A table of contents serves as a guiding light for your audience, helping them navigate through your slides and providing a clear direction. Therefore, adding one can greatly enhance your PowerPoint presentation. Today, we will explore three different methods through which we can easily incorporate a table of contents into our presentations. So, let's dive right in.
Creating a Table of Contents by Dragging Slides
The first method involves creating a Table of Contents by Dragging Slides, as the name suggests. It's a straightforward drag-and-drop approach for adding a table of contents to your PowerPoint presentation.
Step 1: Begin by adding a new slide, which will serve as your "Table of Contents".
Step 2: Navigate to the "Thumbnails Pane" on the left-hand side and locate the slide you wish to include.
Step 3: Simply drag and drop the desired slide onto the original table of contents slide.
This method is straightforward and a favorite among beginners. It gets the job done without requiring much effort. However, it's important to note that this method is best suited for situations where you have a limited number of slides since each slide appears as a separate thumbnail. If you need a quick and simple table of contents, this method is highly effective.
Using Outline View to Create a Table of Contents
In the second method, we utilize PowerPoint's Outline View to create a table of contents, here's how:
Step 1: Navigate to the View tab and select "Outline View".
Step 2: Right-click within the thumbnails pane, then hover over "Collapse", and click "Collapse All". This organizes your presentation's slide titles neatly.
Step 3: Click and drag to select the slide titles you wish to include in your Table of Contents. After selecting, right-click and choose "Copy".
Step 4: Return to the View tab and switch back to "Normal" view.
Step 5: Insert a text box in your Table of Contents slide.
Step 6: On the Home tab, choose "Paste" followed by "Paste Special".
Step 7: In the Paste Special dialog box, opt for "Unformatted Text", and confirm by clicking "OK". You can further refine the appearance of your summary or contents list using the Font options available on the Home tab.
This method is quite effective, but it doesn't automatically add links. It displays a PowerPoint table of contents with page numbers, helping readers understand what's in the presentation and in what order. However, you'll need to manually add the links, which can be time-consuming.
Generating a Slide Zoom-based Table of Contents
The last method is a new feature called Slide Zoom that has been added, here's a tutorial for it:
Step 1: Begin by clicking on the "Zoom" option located within the "Insert" tab.
Step 2: From the drop-down menu, choose the “Slide Zoom” option.
Step 3: In the Insert Slide Zoom Window, choose the slides you wish to incorporate and proceed by clicking the "Insert" button.
Step 4: The current slide will now display a collection of thumbnails representing the selected slides. Organize these thumbnails by dragging them as needed to construct your table of contents.
This method is quite simple, and we can compare it to the first method because it also displays thumbnails and automatically adds links. An added advantage of this method is that instead of dragging each slide individually, we can add the desired slides to the table of contents by clicking on them.
How to Customize Your Table of Contents in PowerPoint
Customizing your Table of Contents in PowerPoint is a great way to make your presentations more visually appealing and user-friendly. There are two methods we'll explore to help you achieve this:
Technique 1: Creating hyperlinks
The first method involves adding hyperlinks, allowing us to attach hyperlinks to our Table of Contents. This enables users to navigate directly to a specific slide with just a single click, enhancing the accessibility and user experience of our presentation.
How to create hyperlinks?
Step 1: Select one of the titles you pasted onto the Table of Contents slide.
Step 2: Move to the Insert tab and select Link > Insert Link.
Step 3: Within the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, switch to the "Place in This Document" tab.
Step 4: In the Place in this document tab, choose the slide title that corresponds to the title you selected in step 1.
Step 5: To finalize, click "OK" to insert a hyperlink onto your Table of Contents slide.
Step 6: If you intend to create more hyperlinks in your Table of Contents, simply repeat steps 1 to 5 for each one.
Technique 2: Use SmartArt
The second method to customize your Table of Contents is by adding SmartArt. This approach enhances the visual appeal and attractiveness of your Table of Contents, here's how you can do it:
Step 1: Begin by opening the slide in your presentation that contains your Table of Contents.
Step 2: Click on the text field where your Table of Contents is located. To select all the text within this field, press and hold the "Ctrl" key on your keyboard and simultaneously press the "A" key.
Step 3: Now, navigate to the "Home" tab in PowerPoint. In the "Paragraph" group, look for and click on the "Convert to SmartArt" button.
Step 4: A selection of various SmartArt designs will appear on your screen. As you hover your mouse cursor over each option, you'll get a preview of how your Table of Contents will appear using that design. If you don't find a design that suits your preference, don't worry. Simply click on "More SmartArt graphics" to explore additional design choices.
Step 5: Once you've selected a SmartArt graphic that appeals to you, click on it. Your PowerPoint Table of Contents will instantly transform, adopting the new design you've chosen.
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FAQs
Q1. What are the shortcut keys for enabling "Outline View" in PowerPoint?
The keyboard shortcuts to activate "Outline View" in PowerPoint are ALT + W + PO. It will switch your current view to the “Outline View”, which shows the text content of your slides in a structured format. It’s a convenient feature for reviewing and revising the content of your presentation.
Q2. How do I create a table of contents template?
To create a table of content using template in Office 365:
Step 1: Place your cursor where you want to add the table of contents.
Step 2: Navigate to the "References" tab.
Step 3: Click on "Table of Contents" and choose an automatic style.
To update the table of contents when you make changes to your document, simply right-click the table of contents and select "Update Field".
Tips for an Effective Table of Contents:
An effective PowerPoint table of contents should not only be well-organized but also visually appealing and easy to read.
Maintain consistent formatting and fonts to ensure a cohesive appearance, making sure to highlight the hierarchy of different levels through indentation or font size variations.
Use colors and design elements that align with your presentation's design and avoid unnecessary distractions.
Tailor the style to your audience, whether formal or informal, and consider using symbols or icons to emphasize specific topics.
Navigating Your Audience: The Power of a Table of Contents
As we've witnessed, a Table of Contents in PowerPoint is an essential tool for engaging viewers and providing ease of use. WPS Office is a software that makes creating a Table of Contents remarkably simple. Beyond that, it's a complete office suite, offering a wide range of capabilities to simplify our lives. So, why wait? Download WPS Office today and showcase your presentation's valuable information to your readers in the form of a Table of Contents with unparalleled ease.
