IT Training
Microsoft PowerPoint 2013™
Linking & Customising Presentations
(Level 3)
Contents
Introduction .................................................................. 1
Linking to an Existing Presentation.............................. 1
Linking via a Hyperlink ......................................... 2
Linking via Animation........................................... 2
Adding a Linked Presentation to the Slide Master ....... 3
Creating a Custom Show ............................................. 4
Linking to a Custom Show ................................... 6
Combining Presentations ............................................ 6
Introduction
It is sometimes useful to link one PowerPoint presentation to another. This may be to give
the presenter/reader the opportunity to view additional information, if required or if
time allows. Another use might be to create a dynamic link through which information
can be updated at any time. A third example might be to break up a talk into distinct
sections, each with its own layout. This is achieved by linking several presentations, each
of which has its own Slide Master.
Another example would be where a user maintains a library of small presentations, some
of which are then linked together to produce a particular talk. As an alternative to
creating a library of presentations, some users like to keep a wide range of slides within a
single presentation and then customise particular shows by selecting just the slides
required. The final example looks at combining 2 or more presentations together into a
larger one.
Linking to an Existing Presentation
The example below will be used to link a new presentation to an existing one. You start by creating a
new presentation:
1. Load PowerPoint and click on Blank Presentation to create a new presentation (or press <Ctrl
n> for a new presentation)
2. Click on Click to add title (on the default Title Slide layout) and type Linking Presentations
3. Press <Ctrl m> (or click on the icon above [New Slide] in the Slides group on the HOME tab) for
a second slide
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4. Click on Click to add title (using the Title and Content layout) and type Linking to a File
When linking to another file, you can either put in a hyperlink to it (which must be clicked on to activate)
or you can have the other file run automatically, as part of the animation.
Linking via a Hyperlink
In this first example, add a hyperlink to your slide:
1. Click on Click to add text and type Here is another example presentation
2. Drag through the words another example presentation to select them, then right click and
choose Hyperlink… (or press <Ctrl k> or use the [Hyperlink] button in the Links group on the
INSERT tab)
3. Change Look in: (above Current Folder) to show Computer - the category on the left of the Insert
Hyperlink window should already be set to Existing File or Web Page
4. In the list, double click on (D:) followed by the folder Training then select the file example.pps
5. Click on [ScreenTip...] at the top right of the dialog box and type Link to example.pps
Note: The Screen Tip is what appears when you move the mouse cursor over a hyperlink during a
presentation.
6. Press <Enter> for [OK] twice
7. Press <F5> to run the show (or move to the SLIDE SHOW tab and click on [From Beginning])
8. On slide 2, move your mouse over the link to see the Screen Tip and then click on it
9. After a couple of slides, press <Esc> to return to your original presentation
10. End your presentation by running through it (or press <Esc>)
Linking via Animation
In the previous example, you could choose whether you wanted to run the second file or not. In this next
one, the second presentation runs automatically:
1. Move to slide 2 then move to the INSERT tab and click on the [Object] button in the Text group
2. In the Insert Object window, click on Create from file on the left-hand side
3. Click on [Browse...] then go to Computer. Double click on (D:), then the Training folder and
choose example.pps again - press <Enter> for [OK]
You can now insert the whole file into your current presentation or link to it. By linking, not only do you
have smaller files to manage, but also any updates made to the secondary file will be passed through
when you run the current presentation.
4. Turn on the Link option by clicking in the checkbox next to it and then press <Enter> for [OK]
5. Using the <arrow keys>, move the inserted presentation to a suitable position on the slide
You now need to set up animation so that the inserted file runs automatically when required:
6. Move to the ANIMATIONS tab then click on [Add Animation] in the Advanced Animation group
7. Click on OLE Action Verbs… (at the bottom) then choose Show - press <Enter> for [OK]
8. Click on the down list arrow on the right of the object in the Animation Pane (if this isn’t there,
click [Animation Pane] on the ribbon) , choose Effect Options... and turn on Hide before this
action
9. Change After animation: to Hide After Animation
10. Press <Enter> for [OK] to close the OLE Action dialog box
11. Press <F5> to run the show
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The settings chosen above hide the presentation both before and after it runs. Note that once the
second PowerPoint presentation starts running, it will occupy the whole screen - you cannot restrict it to
the area defined by the placeholder.
