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Creating Text Hyperlinks
The most common type of hyperlink is underlined text. Hyperlink text is typically underlined and a different color than the rest of the text on-screen. In addition, followed links may be a different color from ones that you have not yet checked out, depending on the program and how the link was set up.
| Tip | If you want a hyperlink that never changes its color, one way is to alter the color scheme in PowerPoint so that the colors for followed and unfollowed links are the same. (Refer back to Chapter 2.) Another way is to place a transparent object over the text, such as a rectangle, and apply the hyperlink to that object rather than to the text. The user will think he is clicking the text, but he will actually be clicking the rectangle. You can also assign a hyperlink to a whole text box (manual text boxes only, not placeholders) as opposed to the text within it. |
Creating Bare Hyperlinks
When you type an Internet-style address directly into a text box, PowerPoint automatically converts it to a live hyperlink. This works with the following:
Web addresses: Anything that begins with http:// or www.
E-mail addresses: Any string of characters with no spaces and an @ sign in the middle somewhere.
FTP addresses: Anything that begins with ftp://.
| Note | FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It's a method of transferring files via the Internet. Up until a few years ago, FTP was a totally separate functionality from the Web, but nowadays most Web browsers have built-in FTP capabilities. |
I call these "bare" because you can see what's underneath them-the actual addresses. There is no friendly "click here" text that the link hides behind. For example, the text support@microsoft.com is a hyperlink that sends e-mail to that address. In contrast, a link that reads Click here to send e-mail to tech support contains the same hyperlink address but is not bare because you do not see the address directly.
You do not have to do anything special to create bare hyperlinks. Just type the text and press Enter or the spacebar. You know the conversion has taken place because the text becomes underlined and is in a different color.
| Note | If PowerPoint does not automatically create hyperlinks, the feature may be disabled. Choose Tools⇨AutoCorrect Options. Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab, and make sure the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks checkbox is marked. |
Creating Friendly Text Hyperlinks
A "friendly" hyperlink is a hyperlink comprising text but not just the bare address. For example, in Figure 17-1, "customer satisfaction surveys" is a friendly hyperlink. ("Friendly" is not an industry-standard technical term; it's just one I find convenient for discussion in this book.)
You can select already-entered text and make it a hyperlink, or you can enter new text. In the following steps I'll outline the general process, then, in the next few sections I'll explain the specifics for various types of hyperlink addresses.
To use existing text, select the text or its text box. Otherwise just position the insertion point where you want the hyperlink.
Choose Insert⇨Hyperlink, press Ctrl+K, or click the Hyperlink button on the Standard toolbar. The Insert Hyperlink dialog box opens (see Figure 17-2).
In the Text to display box, type or edit the text. This text is what will appear underlined on the slide. Any text you've selected in step 1 will appear here by default; changing it here changes it on the slide as well.
Enter the hyperlink address or select it from one of the available lists. See the following sections to learn about the options here.
(Optional) Click the ScreenTip button and enter the text that should appear when the user points at the hyperlink. Then click OK.
Click OK to accept the hyperlink settings.
Figure 17-2: Insert a hyperlink by typing the text to display and choosing the address to jump to.
| Tip | Ideally, the combination of the hyperlink text and the ScreenTip should provide both the actual address and some friendly explanation of it. If the bare address appears as the hyperlink text, use friendly text describing the link location as the ScreenTip. If friendly text appears as the hyperlink text, use the actual address as the ScreenTip. |
I purposely glossed over the options in step 4 for selecting the address because this is a rather complex topic. I'll show you the various options in the next few sections.
CREATING A LINK TO A WEB SITE OR FTP SITE
If you want to link to a Web or FTP site, you can simply type the address directly into the Address box in the Insert Hyperlink dialog box (see Figure 17-2). There's no trick to it at all.
If you don't know the address, you can browse for it in one of these ways:
Click the Browsed Pages button and then choose from recently viewed pages.
Click the Browse button (globe with a magnifying glass) to open Internet Explorer and navigate to the page you want; then return to PowerPoint, and it will be filled in automatically.
CREATING A HYPERLINK TO A SLIDE IN THE SAME PRESENTATION
The most common kind of hyperlink is to another slide in the same presentation. There are lots of uses for this link type; you might, for example, hide several backup slides and then create hyperlinks on certain key slides that allow people to jump to one of those hidden slides for more information.
To create a hyperlink to another slide, start the hyperlink normally (choose Insert⇨Hyperlink). In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, click the Place in This Document button. The dialog box controls change to show a list of the slides in the presentation (see Figure 17-3). Select the slide or custom show you want and click OK.
Figure 17-3: Select the slide that the hyperlink should jump to.
| Note | If you are choosing a custom show and you want the presentation to continue from the original spot after showing this custom show, mark the Show and return checkbox (see Figure 17-3). This checkbox is not available for individual slides. For an individual slide, put a Return action button on it to return to the previously viewed slide. See Creating Action Buttons later in the chapter. |
CREATING A HYPERLINK TO A FILE ON YOUR HARD DISK OR LAN
You can also create a hyperlink to any file available on your PC's hard disk or on your Local Area Network (LAN). This can be a PowerPoint file or a data file for any other program, such as a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet. Or, if you don't want a particular data file, you can hyperlink to the program file itself, so that the application simply opens. (But see the following section for an alternate way to do that.)
