Navigation Buttons in Power Point

In the newest (2007) version of Power Point (TM) the insertion of navigation buttons can enhance your presentation and make it easier to use. You typically would make a "Title Slide" for your presentation and the very next slide might be a "Main Menu" slide. The main menu slide can have many navigation buttons. Typically a navigation button would be just prior to the name of each section on the menu. If you have the main menu screen visible and in you are in the editing mode, you would click on the "Insert Tab" and then at the bottom of that submenu there are a number of "Action Buttons" from which to select. Typically on a menu page you might use the one that looks like a square with a right facing arrow.

The default for this is to go to the next slide and this will need to be adjusted to go to the particular slide you want in your presentation, but first you will need to draw the action button. Once you had selected the button from the insert section as you move back to your slide the cursor will form a cross hair type display and you would click and hold with the left mouse button and then pull downward and to the right forming the button to the size you want. You would then move it into the location you want and after this you would shown that it has defaulted to the next slide option. Clicking on the down arrow in that menu will let you pick from a variety of options, but in this case you will be selecting "Another Slide" and after that is selected you will have to select the actual slide you will want your presentation to show when that button is selected. If you have not created that slide yet, you will not be able to accomplish this task yet.

Generally I create three slides initially. The Title Slide, The Main Menu Slide, and The initial Content Slide. I do not put the buttons on the Main Menu Slide initially. I do put some standard buttons on the first content slide. Typically I will put a "Home" button which I set to go to the Main Menu slide, I set a forward to next slide button and a previous slide button. Typically I will place the forward and back buttons on the bottom right and the Home button on the bottom left of the content screen. I set all of these buttons to work properly.

I would then view my slides with the slide sorter and click on the first content slide, then press and hole the CTRL key and while holding the control key press the "C" key. This is a "controlled copy" function. I have then copied this content slide which is still basically blank, but has the navigation buttons I will want on most every other slide.

I then click just past the content slide on the slide sorter and then hold the CTRL key and while holding the control key tap the letter "V" to paste in a second content slide. I continue to past in dozens of additional content slides which will be used later in my design of the presentation. The advantage is that they all now have the same exact set of navigation buttons.

You may wonder how that first navigation button can be created with the buttons being the same size. If you have created the "next" button and like the size of the button, then when you create the "back" button you can initially draw it right on top of the "next" button. This helps you to get the size the same. You then only have to move it a bit to get it into place. The home button can be created the same relative size with the same process.

The Control V function may seem odd as a "paste" function, but this is so that it does not conflict with a typical concept of "P" as print. Learning the control C and the control V can be quite helpful in many other aspects of computer use.

Once I have my template slides for my content then I have slides now that can become the destination for buttons on the main menu. I usually create the main menu much later in the process however, because I am often not certain about how many content slides will be needed for each segment of the presentation.

If you have ever watched other make presentation and noticed how they can get behind or ahead in their presentations and then have significant problems going forward or backward or restarting their presentation then you might begin to appreciate how navigation buttons may help with your presentation. There are a great number of other things you can do with navigation / action buttons. You can add sound, video, and much more. You can even have one program move into another program with action buttons.

This article was limited to a discussion of the use of navigation / action buttons not commonly used but which could be useful in your future presentations.

Another helpful button you might consider is the "END" action button to end your power point presentation. I often put that on the Main Menu page at the bottom left, since you will not need a "Home" button on that slide. Slide presentations can become very powerful tools in presenting your business to the community. The use of a presentation lets the community know that you have moved into the technological era, even if your business is plumbing. Even if it is obvious that your company has been in business for many years and can and has done the work before, showing your ability to make a presentation immediately sets your company apart from others that can not make such presentations.