How do I create a PowerPoint Agenda / Table of Contents?

How can I create an Agenda in PowerPoint?

There are several ways to create PowerPoint Agenda slides. In this article we will focus on how the new PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard can make creating dynamic PowerPoint Table of Contents or Agenda slides quick and easy.

What is the difference between a Meeting Agenda and a Table of Contents (ToC)?

We often refer to "Agendas" collectively to cover all kinds of document navigators, but there are some different types. Lets start by exploring the difference between a PowerPoint Table of Contents slide (aka ToC) and a PowerPoint Meeting Agenda slide.

A PowerPoint Table of Contents slide generally follows the title slide and lists all sections within the presentation, including section numbers and slide numbers of divider slides/ flysheets. Note that this gets confusing because many consultants refer to the Table of Contents slides as "the Agenda". Your Table of Contents slide should provide a guide, to help navigate your presentation. Using dividers which repeat the table of contents through the presentation (to introduce each new topic) is helpful. Displaying a tracking bar on the dividers helps to remind your audience where they are as they progress through the deck. ToC slides are probably the most common style of Agenda used in PowerPoint.

However, a PowerPoint Meeting Agenda slide contains additional details including Presenter, Duration and Timeslot. Meeting Agenda Slides in PowerPoint are typically used when running workshops, training or seminars which need to adhere to strict timings and/or where room location details need to be provided.

When you create a PowerPoint Meeting Agenda slide using the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard, you can select what to include by checking the box next to the required details.

For example, you may wish to include the Agenda item number and Presenter but not the timeslot. To include the Agenda item number and Presenter details, simply check the box next to the words 'Item Number' and 'Presenter' but uncheck the box next to 'Timeslot'. When the 'Timeslot' box is unchecked, the Duration and Timeslot fields will be removed from your PowerPoint Meeting Agenda slide.

For the purpose of this article when we refer to Agenda slides we will be including both PowerPoint Meeting Agendas and Table of Contents Slides.

1. How to make an Agenda slide in PowerPoint?

Creating an Agenda or Table of Contents in PowerPoint (without the benefit of an add-in) can be quite a tedious task, because you will need to update any slide number references as you add content, or rearrange the order of the agenda items if you rearrange the slides in your presentation.

However PPT Productivity add-in for PowerPoint makes creating Agendas easier with the Agenda Wizard for PPT feature. The feature includes PowerPoint Agenda Templates and updates your Agenda as you continue to work on your presentation.

Here are the steps to create a PowerPoint Agenda with the PPT Productivity PowerPoint Agenda Wizard:

Step 1: Open the Agenda Wizard from the Format Toolbar

Step 2: In the Agenda Wizard, select whether you would like to create either a Meeting Agenda or Table of Contents for your PowerPoint presentation

Step 3: Type the first Agenda item in the text box below 'Agenda Item'

Step 4: Hit 'Enter' to start a new line, and then add the next Agenda item (repeat this step until you have entered all of your Agenda items)

Step 5: Once all Agenda items have been entered, click the 'Format Agenda' tab to make any formatting changes (see section 12 of this blog post below for how to make formatting updates to your PowerPoint Agenda slides) required. Or select 'Create' to generate your Agenda / Table of Contents Slide

2. How can I create a PowerPoint Agenda using PowerPoint sections?

PPT Productivity's Agenda Wizard offers you the option to use PowerPoint Sections for your agenda (PowerPoint Sections are a way to segment your document in standard PowerPoint). You can also create an agenda using the Agenda Wizard without using PowerPoint sections.

To create a PowerPoint Agenda using PowerPoint Sections, first add the sections in your presentation (or review the existing Sections to ensure they are located in the correct places throughout your presentation). To add new sections to your presentation, right click in the thumbnail view beside your slides in PowerPoint and select 'Add Section'. Each time you do this, PowerPoint will insert a new section and prompt you with the option to name the section. Repeat this step until you have set up your PowerPoint sections through the presentation.

Once you have created all of the sections in your PowerPoint presentation, here are the steps to create an Agenda or Table of Contents using the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard:

Step 1: Launch the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard from the PPT Productivity Format Toolbar. The Agenda Wizard button is circled in the screenshot below.

Step 2: In the Agenda Wizard popup, select if you would like to create either a Meeting Agenda or Table of Contents format.

Step 3: Next, click the 'Import Agenda Items' button at the bottom of the PPT Productivity PowerPoint Agenda Wizard window (refer to the screenshot below).

Step 4: When you select 'Import Agenda Items', you will see a number of import options (different locations you can import your PowerPoint agenda content from). Select the 'Load Section Names' option and click OK (refer to the screenshot below).

