Can't get command or action buttons to work in PowerPoint 2010

What instructions did you follow, and what do you expect to happen when you click the button?

If you have added an ActiveX Control button to a slide, they will only work if:

(a) You have set your security settings accordingly under File / Options / Trust Center / Trust Center Settings / Macro Settings
(b) You are clicking them during a slide show.

Note that (a) is only necessary after you or anyone else reopens a macro-enabled file and not when you first create it and start writing macro code.

Personally, I don't use ActiveX controls on slides to trigger macros because of the verbose security warnings Microsoft throws up. I use a standard PowerPoint shape and assign the macro to the shape from Insert / Action / Mouse Click / Run Macro

Jamie, I tried the shape as well earlier. When I mouse over my object (be it command button , action button or shape) the cursor stays crosshairs, never goes to the pointing finger. Al the click does is select the shape. Can you think of any reason why this would be? Is there some setting in Trust Center or elsewhere that is prohibiting?

Echo S, what I'm expecting is for the cursor to turn to the pointing finger and for the assigned macro to run.

Thanks,
John

Thanks for clarifying.

Crosshairs? Sounds like you're still in Normal (editing) View. You can't click those buttons unless you're in Slide Show View. (Jamie also mentioned this above as requirement B.)

Action buttons are used to run macros in slide shows, but they don't run macros you'd use when editing.  I probably wasn't really clear, but that's why I was wondering what you expected to happen.

Thanks, Echo. I don't see Slide Show View as an option. The only four choices in Presentation View are Normal, Slide Sorter, Notes Page, and Reading View, and the buttons are invisible in all but Normal.

Go to the Slide Show tab and use those. Or use the little icon lower right screen that looks like a screen.

Or press F5 to start from beginning or Shift + F5 to start from the currently selected slide.

I have a very strong feeling this isn't going to help you, though. What exactly is it you are trying to do? Like, what does your macro do? If it formats a table or something (like another recent question), then you want to do that in normal editing view, and an action button isn't going to help you do that.

If you want a macro to run in Normal view, you can either do it by using Alt+F8 or you need to include your code in an add-in but as Echo says, there's no way a control button or shape can be clicked on in Normal view to trigger a macro.

Alt+F8 -- I couldn't recall that shortcut!

If you go to http://www.pptfaq.com/index.html and scroll about halfway down the page, there's a whole section on programming, with pages that will walk you through creating an add-in.

I'd start with this: http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ01216-Create-an-ADD-IN-with-Ribbon-buttons-that-run-macros-when-clicked.htm

I think I'm in denial that button triggered macros for things like positioning shapes on he slide work the same in PowerPoint as they do in Excel! I'll check out those links next week. In the meantime, what I want to do is position a table that was just deposited in the middle of Slide 2 via a macro run in Excel. I would prefer to have the Excel macro put the finishing touches on it with the simple code below but it won't do it, so i was hoping that I could emulate the functionality of Excel with a button triggering the macro in PowerPoint. I can do it all manually but I'm a great believer in saving 1.3 seconds and some wrist and finger action whenever you can!

Sub MoveTable()
With ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange(1)
  .Left = 25
  .Top = 74
  .Height = 191
End With
End Sub

Select allOpen in new window

So am I in denial?  :- )

Thanks,
John

Thanks Guys, I'm good to go with this problem now.  (Echo, "guys" is a unisex word for me :- ))

~ John

Heh, works for me! Glad you got it worked out.