How to Add Action Buttons in PowerPoint?

Action buttons in PowerPoint are similar to hyperlinks as they connect to another slide, play a specific sound, or perform any designated task. What’s the difference between hyperlinks and action buttons? Instead of using anchor text, action buttons use shapes to link elements.

These buttons are great features for adding connectivity and navigation. The simplest examples of action buttons are the next, previous, and home buttons for navigation. How do action buttons look, and where do you place them on the slides? It’s all up to you.

Popular Action Buttons in PowerPoint

There are different action buttons in different shapes, serving distinct purposes. These action button shapes are not limited to PowerPoint only; in other applications, these shapes have the same purpose. Here are some commonly used action button shapes in PowerPoint:

Back or previous
Forward or next
End
Home
Beginning
Information
Return
Movie
Sound
Document
Help
Custom

You can find these buttons by clicking Insert tab >> Shapes >> scroll down to action buttons. There are other shapes that you can use as custom action buttons. There are unlimited creative ways to make your boring presentation exciting, interactive, and easy to navigate.

Add Action Buttons in PowerPoint

First, you need to think of proper buttons and shapes with certain functionality for the slides. Once you plan to make your presentation more interactive, follow these steps to add action buttons to your slides.

1- Open your presentation, go to the Insert tab >> Shapes >> Action Buttons

2- Select any shape from the Action Buttons tab and then draw on your side at a desired position; when you draw the shape, a new window will pop up automatically

3- Choose any action from this window you want the button to perform. By default, the “Hyperlink to” option sets the action associated with the shape. In this case, the home button is linked to the first slide by default. You can choose any of the following actions:

None- add shapes for visual appeal only or as an image; no action assigned
Hyperlink to– link the button to any other slide, file, or presentation
Run Program- opens any external program with the click of the button
Run Macro- execute any macro if your presentation has
Object Action- used to run OLE objects
Play Sound- selects any sound from the available audio to play with this button

4—Click the OK button and then test the button. Start the slide show to check if the button is working correctly.

Move to Click and Mouse Over

In the action settings window, there are two tabs. The first tab, “Mouse Click,” sets the action that is triggered when the user clicks on the button. The other tab has the “Mouse Over” settings, where actions are triggered when the user moves the mouse over the button.

How to Add an Action Button to All Slides?

Imagine you want to add a Home Button to all slides in your presentation. This home button would help users navigate to the first slide from any other slide in the presentation. For example, you could jump to the first slide from slide seven by clicking on the home button.

For this, we will have to add a home button and specific action from the Slide Master view. The resource section contains several blogs that can help you understand how to use Slide Master View. Follow these simple steps to add a sample home button to all slides in the presentation.

1- Open your presentation, go to View tab >> Slide Master View >> and select the very first slide

2- Now, follow the same above-mentioned method to add an action button, add a button, and assign a task

3- Close the slide master view and check if the button is working on all slides

Customize an Action Button

As the action buttons are just shapes with added linking, you can make different changes and customizations to these buttons. It is quite easy to customize and edit an action button.

Click on the action button and go to the Format tab. Here, you can change color and style or apply different edits according to the theme of the presentation.

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Conclusion- Add Action Button in PowerPoint

Follow this guide to add action buttons in PowerPoint and customize them for better navigation and interactive slides. Explore the power of ChatGPT for your next presentations.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes, go to the format tab for the action button, and here you can make any changes according to your theme or personal choices.

Choose the button, click on the action button from the top menu, and you will see different options to change the task for that specific button.

Both serve almost the same purpose, but adding buttons makes navigation easier and also adds aesthetic value to your presentation.