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PowerPoint: How to animate bullet and sub-bullets such that both have different animations on the master slide?

I am always finding myself wanting to do different animation on bullets and sub-bullets, not as a whole.

Currently, the only available option is to do all the bullets (and their sub-bullets) to come together not one at a time.

Is there a way to do bullets on one click and then sub-bullet on the other click?

• microsoft-powerpoint

• I think you'll need to enter the bullets/sub-bullets as individual text boxes and animate them all individually. –  Steve Rindsberg Jan 5, 2019 at 16:30
• @SteveRindsberg thank you so much for this, but there is no way to do that automatically for all the slides such that doing it on the slide master? –  Anonymous Jan 5, 2019 at 20:19
• No way that I know of, I'm afraid. –  Steve Rindsberg Jan 7, 2019 at 16:42

3 Answers 3

First, set up the animation as you would for a regular bulleted list. Under "Effect Options", select "By Paragraph". At this point, you'll get each main bullet separately, but the sub-bullets come all at once with their parent.

Now, click the button for "Animation Pane" to open a set of more detailed controls. On the right side of the screen you'll see a list of all the bullets (paragraphs) in your slide.

The numbers in that list correspond to the order they will appear in. You will note that there's a number next to each of the main bullets, but not the sub-bullets. That means the sub-bullets lack their own animations and will be included in the main ones.

Right-click on one of the sub-bullets, and select "Start On Click." That will separate it into its own animation. You can tell it worked because it will now have its own number in the list. Now on the slide show, it won't show up with the prior main bullet, and will require an additional click for itself.

You can do this for all bullets and sub-bullets at once. Click somewhere in the slide, push Ctrl + A to select the whole slide, and then right-click one of them in the animation pane to change the setting for all.

Of course, there is. Here is the steps:

• Add an animation to text box which includes bulleted list.
• Click Animation Pane under Animation-Advanced Animation.
• Click the arrow of your animation in the pane.
• Click Effect Options .
• Move to Text Animations .
• Select By 1. Level Paragraphs (Or something like this).

In Mac, do it like this: Show Animation pane and under Text animation , in Group text: , you can choose what level of bullets that will also be animated:

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Animating a bullet list in PowerPoint

It’s likely that you’ve had to sit through a boring presentation that was just one bullet list after another, unless you’re (1) very young, (2) very old, or (3) very, very lucky. Count your lucky stars if you’re one of the fortunate three.

Now that it’s your turn in the spotlight, how do you keep from boring your audience to tears? We can start off by recognizing one important fact: if you put all of your bullet points on screen at one time your audience will finish reading them all long before you’ve finished talking about the first one. Even worse, they weren’t paying complete attention while they were reading, so you may have failed to get some important facts across.

Animating your bullet points on-screen is a great way to keep your audience engaged while you make the presentation. And it’s easy!

How to Animate a Bullet List

• As you can see on screen in the video, this example uses a bullet list with four items. To get started, all you have to do is:
• Click anywhere in the text.
• Go to the Animations tab.
• Click the More button beside the list of animations in the Animation group. Observe how PowerPoint divides animations into four types: Entrance, Emphasis, Exit and Motion Path. (Depending on the size of your screen, you may have to scroll down to see the Motion Path settings.)
• Click the Fly In animation and look at the Preview of the effect.

Shortcuts for viewing your presentation

To see how your presentation will appear on screen, just press the function key F5 . That will start your slideshow from the beginning.

In my video I’ll press the Spacebar key to move the slideshow forward, and then each time I press the Spacebar one more bullet will come on screen.

Press Esc to go back and work in PowerPoint.

That’s good, but how about great?

You may have noticed that I had to press Spacebar an extra time after we got to the slide in order to make the animation of the first bullet occur. In the next steps we’ll change the animation so that the first bullet automatically comes on-screen as soon as the slide loads.

• Click the Animation Pane button in the Advanced Animation group.
• Click the double-chevrons in the Animation Pane to expand the animation. Observe that each bullet has a number beside it in the slide as well as on the pane.
• Click the first bullet in the Animation Pane (this will deselect the other three bullets).
• Click the dropdown arrow beside the first bullet.
• Choose Start with Previous from the dropdown.
• Press F5 to load the show, then press Spacebar to move forward into your show..
• Observe how the first bullet comes on screen, and then press the Spacebar three times to animate each of the subsequent bullets.

That’s it for today folks. Have a great day!

