PowerPoint - Create a hyperlink or bookmark

If you create a tutorial in PowerPoint, the user should be allowed to click and move to the slide he wants to see easily and quickly.  PowerPoint usually moves to the next slide.  This tip sheet will show how to put hyperlinks or bookmarks on the screen to permit the user to move exactly where she want to go when she wants to move to another slide.

To remove the normal transitions of a PowerPoint presentation

Normally transitions control the movement from one slide to another in a linear fashion, from Slide 1 to Slide 2 to Slide 3, etc.  To remove the transitions, on the menubar click on Slide Show, then Slide Transition.

Make sure that there is no mark next to On mouse click.   Select the tick if there is one, to deselect it.  If there is a mark next to Automatically after, select the tick to deselect it.  When there are no ticks, click on Apply to All.  Now the slides will not move from Slide 1 to Slide 2 to Slide 3, etc.   The slides will not move at all unless you add hyperlinks or bookmarks.

To add a hyperlink or bookmark to a slide

The slide presentation on Networks has 4 slides:  Slide 1 on Networks, Slide 2 on What is data communication, Slide 3 on Basic concepts and Slide 4 on Types of area networks.  The aim is that if one clicks on those words, one will jump or link to a slide on that topic. 

The titles have all been typed in separate text boxes.  There are 3 text boxes on the left. Each text box will be hyperlinked to a different slide.

Note the four slides and the topics of each slide.  Note that on each slide there are words in text boxes on the left: the words are the titles of the slides.  

To link to Slide 2 on What is data communication

Select the text box from which to link.

Right-click the mouse.  In the box select Hyperlink.

In the Insert Hyperlink dialogue box, click on Bookmark.

Select Slide 2.  The aim is to link the text box of What is data communication to the slide of the same name.  When you show the slide in presentation mode, if you click on that box, it will open the selected slide.  Click OK.

Do the same to the other text boxes on the slide.

Make sure you link all the text boxes from all the slides in the slide show.   The user should be able to link forward and backward, except that there will be no beginning and no end, and no first slide and no last slide.  The user will be able to view the presentation in a non-linear fashion at his own pace and choice.

Instead of text boxes one can use pictures or autoshapes, whatever is appropriate to assist the viewer understand where he is going.

This work may be freely copied for non-commercial use only. Copyright © Pam Miller