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Link to a specific PowerPoint 2003, 2007 or 2010 slide from Microsoft Word or Excel

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In another tip, “Hyperlink to a specific slide in another presentation, or specific location in another file,” one of the topics I cover is how to create a hyperlink in PowerPoint that links to a specific location in Word or Excel. I also explain that you can link to a specific slide in another PowerPoint presentation by adding the # symbol, the slide number, a period, a space and the slide’s title.

Here’s an example.

As I note in that earlier tip, hyperlinking to another file is a great way to connect content that exists in more than 1 file. You might want to put a hyperlink in a report created in Word or a spreadsheet created in Excel that sends readers to a specific slide in a PowerPoint presentation.

powerpoint-tips-hyperlink-from-excel-word-to-powerpoint-2003-2007-2010-1

Link from Word or Excel to PowerPoint

Suppose you want to link from Word or Excel to Slide 2 in a PowerPoint 2003, 2007 or 2010 presentation. If you try to create such a link, Word and Excel open the presentation in Normal view, not Slide Show view.

But if you create a Slide Show file and link to that, the hyperlink works; it opens the PowerPoint file in slide show view at the desired slide. A Slide Show is just a PowerPoint file that opens in Slide Show view.

Create a Slide Show

To create a Slide Show file, follow these steps:

  1. Choose File (or Application button)> Save As.
  2. From the Save as Type drop-down list, choose PowerPoint Show (*.ppsx or *.pps).
  3. Specify the location at the top of the dialog box. I recommend that the presentation and the Word or Excel file be in the same folder, in case you need to move the files to another computer; then, the link should continue to work.
  4. Click Save.

Add the hyperlink in Word or Excel

Now you’re ready to create the hyperlink in Word or Excel. Here are the steps:

  1. Open the PowerPoint file and note the slide number to which you want to link. If you want to include the slide title in the hyperlink for your reference, note that too. Close the file.
  2. In Word or Excel, add a hyperlink to some text or a shape by selecting it and choosing Insert> Hyperlink.
  3. In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, click the Existing File or Web Page button.
  4. Navigate to the PowerPoint Show file and select it. You’ll see it in the dialog box’s Address text box. If there are spaces in the file name, you may see %20 in place of the spaces. %20 is HTML code for a space, so just leave it.
  5. At the end of the file name in the Address box, add a # symbol, then the slide number. An example: sample%20makeovers.ppsx#2
  6. If you want to add the slide title, add a period, space and the slide title. Tip: In the PowerPoint file, you can click the Outline tab in the left-hand pane and copy and paste the slide title from there. My link now looks like this: sample%20makeovers.ppsx#2. Tell ‘n’ showSM
  7. Click OK.
  8. Test your hyperlink. PowerPoint should open in Slide Show view to the slide you specified.

Nice, yes?

Thanks to a reader for asking the question in the older tip that lead to this technique. How will you find it useful?

May, 2009 PowerPoint 2007 Theme – dun-aqua

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dun-aqua PowerPoint 2007 themeBy request, I’m offering my first PowerPoint 2007 theme. It’s the same look as last month’s background, but it’s a THMX file. There are also custom theme colors, fonts, and effects.

To find out where to save it, open PowerPoint 2007, click the Design tab, and click the More button at the right of the row of themes from the Themes gallery. At the bottom, choose Save Current Theme, and PowerPoint automatically places you in the right folder. You should be able to see the path to the folder, which you might want to write down. Click Cancel to close the dialog box. Now, save the THMX file in that folder. You’ll now have access to this theme from the Themes gallery.

Change a picture in PowerPoint 2007 and 2010

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PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 have a feature that makes creating similar slides a snap: Change picture. You can duplicate a slide and easily change its picture without deleting the old one or fiddling with the side or placing.

This feature is ideal for creating product brochures and facilitates customizing presentations for multiple customers.

Here you see a custom layout, including custom prompts.

change picture in PowerPoint 2007

Here’s a slide that uses this layout.

change picture in PowerPoint 2007

To create another slide using this layout, click the slide in the Slide pane and press Ctrl + D to duplicate the slide.

Then double-click the photo in the central pane to select it and display the Picture Tools Format tab.

In the Adjust group, click change Picture.

In the Insert Picture dialog box, navigate to the new image and double-click it to insert it in the place of the original image.

change picture in PowerPoint 2007

This technique works best when all the images are preformatted to fit well within the layout’s picture placeholder.

The combination of custom layouts and the Change Picture command offers great flexibility for individuals customizing presentations and for companies who want to control how a presentation looks while allowing presenters to make changes.