How To Create An Animated Bullet List in PowerPoint

A PowerPoint Presentation with animations is one of the best methods of making an effective presentation. For this purpose you can either use Animated PowerPoint Templates or add animations to individual slides on your own. Previously, we brought you the Best Ways Of Highlighting Key Points in PowerPoint Presentations . One of the given methods was to use animations for your presentation slides. In this post we will show you how to create an animated bullet list in PowerPoint to effectively demonstrate your ideas using animated bullet slides.

Select Your Bullet Style

To get started, add a text box or edit an existing place holder to create your bullet list. You can choose any type of bullet style to create an animated slide.

Select An Animation Style

In the next step, highlight a word from your bullet list, go to the Animations tab and select an animation. You can create bullet lists by applying animations the following way:

1. Select each word individually and pick the same animation for each word.

2. Select each word individually and pick a different animation for each word.

3. Select the entire bullet list and select an animation to apply to it.

When applying your animations you can choose a style from a wide range of given animations. These animations can be further adjusted using the various options in the Animations tab, including Advanced Animation and Timing options. However, in case you simply wish to apply an animation to a word or object in a slide, you can pick a desired style from the Add Animations drop down menu.

Preview Your Animated Slides in Slide Show Mode

To preview your animations, simply enter Slide Show mode and hit the Forward Arrow key from your keyboard to see the animation. You can also click on the slide show to bring forth each word with the added animation. The below image shows the word ‘Promotion’ appearing in a slide show with the Swivel animation effect.

Video Demonstration of Making Bullet Lists in PowerPoint

For the convenience of our readers we have created a video demonstration to show the entire process of creating and animating bullet lists in PowerPoint.

Would you prefer using animations in PowerPoint or do you have other ideas to make your slides special? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

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Ultimate Guide to PowerPoint Animations: Tutorials, Templates, Tips & Tricks

Animations in powerpoint.

We have put together a massive collection of resources for PowerPoint Animations. This includes free & premium tips, tricks, tutorials and templates that you can access online to polish your slides and engage your audience.

We will cover both Custom Animations and Transitions feature in PowerPoint. This includes the new Morph Transition introduced in PowerPoint for Office 365

About PowerPoint Custom Animations

Custom Animation is a useful feature in PowerPoint. You can use it to add interaction to your slides and make the presentation more engaging for your audience. Almost any element in your slide - text, photos, graphs, shapes, audio and video can be animated.  

You can add PowerPoint animations to any of these elements in just three steps: (1) Select the object to animate (2) apply an animation, and (3) customize the effects.

Let us see how to apply animation to different parts of a presentation.

Custom animation, when used correctly can enhance the effectiveness of your message in your business presentations. #PowerPoint #Tips

4 Types of Animations 

PowerPoint offers 4 types of Animations:

• Entrance animation: Animations to make elements enter the slide.
• Exit Animation : Animations to make elements exit the slide.
• Emphasis Animation :   Animations to highlight elements on the slide and direct attention
• Motion Path Animation : Animations that make elements on the slide move from one place to another along predefined paths. 

You can add more than one animation to the same object. With this feature, it is possible to create a variety of custom animations to suit your specific requirement.

Animation can help make a PowerPoint presentation more dynamic, and the information more memorable. The most common types of animation effects include entrances and exits. 

Learn how to set up basic animations with these tutorials on Microsoft website. 

[Basic] Add Animations in PowerPoint 2016

In this easy to follow video, learn how to add animation in PowerPoint 2016. This video shows how to get started and is a primer.

Customizing Animation Effects

Once you add an animation to an object, PowerPoint offers further options to customize the animation. Each Animation effect can be controlled using the following additional settings:

Option 1: Preview Animations

Animations in PowerPoint can be normally viewed only in Slideshow mode. So if you want to preview the animations you added on a slide, PowerPoint allows you to view them using the Preview option.

Option 2: Effect Options

Some effects in PowerPoint like Fly In have additional options available. For example, Fly In animation can be set to Flyin from Left, Right, Top or Bottom of the slide. 

In addition to this, text animation can be further set to: As One Object, All at One or By Paragraph.

Option 3: Advanced Animation Effects

These options help you fine tune your animation further. You can: 

Add Animation: Add more animation effects to an object

Animation Pane: View Animation Pane to view list of animations applied on the slide and modify them.

Trigger:   Start animation on a trigger like on click of a button/text etc. to make your slide more interactive.

