How to Link to Another Slide in PowerPoint (3 Ways)

3 Ways to Link to Another Slide in the Same PowerPoint Presentation

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated August 14, 2025

Applies to: Microsoft^®PowerPoint^® 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)

You can easily add a link or hyperlink to another slide in the same PowerPoint presentation. In this article, we'll review 3 ways to link to another slide – using a link or hyperlink, adding an action setting or using the Zoom feature (Zoom & Link) to add a Slide Zoom. In order to make it easier to link to another slide, it's best to add a title in the title placeholder on each slide in the presentation. In PowerPoint, links become active when you run a slide show (click the Slide Show button on the bottom right of the screen). When you run a slide show and click a link, PowerPoint will jump to the link.

Link commands in the Ribbon
Work with text links
Use the Ribbon or a keyboard shortcut to link to another slide
Use the context menu to link to another slide
Use Action Settings to link to another slide
Use Slide Zoom to link to another slide

Recommended article: How to Crop a Picture in PowerPoint (4 Ways)

Note: Screenshots in this article are from PowerPoint 365 (desktop version) but are similar in other versions of PowerPoint. Since PowerPoint uses a fluent Ribbon, commands may appear in a different way, with or without labels, depending on the size of your screen and your device's display settings. In some cases, PowerPoint may even group commands in a sub-command to organize the Ribbon.

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Link commands in the Ribbon

The link commands appear on the Insert tab in the Ribbon in the Links group as follows:

Zoom is not available in PowerPoint 2016 or earlier versions.

Work with text links

If you select text and use it as a link or hyperlink on a PowerPoint slide, it appears underlined and in a color (normally blue) and coordinates with the color theme in your document. The text color changes automatically after you click hyperlink text in a slide show (again based on color theme settings). Shapes or images with hyperlinks do not change color.

Use the Ribbon or a keyboard shortcut to link to another slide

To insert a link or hyperlink to a slide in the current presentation:

In Normal View or Slide Master View, select the text, shape or image you want to use as a link. If you are using a shape that contains text, click its edge.
Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
In the Links group, click Link. You can also press Ctrl + K. A dialog box appears.
Under Link to, select Place in This Document.
Under Select a place in this document, select the slide you want to link to.
If you are using a text hyperlink, enter the descriptive text that will become the link text in the Text to display box (if necessary).
Click OK.
Click Slide Show on the bottom right of the screen to run your slide show. You can also press Shift + F5.
Click the link to test it.
Press ESC to exit the slide show.

Below is the Insert Hyperlink dialog box with a link to another slide in the current presentation:

Another method of creating links is to right-click and use the context menu (you can also press Shift + F10 to display the context menu).

To insert a link or hyperlink to a slide in the current presentation using the context menu:

In Normal View or Slide Master View, select the text, shape or image you want to use as a link. If you are using a shape that contains text, click its edge.
Right-click and choose Link from the context menu. A dialog box appears.
Under Link to, select Place in This Document.
Under Select a place in this document, select the slide you want to link to.
If you are using a text hyperlink, enter the descriptive text that will become the link text in the Text to display box (if necessary).
Click OK.
Click Slide Show on the bottom right of the screen to run your slide show. You can also press Shift + F5.
Click the link to test it.
Press ESC to exit the slide show.

Use Action Settings to link to another slide

Action Settings can also be used to insert a link to a slide. With Action Settings, you can link to a slide and also perform another action like playing a sound when you click the link during a slide show.

To insert a link or hyperlink to a slide in the current presentation using Action Settings:

In Normal View or Slide Master View, select the text, shape or image you want to use as a link. If you are using a shape that contains text, click its edge.
Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
In the Links group, click Action. The Action Settings dialog box appears.
Click the button beside Hyperlink to.
From the drop-down menu below, select Slide. A dialog box appears.
Click the slide you want to link to.
Click OK.
Select any other options you want such as a sound.
Click OK.
Click Slide Show on the bottom right of the screen to run your slide show. You can also press Shift + F5.
Click the link to test it.
Press ESC to exit the slide show.

The Action Settings dialog box appears as follows:

When you select Slide as the Hyperlink in Action Settings, the following dialog box appears where you can select the slide you want:

Use Slide Zoom to link to another slide

In PowerPoint 2019 and later versions, you can also use the Zoom feature (Zoom & Link) which includes a Slide Zoom to create links to other slides. With Slide Zoom, you can insert a thumbnail of a slide that links to that slide. Slide Zoom also adds an animation when you click the Thumbnail during a slide show.

To link to another slide using Slide Zoom:

In Normal View, display the slide where you want to add the Slide Zoom link.
Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
In the Links group, click Zoom. A drop-down menu appears.
Select Slide Zoom. A dialog box appears.
Select the check box beside the slide you want to link to.
Click OK. A thumbnail of the slide appears on the slide.
Drag the thumbnail to the location you want.
Drag a corner handle of the thumbnail to resize it.
Click Slide Show on the bottom right of the screen to run your slide show. You can also press Shift + F5.
Click the link to test it.
Press ESC to exit the slide show.

You can also format the Slide Zoom control in other ways. Simply click the thumbnail and click the Zoom tab in the Ribbon. Select options to format the thumbnail such as Zoom Border.

In the example below, a Slide Zoom thumbnail appears on the bottom right of the slide:

The Zoom tab in the Ribbon appears as follows when a Slide Zoom control is selected:

In this article, we've used Slide Zoom but there is also a Summary Zoom and Section Zoom that you may want to explore as well.

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