PowerPoint controls the way a hyperlink looks, but it’s easy to work around that limitation by covering the hyperlink text with an AutoShape, adding the hyperlink to the AutoShape, and then making the AutoShape disappear. The original text that you meant to hyperlink is all the user sees. You can find complete instructions for this technique in Jody Gilbert’s 10 Things blog: 10 ways to get more mileage out of PowerPoint, #10.

Unfortunately, that technique doesn’t work as well in PowerPoint 2007 as it does in 2003. If you set the AutoShape’s Fill property to No Fill, only the AutoShape’s border is sensitive to the hyperlink. Furthermore, with the AutoShape’s Line Color property set to No Line, you can’t see the AutoShape’s border! PowerPoint will display the little gloved hand cursor, but only when the mouse is directly over the AutoShape’s border.

What you want is a hyperlink that works anywhere in the vicinity of the pseudo link, not just when you’re near the hidden AutoShape’s border. Fortunately, the 2007 fix is simple:

  1. Enter the text you want to link.
  2. Choose an AutoShape from the Illustrations group on the Insert tab.
  3. Right-click the AutoShape and choose Hyperlink from the resulting submenu.
  4. Enter the hyperlink in the Address field in the resulting Insert Hyperlink dialog box and then click OK.
  5. Right-click the AutoShape and choose Format AutoShape.
  6. Now, here’s where the instructions differ from 2003 to 2007: In 2007, don’t set the fill color to No Fill; instead, change the Transparency option from 0% to 100%.
  7. Set the line color to No Line.
  8. Click OK.

Now, you can click anywhere inside the invisible AutoShape to execute the hyperlink.