Animation Painter: This lesser known tool can be used to copy all the animations applied to one object and "paint" or replicate the animation to another object. This is a very useful tool to reduce the time taken to create animation effects.

Option 4: Animation Timing

The Animation timing tools allow you to control when and how the animations play. 

Start: Animations can start On Click, With Previous and After Previous

Duration: Controls how long the animation should play for. 

Delay: This feature controls how long after the previous animation the current animation should be played.

Reorder Animation: When the Animation Pane is open, you can reorder the animations and move them up or down with these tools.

5. About Animation Pane

The Animation Pane provides the list of all the animations applied to a slide in once place. You can do the following actions in the Pane:

• Change the Start option
• Edit the Effect options
• Change the Timings
• Remove the animations 
• Preview the animations

You can find out more about Animation Panes in this post from Tutsplus .

How To Preview Animations

When you put together a slide with multiple animation effects, you need to preview the animation periodically. Going to Slideshow mode every time takes a lot of time. In this video, you will find some quick ways to preview animations. All the options shared in this video allow you to preview the animation in the slide itself.

Text Animation Effects

PowerPoint animations are useful for text or bullet lists. You can make each point in your list appear one at a time as you present it.  In this section we'll explore some basic and advanced ways to present text.

Animations to Bullet Lists

When you present a list of bullet points, you can add animations to make each point exit the slide, after you finish covering it.  This post from Techrepublic shows how to add an exit strategy to bullet points in a slide. 

[Easy] Useful Animation Tricks for Bullet Points

Learn 3 useful PowerPoint Text animation tricks in the video below. The tricks you will learn are: 1. How to animate a bullet point list one by one 2. How to dim a bullet point after it is animated 3. How to make a bullet point disappear after the animation PLUS How to animate bullet points in reverse order These PowerPoint animation effects should help you make your next presentation more effective.

[Advanced] Animation Effect for Text 

Learn how to create a realistic looking effect of a hand writing text in PowerPoint. The animation looks like it was created by whiteboard animation software like Videoscribe. This popular video by Presentation Process has over 1200 Likes and 134K views. 

Find these videos useful? Please subscribe to Presentation Process YouTube channel for more:

Most people use animation only to make the bullet points appear one after another. Some advanced users make the points dim after animation. There is so much more to animation than this basic feature. In the following sections we'll see some advanced and creative uses of Animations in PowerPoint.

Picture Animation Effects

In this section you will find some creative ways to animate slides with photos. This includes photos in jpeg or png format as well as vector images in EMF, WMF or SVG format.

You can find video tutorials on how to animate Pictures and Shapes on Microsoft website.

[Advanced]  PowerPoint Zoom Animation

Sometimes when you present large pictures in your business presentation, you may be required to zoom in to your pictures to show the details. In such a situation this PowerPoint zoom effect comes in handy. You can use the animation effect to zoom into a certain step in a large multi step process, or you can use this custom animation trick to zoom in on an individual in a large group photo or zoom in on a country in a large world map etc.

[Advanced]  PowerPoint Animation to Create Videoscribe Effect

Learn to create an interesting Videoscribe effect with PowerPoint Animation within a few seconds. The effect you will learn is to have a base image and to animate it so that it looks like someone is completing a drawing on the slide. This is a great way to add engagement to your training slides.

If you would like to follow this tutorial, you can download a similar image here .

This kind of animation can be done with any wmf or emf file and can be used to explain business concepts like planning and execution or explanation of a step by step process.

Shapes & SmartArt  Animations

Autoshapes in PowerPoint can be used to create visuals for your presentation. In this section, we will see how to animate Autoshapes as well as SmartArt.

[Easy]  PowerPoint Timeline Animation

Learn to create a beautiful Animated PowerPoint Timeline Infographic with this step by step tutorial. Grab your audience attention with this easy to design slide with custom animation effect.

[Easy]  PowerPoint Animation for SmartArt Objects

When you add animation to a SmartArt graphic in PowerPoint , initially the entire graphic gets animated. But PowerPoint does provide some control over animating SmartArt shapes. To learn how to animate a SmartArt graphic with more control read this post on Indezine .

You can also see the process of animating a SmartArt diagram with the tutorial video below. The diagram we will be using is a core diagram with a circle relationship from the inbuilt PowerPoint SmartArt

The type of diagrams you can create and the animations you can apply, are only limited by your imagination. 

