How to Setup PowerPoint Slide Transitions and Animations.

PowerPoint Slide Transitions and Animations

Microsoft PowerPoint is the widely used Presentation software. It is so popular because it comes as  part of with Microsoft Office or it’s online version Microsoft Office 365. Microsoft Office is installed as a single package and once installed in the PC, you get more than one software depending on the version of it. The most common ones across all versions include, Word, PowerPoint and Excel. PowerPoint has lots of features that can be used to really communicate the message well to the target audience. This article shows how to set up slide transitions and object animations to spice up the presentation.

PowerPoint Slide Transitions And Animations.

There are two terms that often get confused by many users when it comes to using common software like Word, Excel or PowerPoint. These are “formatting” and “editing”. Formatting a PowerPoint, Excel Book or Word Document means that you are not changing the content (this includes text, images, graphs and etc.) but applying features that can make the content more meaningful and presentable to the audience or the reader. Editing is the opposite of formatting. When you do editing, you change the contents of the file file. So, Slide Transition and Animation are formatting features in PowerPoint.

Difference Between Slide Transition and  Animation.

There is a difference between Slide Transition and Animation. Transition applies animation to the slides as a whole. Transition specifies how the slide enters and gets itself displayed on the computer screen. It specifies things like, entrance (how it appears), duration (how fast or slow the entrance is) and duration (how long the display will be in seconds).

Animation animates each content object on the slide. Content objects are like the text boxes, images, shapes, lines, graphs and etc. Each of these elements can be animated to make the correct impression and interaction with the audience to convey the intended message or meaning of the presentation.

When Slide Transition and Animation Is Appropriate.

Although, slide transition and animation features are great to use, they are best to use if the presentation is going to be shared on website, automated presentation in conference settings and et where it will not be presented in person by a speaker. If the presentation is going to be presented by a presenter or speaker, then transitions and animations can be distraction if they are not set properly. So the rule of thumb, it not to use transitions and animations if it’s to be presented by a speaker.

Slide Transition

Slide Transition is easy. Once the power point file contents are done and ready to present, then slide transition can be added.

  1. Click on  Transition tab on the Ribbon.
  2. Select from a wide range of transition effects by clicking the More down arrow button under Slides command group.

3.Under Timing command group, set the following

  • Sound-(List of sounds to play to accompany the transition)
  • Duration– (How long the slide will be displayed before the next slide comes in)
  •  Apply To All-(By default transition only applies only to  selected slide. Click this to apply the transition to all slides.

4. Advance Slide-(Default is set to mouse click. Change that to “After” and set the time duration )

8. Click the Preview button to preview it.

Animation of Objects in PowerPoint.

Animation is applied to content objects.

  1. Select the object to apply animation. Animation commands group is active with all sorts of animation. It’s a matter of choosing the one you want.
  2. Every time an object is selected and amination is applied to it, the animation effect applied is identified by a number sequence. Starts with 1 and incremental. That number is visible on the slide.
  3. Click Animation pane command under Advanced Animation command group. This displays the animation pane on the right of the screen. Use the pane to arrange the sequence order. By setting the sequence order, the animation will work exactly the way you want it.
  4. Then under Timing command group, uncheck the On click and select After Previous, and then set the duration timing as well.
  5. Finally, click on Preview command to preview and make adjustments or update if needed. Then are save it once you satisfied.
  6. Sharing your slide in different file formats.

Once you are satisfied with transitions and animations, it’s time to share it or distribute it in the file format that suits your audience.

  1. Click on Backstage (File) tab, and you  click on either Share or Export.

You can Export it to Video, CD Pack and etc.

Final Note. Slide Transitions and animations are great features to use when the presentation is going to be featured on websites, shared with remote colleagues, conference booth displays and etc.