How to Create Clickable Menus in PowerPoint Using Hyperlinks

In this article, we’re going to talk about how you can create a presentation with a clickable menu that your audience can interact with. This interactive menu in PowerPoint lets them navigate through the presentation with ease, making your presentation a lot more engaging and fun. Your audience will also tend to spend more time exploring the information in your presentation, and this helps them connect better with your content.

Before you read the rest of this article, here’s a video from our YouTube channel that shows you how you can create a menu, and make it clickable. Check it out here:

So let’s begin.

Using Hyperlinks in PowerPoint to Create Clickable Menus

To create clickable menus in PowerPoint, you’ll need to use hyperlinks. Hyperlinks can be used in PowerPoint to link to external pages, another document, or even to a specific place within the document itself. We’re going to use that last feature to create our interactive menu in PowerPoint. But first things first.

You’ll need to design your menu.

To design your menu, you can use text boxes, shapes, images or anything else you want. As long as it can be hyperlinked in PowerPoint, you’re good to go.

Start by drawing a rectangle shape, and duplicating it as many times as you want. You can even add text to the shapes and format it so that it looks more like a menu.

Now convert it into a hyperlink.

You need to now convert the menu you’ve just created to hyperlinks. Each shape/image/text should be linked to a specific place in your PPT document.

To do this, right-click on the menu item and select Link (you can also press CTRL+K).

A dialog box will now appear titled Insert Hyperlink. On the left side, click on Place in This Document. And then select a slide you want to link to. Repeat this step for each individual menu item.

Once you’re done, your menu will now be interactive. Try running your slideshow, and clicking on individual menu items, and check if it works! You could also add a button on the target slides to go back to the main slide with the menu if you want.

To do this, simply create a shape, and link it to the main slide. Simple.

Some tips to take it to the next level:

ScreenTip: Craft a short message that pops up when hovering over the menu item, providing additional context. You can do this in the Insert Hyperlink dialog box that appears.

Make sure to format your menu, such that it appears like clickable elements. But at the same time, make sure you don’t overdo it that it stands out from the rest of your presentation.

Why would I ever need an interactive menu in PowerPoint?

You can use interactive menus in PowerPoint to create highly engaging and interactive presentations, that users can navigate through. These kinds of slides are excellent at engaging your audience, and helping your slideshow stand out. When a user takes their time to navigate through your content, it becomes more interesting to them.

With a little creativity and these easy-to-follow steps, you can transform your presentations into highly interactive ones. Try this out today and see how your audience likes it. I am sure it will be a hit!