Watch the video above to know more

Creative Slide Design & Animation

Design 25 beautiful Slides to impress your boss & clients – using PowerPoint Tips & Tricks. Save time and improve your workflow efficiency. Suited for Beginner and Intermediate PowerPoint users.

Chart  Animations

Most business presentations have charts included in them. Many times PowerPoint charts can be overwhelming for the audience.  The reason for their overwhelm is - too much information hitting them too soon. If you learn to sequence the way you present your numbers, you make it easy for your business audience to understand your PowerPoint presentation.

This video in Microsoft support site  shows how to add animations to Charts and SmartArt. 

[Easy]  Guide to PowerPoint Chart Animation

Learn to animate your charts like a pro. In this short video tutorial, you will find how to apply custom animation to your PowerPoint charts and present information at your own pace.

[Easy]  Animate Excel in PowerPoint

Many presenters have the habit of creating charts in Excel first and then again in PowerPoint. This video shows how you can simply copy an existing chart from Excel and animate it to present your information clearly and in sequence.

Adding Interactivity 

PowerPoint animations has a trigger feature which can be used to add interactivity to your slides. These are specially useful for training and e-learning presentations.

Hyperlinks and Triggers

Triggers are like an internal hyperlink on your slide. The person viewing the presentation can control what happens next. This is useful for building multiple choice quizzes. This post from Brightcarbon provides an overview of setting up triggers & hyperlinks.

Creating Simple & Interactive PowerPoint Animated Slide

Engage your audience in training and information presentation with this beautiful slide. The slide has 4 images. On clicking on an image, the description or details relevant to that image appears next to it.

Creating Interactive Buzzers with Sound in PowerPoint

Make your training more engaging and interesting with this creative PowerPoint idea. Follow this step by step tutorial video to create an interactive PowerPoint buzzer with sound effects. You can use this buzzer to run a quiz in your classroom.

45 PowerPoint Quiz Templates Pack

Create excitement & make learning fun with games in your classroom! Gamify your classroom & generate excitement with Ready To Use PowerPoint Quiz Templates.  

Quiz templates for any type of training: Corporate Training, Universities, Schools or Freelance Training. Includes complete instructions for customizing & playing each game

Video Animation Effects

You can insert and play videos in PowerPoint. You can insert these videos from YouTube, from your PC or Storage location like OneDrive.   This tutorial in Microsoft website covers how to insert video and audio in PowerPoint.

[Easy]  Insert YouTube Video in PowerPoint

Learn how to embed an online video into your next presentation. It is a fairly straightforward option in PowerPoint 2016.

[Advanced]  PowerPoint Movie Magic with Videos, Text and Animations 

Create PowerPoint Movie Magic by using the combo of videos, text and animations. Use this technique to create slides that engage your audience. The presentation shows a car moving along a road. The windshield wiper moves across the screen. Text appears and fades away in sync with the movement of the windshield wiper. We will use the Video Bookmark option, Text Entrance and Exit Animations, and Trigger animations options to create this effect.

Using Transitions Effectively

Slide transitions are the visual movements where one slide changes into another during a presentation. They add to the professional appearance of the slideshow in general and can draw attention to specific important slides. To know how to apply and remove transitions,  read this post on Lifewire.

[Easy]  5 Tricks to Use Transition Effects in PowerPoint

Learn how to use PowerPoint slide transition effects in an interesting way to make your presentations creative.

[Advanced]  The Power of Dynamic Pan Transition Effect

Sometimes the information you want to present spreads beyond one slide. For example, an excel spreadsheet you stuck on the slide has too many columns to fit into one slide.  A map you placed on the slide is too big to be shown on one slide. If you force yourself to show the image in one page (by shrinking the size of the map), the details get too small to be clearly visible to the audience in the last row.

Learn an easy trick to overcome this situation with the video below:

Using Morph Transition 

PowerPoint Morph is a revolutionary feature available for Office 365 users. It eliminates the need for complex animation. Technically speaking, PowerPoint Morph is a transition, but in reality it can be widely used a substitute/enhancement for complex animation. Read this post from Efficiency365 for a quick overview  of this feature.

[Easy]  Animated Roadmap with Morph Transition

Learn to create an interesting animated roadmap that looks like a video. We use the PowerPoint 2016 ( Office 365 ) Morph Transition feature to create this effect. You can use this type of roadmap or timeline in almost any kind of presentation. Engage your audience by explaining and revealing the steps one by one. Link for Roadmap Image

[Advanced]  How Morph Transition Can Replace   Animation

In this video you will find how to use PowerPoint Morph Transition to replace Custom Animations. See how this can be done with this example of a slide with multiple pictures with text. You'll find how to mimic PowerPoint animation with Morph Transition and create the slides very quickly.

