After many requests, I am finally publishing a guide to how I create interactive PDFS. Please note, I am not a technology expert. I am not confident in this skill and not able to troubleshoot issues.
I complete all products on a MacBook Pro Using Microsoft Powerpoint Version 16.16.15 and Adobe Acrobat Pro. I am not familiar with any other computers or versions of Powerpoint but hopefully most operations will be similar. I simply wanted to share what I could and I hope it helps you get started.
Step 1: Open Powerpoint.
I create all materials in powerpoint. I think it is the most user friendly platform.
Step 2: Click on “Design”
I do this out of habit. I create all of my materials to fit a standard sheet of paper. I have been doing this with my digital products as well. Design is located in the top left corner next to home and insert.
Step 3: Click on “Slide Size”
This is where you can actually adjust the size of the slide. Slide size is located in the top right corner next to format background.
Step 4: Click on “Page Set Up”
This is where you can change the slide size. For a landscape view (which is what I use for all digital products) I do 11 width and 8.5 height. If I were doing portrait (what I use for traditional worksheets) I do 8.5 width and 11 height. When it says “you re covering to a smaller slide size. Do you want to scale content down” click scale.
Step 5: Convert to PDF
I design the entire activity, from the cover to the final “all done” page in powerpoint and then save as a PDF. When you go to “save as” you can choose your file format and PDF is an option.
Step 6: Open PDF and Select “Edit PDF”
Please note, to do this you MUST have a subscription to Adobe Acrobat Pro. It currently costs $14.99 a month to have access.
Step 7: Add Links
The links button is located in the top bar, in the middle of “add pages” and “crop pages”.
Step 8: Designate Area
We will need to show what object we want linked. Click on Add/Edit Web or Document Link. In this example, I used the tool that automatically appears to draw a box around the yellow arrow in the bottom right corner. This means when the student touches this box, it will take them to the page I link it too.
Step 9: Prepare Link
Now that I have my box designated, I can prepare where I want it to go. I like to use an invisible rectangle with no highlight style and I have it go to a page view.
Step 10: Set Link
I will scroll to the page I want it to go to. For my products, every slide with an activity is followed by a “great job” slide and a “try again” slide. If the PDF has 10 activities, there would be a total of 10 “good job” slides and 10 “try again” slides, one of each behind each activity slide. In this example, I want that yellow arrow to go to the first activity page. Once I am on the activity page, I can set the link.
Step 11: Repeat the steps
For this example, only the colored eggs carton is correct. I will draw a box around the eggs and link it to the follow “great job” page. I will draw boxes around the girl and the purple egg and link them to the try again page”.
Step 12: Don’t forget the “Great Job” and “Try Again” pages
All great job pages need to link to the next activity page. All try again pages need to link back to the question page.
This is a tedious process and it is easy to make a mistake so be sure to test EVERY LINK after you finish. If you find a mistake, just click “edit” again, delete the one link box that is wrong and re-do it. I hope this tutorial helps!