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How can I make PowerPoint interactive in presentation mode?

Anonymous
2011-04-08T00:31:28+00:00

I want to make text boxes interactive during presentation mode in PowerPoint.  I want to be able to type in the box and move the box with my mouse.  I have PowerPoint games from years ago, that I found online, and they possess this feature, but I'm not able to create these presentations myself.  Any suggestions?

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  1. Steve Rindsberg 99,156 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2011-04-08T13:39:07+00:00

    Chirag Dalal has an example of how to move shapes during a show here:

    http://officeone.mvps.org/vba/mousemove\_shape.html

    As David's mentioned, in order to type into a shape during a show, it would have to be a text box control (Developer tab | Controls ... if you don't see the developer tab, you'll need to customize it onto the ribbon; it's not there by default)

    Alternatively, you could write something like the aircode below and assign this as the Run Macro Action setting to any shape you want to add text to:

    Sub AddText(oSh As Shape)

    Dim sTemp As String

    ' Pick up any existing text

    ' in the shape so we can use it

    ' as the default text in the next step

    sTemp = oSh.TextFrame.TextRange.Text

    ' Get the new text:

    sTemp = InputBox("Talk to me", "Say something", sTemp)

    ' If there's any text, apply it to the shape

    ' To remove text from the shape, enter just a space

    If Len(sTemp) > 0 Then

    oSh.TextFrame.TextRange.Text = sTemp

    End If

    End Sub

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-04-08T13:01:26+00:00

    I'm not up on the latest in PowerPoint 2010 so they might have added something, but in earlier versions, you would need the control toolbox to include text boxes that you can type into during slide show view. Dragging shapes around has never been a possibility in slide-show view, but you can use either motion animations or VBA to get them to move. For the text question, have a look here:

    Adding or entering text during a show

    http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00701.htm

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  1. Steve Rindsberg 99,156 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-11-26T17:50:56+00:00

    Some kinds of interactivity only work when the slide show has focus (as opposed to the presenter view where you see your notes and such).

    ActiveX text boxes can work as expected IF you move the mouse onto the secondary monitor/projected image and click into the ActiveX text box there, then type.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-11-25T21:31:56+00:00

    While there is a relatively easy way to allow this feature (using Activex text box with EnableTextEntry set to True and Multiline set to True), It will not work in Presenter view.  I spent over an hour today bouncing around Microsoft support and no one had a clue and would not pursue a resolution to the problem.  What you have to do if you are presenting on two screens (e.g. your laptop and a projector) is turn off Presenter View and print off your note pages so you can read them from paper rather than your screen.  It's a really lame workaround, but apparently the only way to get around this bug in Win10/PowerPoint 2016.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-04-09T02:57:34+00:00

    Thank you!

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