If you would like to learn about Morph Transition, PowerPoint Designer and other such features available in PowerPoint for Office 365, checkout the course below...

Complete PowerPoint Foundation Course

Master Fundamentals of PowerPoint from scratch. From Basics to Advanced. Includes special section on features of PowerPoint 365:

• 13.5 hours on-demand video
• For beginner & advanced users
• Online Access: Full lifetime access
• Practice Activities: Assignments & Quizzes

Animated PowerPoint Templates

Animations take time to visualize and create. You can save time by using ready to use PowerPoint Templates. In this section you will find resources and links for Animated PowerPoint Templates.

PowerPoint comes with some animated 3D templates. This includes sparkling picture frames, lively photograph albums, 3-D rotating photos, and elegant transitions between images. 

This page on Microsoft support site provides the link and details.

You can find more free animated PowerPoint Templates including for physics presentations at Presentation Magazine website. 

While these free templates are a good resource for student and non-critical presentations, business & training presentations require professional and creative animation effects. 

Ready-to-Use Professional Animation Templates

The 750+ Advanced PowerPoint Animation Templates Pack is specifically created for use in training and business presentations. It includes advanced animations for text, lists, pictures, concepts and metaphors. You can preview some of the templates from this pack below:

Animations for Bullet Points, Agenda, Terms & Definitions

Animations for Timelines, Roadmaps & Process Flows

Source:  750+ Advanced PowerPoint Animation Templates Pack

Animations for Pictures and Lists

Animations for Concepts, Metaphors, Business Ideas

And More Professionally Animated Templates to Engage Your Audience...

Make Your Presentations More Engaging without Spending Hours struggling with PowerPoint Animations...

Download 750+ Advanced PowerPoint Animation Templates Pack. Tell your story with 750+ Ready to Use & Easy to Customize Powerful Animations in PowerPoint. 

Pramod Naik

Ceo, tianjin tianshi india pvt ltd.

These ready to use animated slides are very classy and ready to use , these are very thoughtfully done .

When I have to put a point across to the team or to a larger audience , these slides greatly benefit me to make my slides sharper and to the point … one just has to visualize as to what is that you need to share to the audience and how , if you can visualize , you are bound to find that slide in this pack , if not similar , better . Secondly when you scan through the slides , the way they are made you also get ideas as to what to share to the team and audience .

Tips for Professional Animation

Here are some quick tips when using PowerPoint Animations. These will help you save time and create your animations more professionally. 

[Tip]  How to remove Custom Animations from All Slides in 1 click

When you don't want any custom animation at all in your presentation - how do you go about it? Usually you will have to go to every single slide and remove the animations. However if you wish to have on-click control on whether animations are present or now - then use this trick and get complete control over your slides!

5 Irritating Ways to Use Custom Animation

Some presenters have the habit of applying animations the wrong way. Such animations have no purpose and end up irritating the audience. Watch the video below to learn the common mistake presenters make when using custom animations feature. 

Time-Saving Tip: Using Animation Painter

Animations take a lot of time to create. Learn how to easily reuse animations applied to an object using Animation Painter tool. This video is part of the bonus tutorial videos provided with purchase of Advanced Animations Pack. 

Good PowerPoint animation makes your audience focus on the message not the animation.

Turn Presentations Into Videos

When you make a recording of a presentation, all its elements (narration, animation, pointer movements, timings, and so on) are saved in the presentation itself. In essence, the presentation becomes a video that your audience can watch in PowerPoint.  Learn the step by step process in this Microsoft support article .

[Easy]  Convert PowerPoint to Video

In this tutorial, you will find how to use save your PowerPoint file as a video. When you save the file as a video, all the animations and transitions you have used will get saved along with the file.  You would use this option of saving your presentation as videos to: - Showcase photos in a video format online/ offline - Summary or review of keys points in a presentation or training - Create a booth or kiosk presentation etc.

Free Ultimate Guide to PowerPoint Animations for tutorials, tips & more. #PowerPoint #Presentations

More Ideas for PowerPoint Animation

How to create sparkling text effect for pictures.

Learn to create a Sparkling Text Effect in PowerPoint with this step by step tutorial. You can use this effect for title animation or to highlight an important quote in a presentation.

