Add commands to your presentation with action buttons (2024)

Use an Action button to do an action in your presentation, such as going to the next or a specific slide, running an app, or playing a video clip. There are two basic steps for setting up an Action button:

1. First, you pick an action button from the Shapes gallery

2. Then you assign an action that will occur when (during a slide show) you click the shape or point the mouse at it.

Put an action button on your slide

Some examples of built-in action button shapes in the Shapes gallery include right and left arrows (commonly understood symbols for going to next, previous, first, and last slides), for playing videos or sound bites, and more:

1. On the Insert tab, selectShapes, and then, under Action Buttons at the bottom of the menu, click the button shape that you want to add.

2. On the slide canvas, click drag to draw the shape for the button.

3. Keep the Action Settings dialog box open and go to the next procedure.

Assign an action

If you want the action to occur when the action button is clicked, do the following steps on the Mouse Click tab of the dialog box.

If you want the action to occur when the action button is simply pointed at, do the following steps on the Mouse Over tab of the dialog box.

1. To choose the action that takes place when you click or move the pointer over the action button, do one of the following:

   • Choose Hyperlink to and then select the destination (for example, the next slide, the previous slide, the last slide, or another PowerPoint presentation) that you want the hyperlink action to go to.

     Note:To link to a file created by another program, such as a Word or Excel file, in the Hyperlink to list, click Other File.

   • Choose None to use the shape without a corresponding action.

   • Choose Run program, then click Browse to locate the program that you want to run.

   • Choose Run macro and then select the macro that you want to run.

     The Run macro settings are only available if your presentation already contains a macro, and when you save the presentation, you must save it as a PowerPoint Macro-enabled Show. (For more information about macros, see Run a macro.)

   • If you want the shape that you chose as an action button to perform an action, click Object action, and then select the action that you want it to perform.

     The Object action settings are only available if your presentation contains an OLE object.

   • To play a sound, select the Play sound check box, and then select the sound that you want to play.

2. When you've finished choosing your action, select OK.

3. To test the action you've selected, choose Slide Show > From Current Slide to open the presentation in Slide Show so that you can click the action button.

Add a picture and assign it an action

1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, selectPicture. (Or, if you want to add a SmartArt graphic, selectSmartArt.)

2. In the Insert Picture dialog box, locate the picture that you want to add, and then click Insert.

   Note:For SmartArt graphics, you can only assign an action to the text within a shape, but not to an individual shape in theSmartArt graphic.

3. Click the picture you added, and then on the Insert tab, in the Links group, click Action.

4. In the Action Settings dialog box, do one of the following:

   • To choose the behavior of the picture when you click it in Slide Show view, click the Mouse Click tab.

   • To choose the behavior of picture when you move the pointer over it in Slide Show view, click the Mouse Over tab.

5. To choose the action that takes place when you click or move the pointer over the picture, do one of the following:

   • To use the shape without a corresponding action, click None.

   • To create a hyperlink, click Hyperlink to, and then select the destination (for example, the next slide, the previous slide, the last slide, or another PowerPoint presentation) that you want the hyperlink action to go to.

   • To link to a file created by another program, such as a Microsoft Office Word or Microsoft Office Excel file, in the Hyperlink to list, click Other File.

     See Also

     More Actions menu

   • To run a program, click Run program, click Browse, and then locate the program that you want to run.

   • To run a macro, click Run macro, and then select the macro that you want to run.

   • If you want the picture or clip art to perform an action other than what is listed, click Object action, and then select the action that you want it to perform.

     Note:The Object action settings are available only if your presentation contains an OLE object.

   • To play a sound, select the Play sound check box, and then select the sound that you want to play.