the presentation to run through all slides to confirm that the timing is accurate and that the presentation seamlessly restarts at the beginning once the final slide finishes.
  3. To stop the looping presentation at any time, press the Esc key on your keyboard.