Custom Table of Contents

If you’re building a custom menu on a slide master, you need a way to distinguish which slide is active because the master layer is shared across all slides. A common approach is to use separate True/False variables as simple state flags for each slide.

You would create variables like chapter01_complete, chapter02_complete, and so on, where each one represents a specific slide.

Then, on each slide, you add a trigger on timeline start that sets its corresponding variable to true. For example, when Chapter 01 slide starts, chapter01_complete becomes true; when Chapter 02 slide starts, chapter02_complete becomes true, and so on.

On the slide master, your menu items reference these variables. You add conditions so that when the timeline starts and chapter01_complete is true, the Chapter 01 menu item changes to a “visited” state, and similarly for the other chapters. Each menu item must be linked to its own variable so the master can correctly reflect progress.

I would personally avoid using the default Visited state if clicking the menu item is not required to change its “visited” state, as this can lead to issues with layer behavior when slides are revisited. Instead, it’s better to create a custom state. 

In this setup, the slide master layer remains shared globally, while the variables act as independent memory states for each slide, allowing the menu to update the states of its items.

Find the attached slide of simple custom menu on master slide reflecting persistent "visited" state across slides no matter if slides are revisited. Again, this is just one of many ways to achieve this, but I’ve found it to be simple and effective.

Either way, you should not skip Judy’s PRIMER: Mastering the Slide Master series, as it provides more detailed information on how this and much more can be achieved by properly setting up and manipulating the slide master and its layers for best results.