Step 5: The PowerPoint section names you added in the earlier step will appear in the Preview panel. If you click OK these will be imported as your list of Agenda items. You can then either select the 'Format Agenda' tab to make any formatting updates, or simply click 'Create' to create your PowerPoint Agenda Slide from PowerPoint Section names.

3. Can I create a PowerPoint Agenda from data copied to my clipboard?

Yes - you can use data copied on your clipboard to create your agenda. To create a PowerPoint Agenda slide from data copied to your clipboard, follow these steps:

Step 1: Copy the content required by selecting the text and Ctrl + C keyboard shortcut (or right mouse click, 'copy' to save the data to your clipboard).

Step 2: Open the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard from the Format Toolbar.

Step 3: In the Agenda Wizard, select whether you would like to create either a Meeting Agenda or Table of Contents format

Step 4: Select 'Import Agenda Items'

Step 5: In the 'Import Agenda Items' dialogue, select 'Load from Clipboard'. The copied content will appear in the 'Preview Agenda Items' window

Step 6: Click OK to close the 'Import Agenda Items' dialogue.

Step 7: Your copied content will now appear in the list of Agenda items. You can click the 'Format Agenda' tab to make any formatting changes required. Or simply click 'Create' to create your PowerPoint Agenda Slide from data copied to the clipboard.

Perhaps you have already created a mockup slide with your PowerPoint Agenda, but you'd like to quickly format it and automatically add the divider sheets. You can use the Agenda Wizard to convert your existing Agenda slide into a Table of Contents or Meeting Agenda:

4. Can I use an existing PowerPoint Agenda with the PPT Productivity Agenda wizard?

Yes - you can convert an existing agenda slide in your presentation into a properly formatted PowerPoint Agenda slide with meeting details or updating divider sheets with the Agenda Wizard. Here are the steps to convert your Agenda into an easily updateable format:

Step 1: Open your PowerPoint presentation with the existing Agenda slide, then select the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard from the Format Toolbar.

Step 2: In the Agenda Wizard, select whether you would like to create either a Meeting Agenda or Table of Contents layout.

Step 3: Select the 'Import Agenda Items' option

Step 4: In the 'Import Agenda Items' dialogue, select 'Load from Agenda Slides'. Your content from the existing Agenda Slide will appear in the 'Preview Agenda Items' window.

Step 5: Click OK to close the 'Import Agenda Items' dialogue box and return to your PowerPoint presentation.

Step 6: The content from the existing Agenda slide will now appear in the list of Agenda items. You can click the 'Format Agenda' tab to make any formatting changes required. Or simply click 'Create' to create your PowerPoint Agenda Slide from an Agenda slide.

5. Can I create a PowerPoint Agenda from Slide Titles?

With PPT Productivity's Agenda Wizard you can create PowerPoint Agenda / Table of Contents slides from the slide titles of all or selected slides in your presentation. Creating your Agenda from your slide titles is often a great starting point. You can also edit your agenda once the slide titles are imported to the wizard.

Here are the steps to create an Agenda slide from selected slide titles in your PowerPoint presentation:

Step 1: Select the slides in your PowerPoint presentation containing slide titles you want to include as Agenda Items

Step 2: Launch the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard from the Format Toolbar

Step 3: In the Agenda Wizard, select whether you would like to create either a Meeting Agenda or Table of Contents

Step 4: Select 'Import Agenda Items'

Step 5: In the 'Import Agenda Items' dialogue, select 'Load from Selected Slides'. Slide titles from the selected PowerPoint slides will appear in the Preview Agenda Items window

Step 6: Click OK to close the 'Import Agenda Items' dialogue

Step 7: The selected PowerPoint slide titles will now appear as your list of Agenda items. You can click the 'Format Agenda' tab to make any formatting changes required. Or simply click 'Create' to create your PowerPoint Agenda Slide from selected PowerPoint slide titles.

6. How can I create a PowerPoint Agenda from Slide Content?

To create a PowerPoint Agenda or Table of Contents from the content of a specific slide in your presentation follow these steps:

Step 1: Select the slide in the PowerPoint presentation you want to use to source the content from

Step 2: Open the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard from the Format Toolbar

Step 3: In the Agenda Wizard, select whether you would like to create either a Meeting Agenda or Table of Contents format for your PowerPoint presentation

Step 4: Select 'Import Agenda Items'

Step 5: In the 'Import Agenda Items' dialogue select 'Load from Slide Content'. The slide content of the selected PowerPoint slide will appear in the Preview Agenda Items window

Step 6: Click OK to close the 'Import Agenda Items' dialogue and return to your PowerPoint presentation

Step 7: Your selected slide's content will now appear as your list of Agenda items. You can click the 'Format Agenda' tab to make any formatting changes required. Or simply click 'Create' to create your PowerPoint Agenda Slide from the selected slide content.

