IT Training
Microsoft PowerPoint 2013™
Using Action Buttons (Level 3)
Contents
Introduction .................................................................. 1
Adding an Action Button to a Slide .............................. 1
Setting Up the Action Settings ..................................... 2
Creating a Customised Action Button .......................... 3
Adding Action Buttons to the Slide Master .................. 4
Creating a Self-Running Presentation ......................... 4
Introduction
PowerPoint provides built-in Action Buttons which can be inserted into a presentation and
which provide hyperlinks to other slides (navigation buttons) or to other applications or
files (e.g. a linked PowerPoint presentation). Conventional symbols are provided to
navigate between slides (e.g. next or previous) or for playing a movie or sound.
Action buttons are particularly useful in a self-running presentation or for one held on the
WWW.
Adding an Action Button to a Slide
Action buttons can be added to any existing slide following the instructions below. First, however, you
must have a slide to add them to:
1. Start-up PowerPoint with a blank presentation (or press <Ctrl n> for a new presentation if you
are already using PowerPoint)
2. Click on Click to add title and type Using Action Buttons
3. Press <Ctrl m> for a new slide (or click on the icon above the [New Slide] button in the Slides
group on the ribbon of the HOME tab)
4. Click on Click to add title and type Action One
Now add an action button to Slide 2:
5. Click on the [Shapes] button in the Drawing group on the ribbon of the HOME tab
Note: If you have a high screen resolution, this may show various shape symbols. In this case, click on
the
More arrow just to the right of them.
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At the bottom of the menu that appears, there’s a list of Action Buttons:
6. Position the cursor over each of the buttons in turn to see their suggested use (note that you do
not have to use a particular button in this way; the use denotes the conventional symbolism)
7. Click on the first button, the [Back or Previous] action button, to select it and then click in the
bottom right area of your slide. Both a blue action button and an Action Settings dialog box
appear:
Setting Up the Action Settings
The Action Settings dialog box has two tabs, which determine what happens when you either mouse
click on an action button or move the mouse over it. It appears automatically whenever you add a button
to a slide, but can also be displayed via the [Action] button on the INSERT tab, if you need to check or
edit the settings.
1. Click on the list arrow attached to the Hyperlink to: option on the Mouse Click tab
2. Explore the options available but keep the action as Previous Slide
Note that these options allow you to open another file (e.g. another PowerPoint presentation or a
Word/Excel file) or a link to a web page (URL), as well as letting you move to different slides in the
current presentation.
3. Click on the Mouse Over tab - the options here are almost identical; keep the action as None
4. Press <Enter> or click on [OK] to save the current settings
The default size of an action button is rather large. To make it smaller:
5. Move the mouse cursor to one of the corner circle handles, hold down the mouse button and
drag towards the centre of the action button until it fits on the slide
Tip: To preserve the shape of the button, hold down the <Shift> button as you resize it.
6. Use the <arrow keys> to move the button to a precise position on the slide
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To change the background colour (which is currently blue):
7. Click on the list arrow attached to the [Shape Fill] button in the Shape Styles group about
halfway along the DRAWING TOOLS FORMAT tab
8. Select the colour required - it's probably best to use one of the Theme Colors
Note: To hide an action button (not usually recommended), set the [Shape Fill] to No Fill and the
[Shape Outline] to No Outline.
9. Test out the new button - press <F5> (usually a key on the top row of the keyboard) to run the
show
10. Move to the second slide then click on the action button to move back to the first
11. Press <Esc> to end the show
Note that PowerPoint provides a similar back button on the popup menu in the lower left corner of the
screen when running the slideshow, so this particular example of using action buttons isn't that useful.
The important thing is to understand how they work and the sort of things they might be used for.
Creating a Customised Action Button
If you want to use a non-standard action button, you can create your own by adding either text or a
symbol to a blank Custom button.