For example, perhaps you have some detailed documentation for your product in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF). This type of document requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader; it can't be displayed from within PowerPoint. So, you could create a hyperlink with the text "Click here to read the documentation" and link to the appropriate file. When someone watching the presentation clicks that link, Adobe Acrobat Reader opens and the documentation displays.
| Caution | Remember that not everyone has the same applications installed that you do. For example, although Adobe Acrobat Reader is free, many people don't have it installed yet. You might want to add another hyperlink or button to your slide that users can click to download a free viewer for that application's data from the Web, if needed. |
To link to a data file, start the hyperlink normally (choose Insert⇨Hyperlink) and click on Existing File or Web Page if it is not already selected. Then, do one of the following:
Click Current Folder to display a file management interface (as shown in Figure 17-2) from which you can select any folder or drive on your system. Then navigate to the location containing the file and select it.
Click Recent Files to display a list of the files you have recently opened on the PC (all types), as shown in Figure 17-4, and click the file you want from the list.
Complete the hyperlink normally from that point.
Figure 17-4: Browse a list of recently used files.
You are not limited to only the folders on your local hard drives if you choose Current folder; you can open the Look In list and choose My Network Places to browse the network. However, make sure that the PC on which the presentation will be displayed will also have access to this same network location.
CREATING A LINK TO AN APPLICATION FOR CREATING A NEW DOCUMENT
Perhaps you want the audience to be able to create a new document by clicking the hyperlink. For example, perhaps you would like them to be able to provide information about their experience with your Customer Service department. One way to do this is to let them create a new document using a program they have on their system, such as a word processor.
To create a link to a new document, start the hyperlink normally. Click the Create New Document button, and the controls in the Insert Hyperlink dialog box change to those shown in Figure 17-5.
Figure 17-5: Enter the new document name and location.
Enter the name of the new document that you want to create. The type of document depends on the extension you include. See Table 17-1 for common extensions. If the path where it should be stored is not correct in the Full Path area, click the Change button, navigate to the desired location, and click OK. Then click Edit the new document later and finish up normally.
Extension | Associated Application |
|---|---|
DOC | Microsoft Word, or WordPad if Word is not installed. Use this for documents if you are not sure whether your audience has Word but you are sure they all have Windows 95 or higher. |
WRI | Write, the predecessor to WordPad. WordPad and Word also open these if Write is not installed. This is safest to use for documents if you do are not sure that all audience members will have at least Windows 95. |
TXT | Notepad, a plain-text editor. This creates text files without any formatting-not my first choice for documents unless you specifically need them to be without formatting. |
WPD | WordPerfect, a competitor to Word. |
BMP | Microsoft Paint, which comes free with Windows, or some other more sophisticated graphics program, if one is installed. |
MDB | Microsoft Access, a database program. |
MPP | Microsoft Project, a project management program. |
XLS | Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet program. |
| Caution | If you provide this presentation to multiple users, each one will use the same file name for the new document. This can be a problem because one file may overwrite another. It might be easier and less trouble-free to collect information from multiple users using an E-Mail Address hyperlink instead (see the next section). |
The most important thing about this type of hyperlink is to make sure that you use an extension that corresponds to a program that users have on their PCs. When a program is installed, it registers its file extension (the three-character code after the period in the file's name) in the Windows Registry, so that any data files with that extension are associated with that program. For example, when you install Microsoft Word, it registers the extension .DOC for itself. PowerPoint registers .PPT for its own use. Table 17-1 lists some of the more common file types and their registered extensions on most PCs. Also, make sure that the location you specify for the Full Path will always be accessible whenever the presentation is run.
CREATING A LINK TO AN E-MAIL ADDRESS
You can also create a link that opens the user's e-mail program and addresses an e-mail to a certain recipient. For example, perhaps you would like the user to e-mail feedback to you about how he liked your presentation or send you requests for product brochures.
| Caution | For an e-mail hyperlink to work, the person viewing the presentation must have an e-mail application installed on his or her PC and at least one e-mail account configured for sending e-mail through it. Web-based e-mail does not count. This isn't always a given, but it's probably a safer bet than assuming a particular application is installed, as in the preceding section. |
To create an e-mail hyperlink, either type the e-mail address directly into the text box (for a bare hyperlink) or start a hyperlink normally with Insert⇨Hyperlink. Then click the E-mail address button and fill in the e-mail address and a subject line, if desired. PowerPoint will automatically add mailto: in front of the address; you don't have to type it (see Figure 17-6). Then complete the hyperlink normally.
Figure 17-6: Fill in the recipient and subject of the mail-to link.
Editing or Removing a Hyperlink
If you need to change the displayed text for a hyperlink, simply edit it just as you do any text on any slide. Move the insertion point into it, and press Backspace or Delete to remove characters; then retype new ones.
If you need to change the address or the ScreenTip, open the Edit Hyperlink dialog box. To do so, right-click the hyperlink and choose Edit Hyperlink. The Edit Hyperlink dialog box appears, which is identical to the Add Hyperlink dialog box except for the name. From there you can change any properties of the link, just like you did when you created it initially.
To remove a hyperlink, you can either delete it completely (select it and press Delete) or just remove its hyperlink, leaving the text intact. To do the latter, right-click it and choose Remove Hyperlink.