How to create Clock Needle Animation effect

Learn how to Create Clock Needle Animation Effect in PowerPoint 2013 This is a useful animation effect to show a list, agenda items, steps in a process and more. 

Create Motion Graphics with Animation

Learn how to convert Static Pictures into Animated images in PowerPoint. Tell your story with creatively animated PowerPoint slides. The effect looks like motion graphics created in an advanced software. However, this effect uses simple custom animation effects that you can follow in any version of PowerPoint. 

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Animate your SmartArt graphic

To provide additional emphasis or show your information in phases, you can add an animation to your SmartArt graphic or to an individual shape in your SmartArt graphic. For example, you can make a shape fly in quickly from one side of your screen or slowly fade in.

Add an animation

Select a heading below to open it and see detailed instructions. 

Animate individual shapes in your SmartArt graphic

Once you’ve added the animation, you can animate individual shapes.

On the Animations tab, in the Animation group, click Effect Options , and then click One by One .

In the Advanced Animation group, click Animation Pane .

Select all of the shapes that you don't want to animate, (hold down CTRL and then click each shape in turn), and then click None in the Animation group. (This removes the animation effect from the shape. It doesn't remove the shape from your SmartArt graphic.)

For each remaining shape, right-click the shape in the Animation Pane , and then select the animation options you want.

Tip:  Use the Animation Painter (on the Animations tab in the Advanced Animation group) to quickly copy animations from one SmartArt graphic to another.

Reverse the order of an animation

Go to the SmartArt graphic with the animation you want to reverse.

Click the SmartArt Animation tab, and then select the Reverse order check box.

Fine-tune an animation

You can tweak your animation using effect options.

Important:  Some animation effects that aren’t available for SmartArt graphics are available for shapes. To apply those effects to a SmartArt, right-click it, and then click Convert to Shapes .

Go to the SmartArt graphic with the animation you want to adjust.

On the Animations tab, in the Advanced Animation group, click Animation Pane .

In the Animation Pane list, click the arrow to the right of the animation you want to change, and then click Effect Options .

In the dialog box, on the SmartArt Animation tab, in the Group graphic list, select one of the following options:

The All at Once animation behaves differently than the As One Object animation. For example, if you pick the All at Once option and the Fly In animation, shapes that have farther to fly will fly at a faster speed so that all of the shapes arrive at their destinations at the same time. If you pick this same animation and the As One Object option, all the shapes fly at the same speed.

If you pick any animation except As One Object , the background of the SmartArt graphic will show on your slide. You can’t animate the background, so if it’s messing up your slide, try setting the fill and lines of your SmartArt graphic to None .

Remove an animation

Go to the SmartArt graphic with the animation you want to remove.

In the Animation Pane list, click the arrow to the right of the animation you want to change, and then click Remove .

Tips for picking an animation

To decide which animation works best, look at the information in the SmartArt graphic text pane, because most animation starts with the top bullet in the Text pane and moves down from there. Alternatively, you can play an animation in reverse order (see the section "Reverse the order of an animation" above). If you can’t see the Text pane, click Text Pane in the Create Graphic group on the SmartArt Tools Design tab.

The animations that are available depend on the layout of your SmartArt graphic, but you can always animate all of the shapes at once or one shape at time.

Animations that you apply to a SmartArt graphic are different from animations that you can apply to shapes, text, or WordArt in the following ways:

Connecting lines between shapes are always associated with the second shape and are not animated individually.

If you apply an animation to shapes in a SmartArt graphic, the animation plays in the order that the shapes appear. The order can be reversed only as a whole.

Example:      If you have six shapes and each contains a single letter A through F, you can play the animation from A to F or F to A. You can’t play the animation out of order, such as A to C and then F to D. but, you can create multiple slides to mimic this order. In this example, you can create one slide that animates shapes A to C and a second slide that animates shapes F to D.

When you switch SmartArt graphic layouts, any animation that you have added is transferred to the new layout.

Important:  Additional animation effects, such as the Color Typewriter Entrance effect or the Flip Exit effect, are available only for shapes. Effects that are unavailable for SmartArt graphics will appear dimmed. If you want to use animation effects that are unavailable for SmartArt graphics, convert your SmartArt graphic into individual shapes , and then add the animation effect .

Click the SmartArt graphic that you want to animate.

On the Animations tab, in the Animations group, select the animation that you want from the Animate list.