1. Click on the [Shapes] button in the Drawing group on the ribbon of the HOME tab (or the More
arrow)
2. At the bottom of the list under Action Buttons, click on the last blank button, [Custom], and then
click in the bottom left area of your slide
3. In the Action Settings dialog box, click on the radio button next to the Hyperlink to: option and
from the dropdown list choose First Slide – press <Enter> for [OK]
4. Right click on the new button and choose Edit Text from the shortcut menu
You can now choose whether to allocate a word to your button or a symbol. To add a word:
5. Type in the required text - e.g. Restart (you will use this button to move to the first slide)
6. Go to step 10 in this section
To add a symbol:
7. Move to the INSERT tab on the Ribbon then click on the [Symbol] button in the Symbols group
8. Click on the list arrow attached to the Font: button (top left of Symbol window) and select an
iconic font at the end of the list such as Webdings, Wingdings, Wingdings2 or Wingdings3
9. Choose a suitable icon, [Insert] it then [Close] the Symbol dialog box
To fit the text or symbol to the custom button:
10. Right click on the action button (away from the text or symbol) and choose Size and Position...
from the shortcut menu
11. In the pane on the right (Format Shape), under Text Box turn on the Resize shape to fit text
option
12. Change the Left and Right margin settings to 0.1 cm and close [X] the Format Shape pane
13. Now use the [Increase Font Size] or [Decrease Font Size] buttons in the Font group on the
HOME tab to set an appropriate size for the button
14. The [Shape Fill] and [Font Color] buttons can be used to change the fill and font colours
15. Finally, move the button to a precise position on the slide using the mouse or the <arrow keys>
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Adding Action Buttons to the Slide Master
If you want an action button to be available on all your slides then it needs to be on the Slide Master.
Rather than create a new button from scratch, move the custom button you have just created:
1. Make sure the Restart button is still selected (click on it then press <Esc> if necessary) then
[Cut] it (<Ctrl x>) from the current slide
2. Move to the VIEW tab then click on the [Slide Master] button in the Master Views group
3. Click on the top slide miniature on the left to choose the Slide Master that’s used by all the slides
(you may need to scroll up the list to do this). It’s bigger than the other slide layouts
4. Press <Ctrl v> to [Paste] the button onto the Slide Master – position it using the <arrow keys>
5. Exit the Slide Master by clicking on the [Close Master View] button on the right of the ribbon
Now add another slide to your presentation and note how the Restart button appears on it:
6. Press <Ctrl m> (or use the [New Slide] button in the Slides group on the HOME tab)
7. Click on Click to add title and type Action Two
8. Press <F5> to run the presentation then move onto the second slide and test out your [Back]
button
9. Move through to third slide then test out your [Restart] action button
10. Press <Esc> to quit the show (or run through it to the end, if you want)
Creating a Self-Running Presentation
Action buttons are particularly useful in self-running presentations. To turn your current presentation into
a self-running one, you first need to set up slide transition:
1. Move to the TRANSITIONS tab then turn on [After] (on the far right under Timing) and click on
the up arrow 5 times to set up a 5-second transition time
2.
3.
4.
5.
Decide whether or not you want to allow advance [On Mouse Click] - here leave it turned on
From the transitions in the middle of the ribbon, choose an appropriate transition effect, e.g. Fade
Set the Duration if you want - here, the current setting is probably fine
Finally, click on the [Apply to All] button on the ribbon
To make a self-running presentation last more than a few seconds, you can set it to loop round the
slides:
6. Move to the SLIDE SHOW tab then click on the [Set Up Slide Show] button in the Set Up group
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The following dialog box appears:
7. Under the Show options heading turn on the Loop continuously until 'Esc' option
8. Make sure Advance slides is set to Using timings, if present - press <Enter> for [OK]
9. Press <F5> to run the presentation – when the second slide appears (it has Action One on it) test
out your [Restart] button
10. Press <Esc> to exit the presentation when you have seen enough
™ Trademark owned by Microsoft Corporation.
© Screen shot(s) reprinted by permission from Microsoft Corporation.
Copyright © 2015: The University of Reading
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Last Revised: March 2015