12. On slide 2, when you click the mouse button, the other presentation will run automatically
13. To return to your original presentation, type 10 (and press <Enter>) to move directly to the last
slide then press <Enter> again to end the linked presentation
14. End your presentation by running through it (or by pressing <Esc>)
Adding a Linked Presentation to the Slide Master
Sometimes you may want to be able to link to another presentation from any slide. To do this, the link
must be added to the Slide Master. The next example creates a link to the current time, which can be
useful if you are giving a talk in a darkened room and have no illuminated clock.
Begin by creating another presentation:
1. Press <Ctrl n> for a new presentation
2. Move to the HOME tab then click on the [Layout] button in the Slides group and choose a Blank
slide layout
3. Move to the INSERT tab then click on the [Text Box] button in the Text group
4. Now click where you would like the time to appear on the slide (e.g. bottom right corner)
5. On the INSERT tab, click on the [Date and Time] icon in the Text group
Tip: Inserting a date or time into a Text Box allows you to position the information anywhere on the
screen - normally this information is restricted to the slide footer.
6. From the Available formats choose the current time shown in the format of hh:mm:ss (i.e. hours,
minutes and seconds – it’s near the end of the list))
7. Turn on the Update automatically check box then press <Enter> for [OK]
8. Press <Esc> to select the text box then use the <arrow keys> to position it precisely
You now have a presentation which will display the time when you run it. To make it close automatically
after checking the time:
9. Click on the [Shapes] button in the Illustrations group and choose the first shape under
Rectangles
10. Using the mouse, draw a large rectangle over the text box which displays the time, making it
bigger than the text box (roughly twice the size)
11. Move to the DRAWING TOOLS FORMAT tab and click on the arrow next to [Send Backward] in
the Arrange group and choose Send to Back
12. To hide the rectangle, click on the [Shape Fill] button in the Shape Styles group and choose
white (the first button in the first row of Theme Colors) to match the background colour
13. Click on the [Shape Outline] button (below to Shape Fill) and choose No Outline
14. Click on the INSERT tab and click on [Action] in the Links group - an Action Settings dialog box
appears
You now have a choice of activating the button either using a mouse click or mouse over. Here, try using
mouse over:
15. Click on the Mouse Over tab then choose Hyperlink to
16. Click on the list arrow provided and choose End Show
17. Press <Enter> for [OK] to close the dialog box
18. Press <Ctrl s> to [Save] the presentation (you can save it in My Documents under Computer call it time then press <Enter> for [Save]
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19. Press <Ctrl F4> to close the file (or select [Close] via the File tab in the top left)
Now create a link to this new file on the Slide Master of your original presentation:
1. Move to the VIEW tab then click on the [Slide Master] button in the Master Views group
2. Within the Slide Master view, scroll up and click on the top slide miniature on the left (Office
Theme Slide Master)
3. Move to the HOME tab then click on the [Shapes] button in the Drawing group (or the
More arrow next to the different shapes)
4. From Action Buttons at the foot of the pop-up menu select the last empty square for a Custom
action setting
5. Click on the slide roughly where the time appears in the other presentation - the Action Settings
dialog box appears
6. Click on the Mouse Over tab then choose Hyperlink to
7. Click on the list arrow provided and scroll down to choose Other PowerPoint Presentation...
8. Select the file time.pptx then press <Enter> for [OK]
9. Press <Enter> for [OK] again to close the Action Settings dialog box
10. Using the <arrow> keys, move the action button to the exact position required
Now hide the button:
11. On the DRAWING TOOLS FORMAT tab, click on the [Shape Fill] button and choose No Fill
12. Click on [Shape Outline] and set it to No Outline
13. Move to the SLIDE MASTER tab then click on the [Close Master View] button on the right to
return to your slides
For more information about the Slide Master and Theme Colours see the documents PowerPoint
Templates and Slide Masters and PowerPoint Themes.
Now try running the presentation:
1. Press <F5> to run the show
2. On slide 1, move the mouse button pointer over the area (probably the bottom right-hand corner)
of the hidden action button - the current time will be displayed
3. Move the pointer slightly and the time should disappear
4. Press <Enter> to move to the next slide and repeat the above 2 steps - note the new time
5. Press <Esc> to end the show
Obviously you wouldn't want to keep showing the time between slides in a real presentation, but it might
be useful to have this available in an emergency. If you add a time code to the footer, it isn't updated
once the presentation has been started. Of course you can use this feature to run any presentation you
like, not just for showing the time, and can control it with clicks rather than mouse over.
