Can overlays be activated for a single frame in handout mode in beamer?

Question

I'm working on a long beamer document and each frame has lots of overlays. To make my workflow faster, I'm using handout mode. However, sometimes when I'm working on a frame I want to test whether or not the overlays are working properly. I'm curious if it is possible to activate overlays for a single frame in handout mode.

Here is a MWE:

\documentclass[handout]{beamer}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Happy Without Overlays Here}
\begin{block}{First Block}<+->
    Foo bar.
  \end{block}
\begin{block}{Second Block}<+->
    Foo bar.
  \end{block}
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}[?magic?]
\frametitle{I Want Overlays Here}
\begin{block}{First Block}<+->
    Foo \pause bar.
  \end{block}
\begin{block}{Second Block}<+->
    Spam \pause eggs.
  \end{block}
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Also Happy Without Overlays Here}
\begin{block}{First Block}<+->
    Foo bar.
  \end{block}
\begin{block}{Second Block}<+->
    Foo bar.
  \end{block}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

@Ignassi Not really. The technique there would allow me to display a specific overlay from the frame in handout mode. I want all overlays from one particular frame to display in handout mode. — Brian Fitzpatrick, Jan 26 '21 at 14:30

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 14 '22 at 10:01

You could temporarily switch to a different mode:

\documentclass[
handout
]{beamer}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Happy Without Overlays Here}
\begin{block}{First Block}<+->
    Foo bar.
  \end{block}
\begin{block}{Second Block}<+->
    Foo bar.
  \end{block}
\end{frame}
\makeatletter
\gdef\beamer@currentmode{beamer}
\makeatother
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{I Want Overlays Here}
\begin{block}{First Block}<+->
    Foo \uncover<+->{bar.}
  \end{block}
\begin{block}{Second Block}<+->
    Spam \uncover<+->{eggs.}
  \end{block}
\end{frame}
\makeatletter
\gdef\beamer@currentmode{handout}
\makeatother
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Also Happy Without Overlays Here}
\begin{block}{First Block}<+->
    Foo bar.
  \end{block}
\begin{block}{Second Block}<+->
    Foo bar.
  \end{block}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

This is fantastic. Thank you!
Now I'm interested in wrapping this into a new environment but can't quite figure out how:

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/651069/newdocumentenvironment-ignoring-gdef-statement-in-beamer — Brian Fitzpatrick, Jul 16 '22 at 06:23

Can overlays be activated for a single frame in handout mode in beamer?

1 Answers1