PowerPoint Tips & Tutorials

Create a drop-down menu

In the PowerPoint discussion group, in response to a request, Shyam Pillai shared a presentation that has a drop-down menu. Shyam is one of the best PowerPoint programmers around and his "proof of concept" is very elegant.

However, you can create a drop-down menu using animation. It will be less elegant, but doesn't require programming. The main menu button is used as a trigger, so that when you click it, the animation starts. If you want the dropped-down menu to disappear for the next use, the method is a little more complex.

Look at a drop-down menu in PowerPoint 2003 or other program. You'll notice that the drop-down menu just appears under the menu name. If there's some animation involved, it's too fast for me to see. However, I liked the effect of a wipe down animation, so that's what I used. You can use the Appear animation instead.

1. Insert an AutoShape/Shape. Add some appropriate text, such as Main Menu.
2. Then create your submenu items on AutoShapes/Shapes, just below the Main Menu button. Add text for the topics that you want to cover.
3. Select all of the submenu buttons and group them, by choosing Draw on the Drawing toolbar>Group. (In 2007, press Ctrl+G to group the selected buttons.) You do this so that all of the buttons drop down at the same time.

4. Choose Slide Show>Custom Animation. (In 2007, choose Animations tab>Animations group>Custom Animation.)
5. Select the grouped submenu buttons, and choose Add Effect> Entrance> Wipe. Set the Direction to From Top. Set the Speed to Very Fast.
6. You want the menu to wipe down when you click the Main Menu. In the Custom Animation task pane, click the submenu's drop-down arrow and choose Timing.
7. Click Triggers, then choose Start Effect on Click Of. From the drop-down list, choose the Main Menu object. Click OK.
8. It's nice if the submenu buttons disappear so that the next time you display the menu slide, you again have to click the Main Menu button to drop them down. This takes some finagling. (If you don't want the submenu buttons to disappear the next time you display the menu slide, skip to Step 11 and hyperlink to your Main Menu slide.) Select the grouped submenu buttons, and choose Add Effect> Exit> Disappear in the Custom Animation task pane. The new animation should appear above the trigger; if not, drag it up.

Note: If you now create links on the other slides to go back to this slide, you'll find that the submenu doesn't disappear. It may disappear once, but try again, and the Disappear animation won't work any more! that's because PowerPoint disables certain features when a slide is displayed more than once.

9. To make sure that the submenu disappears each time, click the Main Menu Slide in the left Slides pane and press Ctrl+D to duplicate that slide. Then select the first of the two identical slides. On that first slide, delete the submenu so that only the Main Menu button remains.
10. With that first slide still selected, choose Slide Show> Slide Transition. (In 2007, choose the Animations tab.) Uncheck the On Mouse Click check box and check the Automatically After check box, which should say 00:00.
11. Select the topmost of the submenu AutoShapes. Because the submenus are grouped, this selects all of them. Now click the edge of the top submenu. Choose Insert> Hyperlink. (In 2007, choose Insert tab> Links group> Hyperlink.) In the Hyperlink dialog box, choose Place in this Document, and choose the slide that the topmost submenu should link to. Do the same for the other submenu AutoShapes.
12. Display the first slide that your first submenu button links to. Add an AutoShape and choose Insert> Hyperlink. (In 2007, choose Insert tab> Links group> Hyperlink.) In the Hyperlink dialog box, choose Place in this Document, and choose the first of the two duplicate slides. This will ensure that the Disappear animation always works. No one will notice that you're going to a "dummy" first slide because the slide timing moves you immediately to the next slide -- which is your real menu slide. (If you don't want the submenu to disappear, just link to the menu slide.)
13. Copy your hyperlinked button onto the other slides that you're linking to. These buttons get you back to the Main Menu.

Here's how the presentation looks:

Watch a movie of the drop-down menu.

Download the presentation.

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