Creating a Custom Show
As well as being able to build up a presentation from several component files, PowerPoint lets you select
just certain slides from a presentation to tailor it to a particular audience. This saves you having to
maintain several very similar presentations, each for a certain group of people. These are called
Custom Shows.
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Usually you start with a show which has many slides. Your current show only has two, so begin by
creating some further slides:
1. Move to slide 2 then press <Ctrl m> for another slide
2. Click on Click to add title and type something suitable (e.g. Slide 3)
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to create a presentation of at least six slides
Now create a Custom Show:
4. Move to the SLIDE SHOW tab then click on the [Custom Slide Show] button and choose
Custom Shows... - a Custom Shows dialog box appears
5. Click on [New...] - the Define Custom Show dialog box is displayed:
6. Under the Slide show name heading, type a name for your first show – e.g. Show 1
7. Under the Slides in presentation: heading, click in the checkboxes next to the slides you want in
the custom show and then use [Add>>] – the first 3 slides will do
8. If you want to modify the order of the slides in the show or delete a slide, click on the relevant
slide under the Slides in custom show: heading on the right, then use the [Up Arrow] or [Down
Arrow] button to move it, or the [Remove] button to delete it
9. When you have finished creating your Custom Show, click on [OK] - you are returned to the
Custom Shows dialog box:
The various buttons provided here allow you to:
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




[New...] - use this to create further custom shows
[Edit...] - use this to change an existing show, including changing the name
[Remove] - deletes the selected custom show
[Copy] - duplicates a show which can then be used as the basis of another show using the [Edit...]
button
[Close] - simply closes the dialog box
[Show] - runs the show
10. Click on [Show] to run the custom show - note how only certain slides appear
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At the end of the show you are taken back to your original file. To run the Custom Show again:
11. Move to the Slide Show tab then click on the [Custom Slide Show] button and choose Show 1
12. Run the custom show to completion or press <Esc> to come out of it
Linking to a Custom Show
In the same way that you can create hyperlinks to other presentations, you can link to Custom Shows
within a presentation. This can be very useful if you find you are running short of time and want to cut out
a few slides, or you may set up a range of different shows for different audiences.
To set up a hyperlink:
1. Move to Slide 3 and click on Click to add text
2. Type Here is Show 1
3. Drag through the words Show 1 to select them and then move to the INSERT tab and click on
[Action] in the Links group
As you have seen throughout this document, action settings can be set on a piece of text, a placeholder
or an action button.
4. In the Action Settings dialog box, click on Hyperlink to (on the Mouse Click tab)
5. Using the list arrow provided, open the drop-down list and select Custom Show...
6. In the Custom Show dialog box, choose Show 1 then press <Enter> for [OK]
7. Press <Enter> for [OK] again to close the Action Settings dialog box
Now run the show and test out the link:
8. Press <Shift F5> (or move to the SLIDE SHOW tab and click on [From Current Slide]) to start
the show from slide 3
9. Click on the link to the custom show
10. Run the custom show to completion
You will find that the presentation stops when the custom show ends - you are not taken back to the
original presentation to continue with the remaining slides. Normally, you would have a link to a custom
show like this on a hidden action button so that, if you were running late, you could skip a few of your
slides. Of course, you could also have a similar link on one of the custom show slides to run a second
custom show which does continue with the remaining slides.
See Microsoft PowerPoint Using Action Buttons for more details.
Combining Presentations
You can add slides to your current presentation from another without having to open the other
presentation:
1. Move to the slide where you want to insert the other presentation – here, go to your last slide
2. On the HOME tab, in the Slides group, click the arrow below [New Slide] and select Reuse
Slides… (at the bottom)
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3. In the Reuse Slides pane on the right of the screen, click on Open a PowerPoint File
4. In the Browse dialog box, select the file that contains the slide(s) you want, then click Open
If you don’t have another presentation available, use the example.pps presentation (in the Training
folder on the (D:) drive)
Tip: In the Reuse Slides pane, PowerPoint displays thumbnails of the slides from the presentation that
you selected.
5. In the Reuse Slides pane, do one of the following:
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
To add a single slide, click the slide.
To add all of the slides, right click any slide, then select Insert All Slides
Note: If you want the slide that you are adding to the destination presentation to maintain the formatting
of the original presentation, turn on Keep source formatting at the foot of the pane before you add the
slide(s) to the destination presentation.
™ Trademark owned by Microsoft Corporation.
© Screen shot(s) reprinted by permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright © 2015: The University of Reading
Last Revised: March 2015
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