On the Animations tab, in the Animations group, select By branch one by one or By level one by one .

On the Animations tab, in the Animations group, click Custom Animation .

In the Custom Animation list, select all of the shapes that you don't want to animate, by holding down the CTRL key and clicking each shape in turn.

Click Remove . This removes the animation effect from the shape. It doesn't remove the shape itself from your SmartArt graphic.

For each remaining shape, select the exact animation options that you want by selecting the shape in the Custom Animation list, and then either right-clicking the shape or clicking Change .

When you've finished selecting the animation options that you want, close the Custom Animation pane.

Note:  Effects that are unavailable for SmartArt graphics will appear dimmed. If you want to use animation effects that are unavailable for SmartArt graphics, convert your SmartArt graphic into individual shapes and then add the animation effect .

Click the SmartArt graphic with the animation that you want to reverse.

Right-click the custom animation in the Custom Animation list, and then click Effect Options .

When you animate your SmartArt graphic, depending on the layout that you use, you can tweak your animation using the following options.

When you apply All at once , some animations behave differently than they do when you apply As one object . For example, with the All at once option applied to the Fly In animation, shapes that have farther to fly will fly at a faster speed so that all of the shapes arrive at their destinations at the same time. With As one object applied, all parts of the SmartArt graphic are animated in the same way (in the case of the Fly In example, at the same speed).

If you apply any animation to your SmartArt graphic other than As one object , then any other animations you apply to that same SmartArt graphic cannot be As one object . Multiple animations applied to SmartArt graphics must be all As one object or all not As one object .

If you apply any animation (except As one object ) to a SmartArt graphic, the background for the SmartArt graphic is always visible on the slide. It is not possible to animate the background, although the background may not be apparent to you if it does not have a fill or lines applied to it.

If you apply an animation, such as Fly In , to your SmartArt graphic and then delete the animation for a particular shape, the shape from which you deleted the animation will start out visible on the slide.

If you copy a SmartArt graphic that has an animation applied to it to another slide, the animation is also copied.

Click the SmartArt graphic with the animation that you want to remove.

On the Animations tab, in the Animations group, in the Animate list, click No Animation .

To decide which animation works best with the layout for your SmartArt graphic, view your information in the SmartArt graphic Text pane, since most animation starts at the top of the Text pane and moves down. Alternatively, you can play an animation in reverse order (see the section "Reverse the order of an animation" above). If the Text pane is not visible, you can display it.

The animations that are available depend on the layout that you choose for your SmartArt graphic, but you can always animate all of the shapes at once or one shape at time.

The best way to animate your SmartArt graphic is to use the choices in the Animate list. If necessary, you can customize an animation in the Custom Animation task pane.

Animated items are noted on the slide by nonprinting numbered tags. These tags correspond to the animations in the Custom Animation list, are displayed to the side of your SmartArt graphic, and appear only in Normal view with the Custom Animation task pane displayed.

If you apply an animation to shapes in a SmartArt graphic, the animation plays in the order that the shapes appear. The order can be reversed only as a whole. For example, if you have six shapes and each contains a single letter A through F, you can play the animation from A to F or F to A. You cannot play the animation out of order, such as A to C and then F to D. However, you can create multiple slides to mimic this order. In this example, you can create one slide that animates shapes A to C and a second slide that animates shapes F to D.

When you switch to a different layout, any animation that you have added is transferred to the new layout.

Note:  Apply animation sparingly to prevent obscuring your message or overwhelming your audience.

Create a SmartArt graphic

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How-To Geek

7 things you didn't know you could do with powerpoint animations.

You’ve been missing out!

Quick Links

Get more animation options, change the direction or sequence, add sound to an animation, animate text by a word or letter, repeat an animation, animate multiple objects at once, use different triggers.

Animations do have their benefits in entertaining PowerPoint presentations. But maybe you haven't seen the one you want, aren't sure how to use different triggers, or didn't realize you can add sound. We're here to help with little-known animation options .

When you head to the Animations tab in PowerPoint, you'll see a nice collection of effects in the ribbon. Maybe you've browsed through and even previewed a few, but none made an impression on you. Guess what? There are more!

Related: How to Use Motion Path Animations in Microsoft PowerPoint

Select the arrow in the bottom right corner of the Animations box.

When the drop-down box opens, go toward the bottom. You'll see options for More Entrance Effects, More Emphasis Effects, More Exit Effects, and More Motion Paths .

