In this section:

Animations in PowerPoint are used to transition from one slide to another when you are showing a slide presentation in Slide Show mode. They can also be applied to individual objects to cause them to appear on a slide with an animation effect such as spinning or seeming to grow on the slide.

The transition that takes effect when you move from one slide to another in a slide show can vary for each slide change or be applied globally. You can also control the speed of each transition, and even add a sound that is played along with the transition effect.

Using a custom animation effect to control how individual objects appear on your slide allows you to cause individual bullet points on a slide to appear in a timed sequence or only appear one by one as you click your mouse. You can even apply a motion path that causes an object to enter from a certain direction, move to one area of the slide, then move to another, and so forth.

Animations and transitions are a great way to draw attention or add visual interest to your presentation.

Applying a Transition

You can use a gallery of preset animations to apply a transition effect that occurs when a new slide appears. These transition effects are divided into categories such as Fades and Dissolves, or Stripes and Bars. You can apply a different effect between each pair of slides or one effect to occur every time a slide changes. The Random category of effects cycles among different styles in a random way.

Apply a Transition Scheme to a Slide

1. If you want a transition to occur when a particular slide appears, display that slide.

2. Click the Animations tab.

3. Click the More button on the Transitions gallery to display it.

4. Move your cursor over the various effects to see them previewed on your slide.

5. Click on a transition effect to apply it to that slide.

   

Tip

If you apply a transition to a slide and then decide you don’t want to include a transition anymore, select the slide and then click the No Transition option (this is the first item in the Transition gallery).

Apply a Transition to All Slides

1. Click the Animations tab.

2. Apply a transition scheme to a slide following the steps in the previous task.

3. Click the Apply to All button. Stars appear next to all slides in the slide pane to indicate the applied transition.

   

Tip

You can tell whether a transition or other animation effect is applied to a slide in a couple of ways. In Normal view a star icon appears to the left of the slide in the Slides pane. In the Slide Sorter view, the star icon appears below any slide that has an animation applied.

See Also

For more information about adding animations to individual objects on a slide, see "Applying a Custom Animation to an Object".