7. How do I re-order the Agenda items on PowerPoint Agenda or Table of Contents?

Have you ever created your PowerPoint Agenda / Table of Contents slide, and all your divider slides, but then realized you need to change an Agenda item, or rearrange the Agenda order? Or perhaps you've sent a deck to a colleague for review and they have rearranged your slides?

Updating a Table of Contents or Agenda in standard PowerPoint is not a quick process, but the Agenda Wizard for PowerPoint can solve this!

There are several ways the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard allows you to re-order / update Agenda items on a PowerPoint Agenda or Table of Contents. These include:

• Re-ordering the PowerPoint Sections in your presentation
• Re-ordering the sequence of the slides in the PowerPoint document
• Re-ordering the list of Agenda items from the Agenda Wizard menu
• Updating the source that you used to import the Agenda items and refreshing in the Agenda Wizard

Let's review each of these methods of updating your Agenda slides in detail

8. How do I refresh the order of my Agenda or Table of Contents using PowerPoint Sections?

If you have created your Agenda or Table of Contents using PowerPoint sections but need to update it, here are the steps to update the order:

Step 1: To update the order of items on PowerPoint Agenda or Table of Contents slides go to the Slide Thumbnail view and select the Section which needs to be re-ordered.

Step 2: Drag the PowerPoint Section to the required location in the document. When you drag / move a PowerPoint section within a document, the 'child' / connected slides will move with the Section.

Step 3: Continue to drag and drop all of the sections until you have them in the correct locations in your PowerPoint presentation.

Step 4: Open the PPT Productivity PowerPoint Agenda Wizard from PPT Productivity's Format Toolbar

Step 5: The Agenda Wizard will display the updated list of Agenda Items, reflecting the changes you have made to the sections. Click update to confirm these changes.

Step 6: All Agenda / Table of Contents slides as well as the divider slides will update according to the new order of the PowerPoint Sections.

9. How can I sync PowerPoint Agenda slides when I make changes to the order of my slides?

It's easy to update PowerPoint Agenda Slides by re-ordering the slides in your PowerPoint deck and running the sync feature from the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard for PowerPoint. Here are the steps to sync Agenda slides:

Step 1: Select the divider slide in your PowerPoint presentation that needs to be moved.

Step 2: Move the divider slide to the desired point in your presentation (you can drag it from the PowerPoint thumbnail view), as well as any other PowerPoint slides that need to come after the divider slide.

Step 3: Continue to rearrange the slides as needed in your presentation.

Step 4: When you are happy with the new order of slides, launch the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard from the Format Toolbar.

Step 5: In the Agenda Wizard dialogue box, the list of Agenda Items will have automatically re-ordering corresponding to the changes to the slider order in the deck. Review this list to ensure you are satisfied with your updates.

Step 6: Click update to sync the Agenda and divider slide content, to reflect the updated order of your PowerPoint slides.

10. How can I sync Agenda PowerPoint slide using the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard?

The PPT Productivity PowerPoint Agenda Wizard lets you easily update / sync your Agendas quickly with any changes you make to the order or content of Agenda items listed in the Agenda Wizard (noting to avoid confusion that you have the option to change Agenda items by rearranging the actual slides, or by updating the list of Agenda items from the Agenda Wizard which will then automate moving the slides). Here are the steps:

Step 1: To update the order of Agenda items on your Agenda PowerPoint slides, either use the arrows on the left hand side of the Agenda items list; use keyboard shortcut Shift + Alt + Up Arrow / Shift + Alt + Down Arrow; or simply drag and drop each Agenda item to the correct level on the Agenda List.

Step 2: You can also use the left and right arrow (Shift + Alt + Right Arrow / Shift + Alt + Left Arrow) in the Agenda Wizard to promote or demote Agenda items (e.g. to make them sub agenda items).

Step 3: Click the X button to delete Agenda items that are not required.

Step 4: In addition to re-ordering Agenda Items, any required updates to the text can be made from the Agenda Items list (updating the Agenda Item in the Agenda Wizard will also update the relevant PowerPoint slide(s) once you click the update button).

Step 5: Once the items have been re-ordered and any additional edits required have been made to the Agenda items, click 'Update'.

Step 6: Agenda and Divider slides in your PowerPoint presentation will automatically sync / refresh with the updates made in the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard.

11. Can I update PowerPoint Agenda slides if I make changes to the source content?

If the original source of the PowerPoint Agenda Content changes, you can update the Agenda by simply re-importing the source content into the Agenda Wizard. To do this:

Step 1: Open the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard from the Format Toolbar

Step 2: Select 'Import Agenda Items'

Step 3: Choose which data source you are importing the Agenda Items from

Step 4: Click OK

Step 5: Once you've imported the refreshed Agenda items, Click update. The new content will now appear on the Agenda / Table of Contents and divider slides.

