Breadcrumbs allow you to add a visual reminder to a presentation. Adding them is useful to know where you are within a presentation and allows your end users to navigate the document with one click.

Overview

To create your Breadcrumbs, you will have to create shapes in the Slide Master and tag them so UpSlide recognizes them as automation elements. Editing these shapes in the Slide Master sets the positioning, formatting and sizing of your Breadcrumbs.

You can customize the Breadcrumbs for each presentation to create more complex versions in different formats.

Set your Slide Master

Create the Breadcrumbs' layout

1. Open an UpSlide-compatible presentation or template.
2. Go to View > Slide Master to open your template's Slide Master.
3. Go to the bottom of the Slide Master slide list. There should be a slide called UpSlide Breadcrumb (Disabled) with some shapes already visible.
4. Rename it UpSlide Breadcrumb.

If your UpSlide template was created a while ago, you might not have a slide called UpSlide Breadcrumb (Disabled) in your Slide Master. If there's no such slide, create it at the bottom of the Slide Master, as shown in the screenshot below.

Create the base style and formatting

Within the Breadcrumbs' layout:

1. Create two shapes. You can input Current and Non-current as text to help you identify them.
2. Place Non-current on the left of Current.
3. Format the shapes according to your template guidelines.
   • Non-current contains formatting of non-current sections or subsections.
   • Current contains formatting for the current section or subsection.

The distance between the non-current and the current shapes, as shown with the blue arrow in the above picture, will determine the gap between each Breadcrumb shape in your presentation.

The margin between the non-current shape and the edge of the slide, as shown with the green arrows in the above picture, will determine where the first Breadcrumb shape is placed on each slide.

Rename the shapes

To ensure UpSlide can identify your Breadcrumb shapes, go to the Selection pane to confirm they are properly named. This is only necessary if you had to create the layout UpSlide Breadcrumb in the above step.

1. Go to PPT's Home tab and click the Arrange dropdown menu to open the Selection Pane.
2. In the Selection pane on the right, identify the shape Non-current and rename it Other Sections.
3. In the Selection pane on the right, identify the shape Current and rename it Current Section.

Check how your Breadcrumbs look and function

1. Close the Slide Master.
2. Insert sections and subsections in your presentation.
3. Use Refresh in the References section of the UpSlide ribbon.
4. The Breadcrumbs should appear on your slides.

Additional options

Stop the Breadcrumbs from appearing on some layouts

The Breadcrumbs will not appear on UpSlide's automated section or subsection dividers, but they will appear on all other slides as long as they appear after a section or subsection divider in your presentation.

If you have slides you do not want the Breadcrumbs to appear on, such as the final slide of your presentation or Appendix layouts, here's how to disable them:

1. Open your presentation's Slide Master.
2. Select the layout you do not want Breacrumbs to appear on.
3. Go to PPT's Home tab and click the Arrange dropdown menu to open the Selection Pane.
4. Create a shape and rename it UpSlide Options in the Selection pane.
5. Right-click the UpSlide Options shape and click View Alt Text... 
6. Insert the following text: {"NoBreadcrumb": true}
7. Hide this shape with the Selection pane using the eye icon so the shape doesn't appear on your slide.

Set a maximum width

If you sometimes have very long section names, you may want to add a maximum limit to how wide each reminder appears. To apply this option:

1. Open the Slide Master and go to the layout UpSlide Breacrumb.
2. Select the Non-current shape and right-click to select View Alt text...
3. Write or copy-paste {"TrimTitles": "True"} in the field.

The max width of the Breadcrumbs will be the width of the non-current shape set in the Slide Master. 

Resize shape to fit text and wrap text in shape must be disabled to use the TrimTitles option. 

Exclude subsection names

If your presentation uses subsections, the Breadcrumbs will only show subsection titles. Nothing will appear in sections without subsections.

You can change this setting to only display section titles in the Breadcrumbs. To do this:

1. Open the Slide Master and go to the layout UpSlide Breacrumb.
2. Select the Non-current shape and right-click to select View Alt text...
3. Write or copy-paste {"DisplayMode" : "SectionsOnly"} in the field.

Customize Breadcrumbs' content as an administrator

An administrator can edit the content that will be displayed in the Breadcrumbs so they don't display just the section or subsection names. 

To enable this option, you will need to activate the Preview Mode:

1. Use the Ctrl+Shift+X shortcut
2. Go to Tools
3. Click on Preview Mode
4. Click on Enable Preview

Then, you're free to customize your Breadcrumbs' content:

1. Open the TOC interface
2. Go to the reminders ribbon
3. Select the UpSlide Breadcrumbs layout
4. Select the text box you want to edit
5. Enter the text box
6. Insert one of the available tags, such as <%SectionNum%>, <%SectionName%>, …

Please find below an example that displays the Section Number and the Section Name, and only displays a dot if there is a Section Number

<%SECTIONNUM%><%DOTIFSECNUM%><%SPACEIFSECNUM%><%SECTIONNAME%>

Tips for creating shapes with proper formatting

• Tick Resize shape to fit text only when not using TrimTitles option.
• Include margins.
• Make sure the text is aligned to the left or right. Middle align and Resize shape to fit text usually overlaps and looks ugly.
• Do not assign Wrap text in shape because otherwise, long names will cause the shape to increase in height. Having it unticked causes a horizontal widening which is usually the desired results
  

Depending on the shapes you use, you may want a nice 'start' to the Breadcrumbs in a different shape. You can do this by adding the first shape in your presentation's Slide Master (not the TOC master). Then, resize, format, and give your Breadcrumbs enough margin to flow after it. See below: