In this lesson
Create a four-slide help deck, test each menu link and make sure every detail can return to the menu.
Example
A self-contained onboarding help menu
Use four slide titles: Onboarding help, Find your checklist, Meet your buddy, and Ask for equipment. The menu needs three labelled links matching those details. Detail text is fully supplied: Checklist — open the starter checklist; Buddy — arrange a first meeting; Equipment — record asset HBR-024. These are practice instructions, not links to a real corporate system.
How it works
An internal slide hyperlink travels within the presentation and does not require a web service. An external hyperlink depends on its destination being reachable and accessible to the audience.
An action button can follow a link during Slide Show. Use a labelled click action for this deck; mouse-over actions are easier to trigger by accident. Keep the detail slides in a useful order for someone reading them with Next or using a keyboard.
Steps
Create the four slides using title placeholders. Put the supplied one-line instruction on each detail slide and leave the first slide as the menu.
On the menu add three ordinary shapes with descriptive text: Find your checklist, Meet your buddy and Ask for equipment. Use large visible labels rather than the ambiguous words Click here.
Select the first shape and use Insert › Link or Hyperlink. Choose the place-in-this-document destination Find your checklist; repeat for the other two shapes with their respective detail slides.
On desktop, add a Home action button to each detail with Insert › Shapes › Action Buttons. Assign a click hyperlink to Onboarding help; do not choose Run program or a mouse-over action for this exercise.
For environments without action-button settings, use an ordinary shape labelled Back to onboarding help and assign an internal hyperlink. Provide alt text or meaningful text so the destination is understandable without the icon.
Start Slide Show and test all three menu branches and all three return links. Press Tab to move among links where supported and activate the focused link with Enter. Reorder the detail thumbnails and verify the links still target the intended content.
Try it yourself
- Add a fifth slide called Frequently asked questions with the answer Equipment issue? Record HBR-024 and contact the practice IT owner. Link it from the menu and add a return link.
- Create a linear PDF or slide copy ordered menu then each detail. Test its links in the actual viewing application; include visible page or slide names as fallback navigation.
Show expected result
- Four topic links reach four distinct details, and every detail returns to Onboarding help.
- Reordering thumbnails does not silently misdirect an internal link; each link is checked after the change.
If something goes wrong
- A click in editing mode selects the shape instead of following its action.
- Start Slide Show before testing the button. In editing mode, clicking a shape normally selects it so you can change its text or action.
- The Home icon returns to the wrong slide.
- Select the Home button and inspect its hyperlink destination. Set it to Onboarding help, then test each copied button in Slide Show. The icon itself does not choose a destination.
Quick check
Try these questions after the exercise. Check the result in your app before marking the lesson complete.
Choose an answer for all 3 questions to check your understanding.
Optional: try it with Copilot
If you have Copilot, try this after the exercise. Keep the original file and compare its suggestions with your own result.
Write four concise topic labels for an onboarding help menu. Use only checklist, buddy, equipment and FAQ; keep their target slide titles distinct.
More from Microsoft
These Microsoft guides cover the tools used in this lesson.
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