How to Create a Clickable List in PowerPoint

Small business associates often use Microsoft PowerPoint slideshows to interact with an audience, whether it's to present a linear set of slides or display a few bullet points as a jumping-off point for a brainstorming session. However, PowerPoint makes it possible for you to go beyond the slides and link out to a Web page or a document housed on your network. You can add this functionality to your PowerPoint presentation by embedding clickable links, which can even be configured as lists on the slides.

Open PowerPoint. Place the cursor in the white space of the default slide showing in the main screen and draw an outline around both text boxes present on the slide. Press “Delete” to remove those slides.

Click the “Insert” tab and then click the “Text Box” button on the ribbon toolbar. Position the cursor on the slide and draw a text box. You can always adjust the size of the text box to fit your list later on by dragging a corner of the box in and out.

Click inside the text box. Type the first list item, such as “Assets.” Press “Enter” and then type the next item, such as “Income.” Continue in this way until all the items you want to include in your list have been entered.

Highlight the entire first line of the first list item, which in this case is Assets. If your list item is more than one word, be sure to highlight all of the text or your clickable area will only include the highlighted word.

Right-click the highlighted selection. Click “Hyperlink” to open the Insert Hyperlink window.

Click the “Address” box at the bottom of the Insert Hyperlink window. Type the Web address where slideshow viewers should be taken when they click the list item. Remember to use the “http://www” extension and “.com” with the Web address.

Click “OK." When you return to the list on the slide, the clickable item is now in blue, underlined text. If you hover your cursor over the text, you’ll see a pop-up showing what the link points to.

Repeat Steps 4 through 7 until all of the hyperlinks associated with the list items are set up.

Click “File” and then select “Save As.” Type the name for the slideshow in the “File name” text box and then click “Save” to save the document.