Action buttons, as the name suggests, are buttons that trigger an action in Microsoft PowerPoint. Adding action buttons can make your presentations more interactive.
You can add a button to move up a slide or play a video. This guide explains how to create, design, and add effects to action buttons in PowerPoint.
How to Add Action Buttons in Microsoft PowerPoint
Go to your Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and open the slide on which you want to create an action button. Here are three simple steps to add an action button to your slide:
1. Insert the Shape
Click on the slide where you want to insert the button. Go to theInserttab, clickShapes, and then underAction Buttonsat the bottom of the menu, click the button shape that you want to add.
Screenshot by Dharini Udani – No attribution required
Once you’ve selected a shape, click and drag your cursor across the slide to draw. Keep dragging around until you see the desired dimensions, and then release the click. Of course, you can always resize or reposition the shape if needed, even after you’ve drawn it.
Microsoft PowerPoint lets you use any image to create an action button as well. To add an image and assign it an action, go to theInserttab, in the Illustrations group, clickPictures. Once inserted, click the picture, then on the Insert tab, in the Links group, clickAction.
If you need to perform some basic editing, you can use thebuilt-in image editing tools in Microsoft PowerPoint.
2. Open the Action Settings Dialog Box
Creating an action button involves linking another space and a piece of information to your slide. This means you can link to another slide, another presentation, a URL, a video, or a document.
Action buttons work differently thanhyperlinks in a PowerPoint presentation, which are generally used to link to URLs. To assign an action:
3. Configure the Action
After you’ve opened theAction Settingsdialog box, head over to theMouse Clicktab to configure an action that triggers when someone clicks on the action button. Alternatively, you may use theMouse Overtab to create an action that triggers when someone hovers the cursor over the action button.
ClickOKto apply. Go to theSlideshowon the ribbon and selectPlay from startto test the action buttons.
How to Add Effects to the Button in PowerPoint
Adding visual effects is a great way to draw attention and make your presentation visually appealing. To add visual effects, you canuse the animation pane in Microsoft PowerPoint. Click on your action button and go to theAnimationssection on the ribbon at the top. Select an animation from the available options.
How to Edit an Action Button in PowerPoint
There are various ways to edit an action button in your PowerPoint presentation.
Next, to edit the appearance or the animation of the action button, click on the action button and go to theShape Formatsection on the ribbon. This section allows you to customize the shape, size, color, and more. In fact, you can also change the button’s shape if you like without changing the action assigned to it.
Try Out Action Buttons in Your Presentations
Try playing around with action buttons while preparing for your next presentation to see if it can make the presentation more interactive and visually appealing. While you’re at it, you might also want to learn about using a PowerPoint screen recorder to engage your audience and leave a lasting impression.