12. How do I make formatting changes to my PowerPoint Agenda Slides?

The PPT Productivity PowerPoint Agenda Wizard aims to make creating and updating PowerPoint Agenda / ToC slides as simple and fast as possible! When you create an Agenda slide with the PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard, the format will automatically take on the format of the PowerPoint Template theme from the presentation you are using. This means the style, layout and color scheme will match your current document. PPT Productivity uses your presentation's template layouts and selects one of them to create your Agenda template. PPT Productivity also has additional agenda slide template layouts that you can choose from.

Learn more about PowerPoint Template Themes from the article Difference between PowerPoint Templates, Themes, and Layouts?

However, you can make changes to the format if preferred. To make formatting changes to your PowerPoint Agenda Slides:

Step 1: Open the PPT Productivity PowerPoint Agenda Wizard from the Format Toolbar

Step 2: Click 'Format Agenda' at the top of the Agenda Wizard window

Step 3: From the 'Format Agenda' tab you can choose to include Divider slides / flysheets or only generate the Cover or 'main' Agenda slide by checking the box next to each.

Step 4: Checking 'Sync Divider Slide' will apply any formatting selections made on the Cover slide to the Divider slides - so you only need to make the selection once if the changes you wish to apply are the same for both the Cover and Divider slides.

Step 5: The PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard will automatically select a Slide Layout from the Master Layouts connected to the PowerPoint template design you are using. Or you can select an alternate slide layout from your master slide layouts by clicking the dropdown arrow (refer to the screenshot below for an example).

Step 6: PPT Productivity will apply a default Agenda Style to your Agenda Slides (using your PowerPoint presentation's template layouts, fonts and colors). You can also select an alternate style from the selection of built-in Agenda style layout options (refer to the screenshot below for an example).

Step 7: PPT Productivity will automatically select the primary and secondary font and fill colors based on your PowerPoint presentations' template color theme. You can also change these from the dropdown color menu in the Agenda Wizard if required.

Step 8: The Agenda Wizard dropdown color menu will give you the ability to update the primary and secondary colors from your theme colors, standard PowerPoint colors, your PPT Productivity color toolbar custom colors or custom presentation colors.

Step 9: Once you have made any formatting changes required, hit 'Create' to generate your new PowerPoint Agenda slide (and divider slides if selected). If you would like to save these preference for future use, hit 'Save Settings'. Your updated selections will be saved as your default settings for your future PowerPoint Agenda Slides.

13. What is a PowerPoint Divider / Flysheet?

Flysheets or Divider slides are the first slide within each section of a PowerPoint presentation. They are used to indicate the start of a new section. In the example below you can see the divider slides indicated in orange.

When you create a PowerPoint Agenda or Table of Contents slide with the PPT Productivity's PowerPoint Agenda Wizard, there is an option to have Divider slides or Flysheets automatically generated and inserted into your presentation at the beginning of each section. If you do not require Divider slides or Flysheets in your presentation, simply leave 'Generate Divider Slides' unchecked. Refer to the screenshot below to see an example of the Agenda Wizard popup with the options for Divider slides.

14. When should I include a PowerPoint Divider slide or Flysheets in my presentation?

PowerPoint Divider Slides are useful if your PowerPoint deck / presentation has different topics or sections you need to cover. They help to clearly separate the key messages and guide your audience. Typically Divider Slides will include either only the section title, or they can display a copy of the PowerPoint Agenda / ToC, with the relevant section highlighted.

Having Divider Slides in PowerPoint presentations also helps navigate through the presentation, because you can add hyperlinks to the Agenda / Table of Contents. Clicking these hyperlinks can quickly navigate the reader to each Divider in your presentation.

15. How do I navigate PowerPoint Presentations using a PowerPoint Agenda / Table of Contents?

The PPT Productivity Agenda Wizard automatically hyperlinks Agenda items appearing on the PowerPoint Agenda / Table of Contents slide, to the relevant Divider slide / flysheet. The hyperlinked Agenda items can be clicked on to navigate through your PowerPoint presentation. Here are the steps for using hyperlinks on Agenda slides to navigate:

Step 1: To navigate your document using Agenda slides, click the Agenda item you want to navigate to.

Step 2: You will automatically be taken to the relevant Divider slide in the document. If you have used a Divider slide / Flysheet style that includes all Agenda items, you can click other Agenda items to navigate to the appropriate section in the deck.

Step 3: If you have used a Divider slide/ Flysheet style that only includes the individual section name, click Home to navigate back to the main Agenda / Table of Contents slide.