How to create action buttons in Microsoft PowerPoint

Action buttons, as the name suggests, are buttons that trigger an action in Microsoft PowerPoint. Adding action buttons can make your presentation more interactive.

You can add buttons to move up a slide or play a video. This tutorial explains how to create, design, and animate action buttons in PowerPoint.

How to add action buttons in Microsoft PowerPoint

Go to your Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and open the slide where you want to create an action button. Here are 3 simple steps to add action buttons to your slides:

1. Insert a shape

Click on the slide where you want to insert the button. Go to the Insert tab , click Shapes , then under Action Buttons at the bottom of the menu, click the button shape you want to add.

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Once you've selected the shape, click and drag the cursor across the slide to draw it. Continue dragging around until you see the size you want, then release the mouse. Of course, you can always resize or reposition the shape if needed, even after you've drawn it.

Microsoft PowerPoint also allows you to use any image to create an action button. To add an image and assign an action to it, go to the Insert tab , in the Illustrations group , click Pictures . Once inserted, click the picture, then on the Insert tab , in the Links group , click Action .

If you need to do some basic editing, you can use Microsoft PowerPoint's built-in image editing tools.

2. Open the Action Settings dialog box

Creating an action button involves linking another space and piece of information to your slide. This means you can link to another slide, presentation, URL, video, or another document.

Action buttons work differently than hyperlinks in PowerPoint presentations, which are typically used to link to URLs. To specify an action:

1. When a shape is selected from the Action Buttons category : You will see the Action Settings dialog box pop up as soon as you finish drawing the button.

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1. When a shape is selected from any other category : You need to right-click on the shape and select Action Settings.

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1. When you are using an image as an action button : Right click on the image and go to Action Settings .

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3. Configure actions

After you open the Action Settings dialog box , go to the Mouse Click tab to configure the action that fires when someone clicks the action button. Additionally, you can use the Mouse Over tab to create an action that fires when someone hovers the cursor over the action button.

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1. Link to : You can specify a shape to act as a link to the next slide, previous slide, other presentations, other files, etc.

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1. Run program : You can choose to create an action to run the program using this option. Then click Select and browse for the app you want to launch when someone clicks the button.

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1. Run macro : You can link to a macro using this option. If you don't have macros in your slideshow, this option will be grayed out.
2. Object action : Use this option to select an OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) object. Again, if your slideshow does not have OLE objects, this option will not be available.
3. Play sound : Select the sound of your choice from the drop-down menu or select Other Sound to upload your sound.

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Click OK to apply. Go to Slideshow on the ribbon and select Play from start to check out the action buttons.

How to add effects to buttons in PowerPoint

Adding visual effects is a great way to attract attention and make your presentation visually appealing. To add visual effects, you can use the animation section in Microsoft PowerPoint. Click your action button and go to the Animations section on the ribbon at the top. Choose an animation from the available options.

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How to edit action buttons in PowerPoint

There are different ways to edit action buttons in your PowerPoint presentation.

1. Action Settings options : Right click on the action button, go to Action Settings and change the specified action.
2. Edit link option : Right click on the image and go to Link > Edit Link .

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1. Insert section : Or you can click the action button and go to the Insert section on the ribbon. Select Action or Link to quickly edit the specified action.

Next, to edit the appearance or animation of the action button, click on the action button and then go to the Shape Format section on the ribbon. This section allows you to customize the shape, size, color, etc. In fact, you can also change the shape of the button if you want without changing the action assigned to it.

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Isabella Humphrey

Update 24 November 2023