Modifying Links

Links in PowerPoint, as a general rule, are very stable. Therefore your relational presentations will be stable as well. However, there are numerous ways to unintentionally break links or create them incorrectly in the first place. Even more frequently, you might simply change your mind on how your network is organized or wish to upgrade its components. In all such cases, it's important to follow a systematic process for checking and modifying links.

Following a Process

Let's say, for example, you accidentally linked the invisible AutoShape we created a couple of pages back to Slide 2 instead of Slide 1, and then pasted the shape as directed. In that case the link on every quote slide would be incorrect and would need to be redone.

Rather than changing the link on ever slide (a time-consuming task), follow a procedure such as the one below:

• In edit mode, select Slide 2 (the first quote slide).
• Right-click the invisible shape and select Edit hyperlink.
• Make sure the Place in this document button is selected and double-click Slide 1 as the link destination.
• Copy this shape.
• Roll your mouse wheel to advance to the next slide.
• Click that slide's invisible shape to select it.
• Press the Delete key.
• Paste the copied shape using Ctrl V .
• Roll your mouse wheel.
• Repeat for the remaining slides.

With a little practice you can perform a sequence like the one above in less than a minute, considerably faster than manually changing the links on every slide.

Developing such strategies for creating and modifying your network components will make the design and modification process much more reliable and efficient. Notice we started at the top and worked down, systematically moving through each slide so that none is accidentally missed.

Final Notes

If at any time you need to modify content on a slide that is covered by an invisible Autoshape—for example, you decide to change one of the quotes—simply drag the invisible shape off into the gray area outside the slide pane. Make the change to the content, and then drag the shape back into place.

This page concludes the Showcase tutorial. There are many ways of using Showcase navigation. Expand these concepts creatively to explore a wealth of helpful variations that can be applied to your own presentation materials.

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