When you choose one of these options, you'll see many more animations than what appear in the Animations box on the ribbon. For example, if you view More Entrance Effects, you'll see about 40 animations compared to the dozen you see in the Animations box.

You can also check the box at the bottom for Preview Effect. Then, when you pick an animation in the list, you'll see how it looks before you apply and save it. When you land on the one you want, click "OK."

For some animations, you can pick the direction or sequence. This small adjustment can have a big impact on how your elements display .

For example, if you pick the "Fly In Entrance" effect, you can choose from eight different directions or for the Shape Entrance effect, you can choose to have the shape come in or move out and then pick from four different shapes.

Select the animation, go to the Animations tab, and open the "Effect Options" drop-down menu. Then, pick the direction or sequence you want to use for a more unique effect.

Using the Fly In animation, you can see below that each image on the slide comes from a different spot per its location.

You may already know that you can add sound to your PowerPoint slideshow , but did you realize you can add sound to animation? You can play a round of applause, a drum roll, a typewriter , or an explosion among other sound effects.

Related: How to Make a Typewriter or Command Line Animation in PowerPoint

Select the animation and choose "Animation Pane" on the Animations tab to open the sidebar.

Click the arrow to the right of the animation and pick "Effect Options."

Go to the Effect tab in the small window and use the Sound drop-down box to select the one you want. You can click the speaker button on the right to adjust the volume if you like.

Then, click "OK" to apply the sound to the animation.

One animation feature you might like to check out applies to text. If you want to animate one word or letter a time, this can create a fantastic effect.

Select the text box you want to animate and apply the animation you want. Open the Animation Pane, click the arrow next to the animation, and pick "Effect Options."

Go to the Effect tab and choose "By Word" or "By Letter" in the Animate Text drop-down box. Then, click "OK."

When you play the presentation, you'll see each word or letter fly in, spin, or fade away per the animation you pick.

[video width="650" height="368" mp4="https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ByWord-PowerPointAnimationFeatures.mp4" loop="true" autoplay="true"]

Would you like your animation effect to repeat several times or until you move to the next slide? This is one of those hidden animation features in PowerPoint.

Related: How to Hide an Object Before Animation in PowerPoint

Open the Animation Pane using the button on the Animation tab. In the sidebar, select the arrow to the right of the animation and pick "Timing."

When the small box opens to the Timing tab, select a number from the Repeat drop-down list. You can choose from options like 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10, or select Until Next Click or Until End of Slide depending on the type of effect you want.

When you trigger the animation, you'll see it repeat.

If you have several elements on your slide that you want to mimic each other, you can animate multiple items at the same time. You can use this for text boxes, shapes, images, or icons.

To select all slide elements, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+A on Windows or Command+A on Mac. To select only certain elements, click the first one, hold Ctrl on Windows or Command on Mac, and then click each additional one.

Once you have your elements selected, apply the animation you want. You can adjust the Effect Options like any other animation, and the changes apply to the entire group as you'll see in the Animation Pane.

When you play the slideshow, you should see all of the elements you picked animate together.

[video width="650" height="368" mp4="https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Multiple-PowerPointAnimationFeatures.mp4" loop="true" autoplay="true"]

If you play your presentation automatically, like at a kiosk, then your animations display automatically. But if you want to present each one with a click, you can actually choose which item triggers the animation.

Related: How to Control When a Picture Appears in PowerPoint

For instance, you may have several slide elements like titles, text, images, and shapes. You can pick one of these specific items as the animation trigger.

Select the animated item and head to the Animations tab. Open the Trigger drop-down box and move to On Click Of. You can then pick the element you want from the pop-out menu.

When you preview your presentation, you'll notice a hand symbol on the item you pick. This is a good indicator that the element contains an action. In this case, the action triggers the animation.

If you create a presentation where using animated effects will enhance it, remember these additional options for animations in PowerPoint.

For more, look at these other things you didn't know you could do in PowerPoint .

Related: How to Disable or Delete PowerPoint Animations

How to Add Cool Free Animation to PowerPoint Presentations

Animating objects in your PowerPoint presentation is a great way to keep your audience focused. Learn how to quickly do it.

When used wisely, animation adds emphasis and visual appeal to PowerPoint presentations. It can transform a dull presentation into a lively and engaging one. However, you should be careful not to overdo it.

Too much animation can be distracting, reduce comprehension, and make a presentation appear flimsy. In this article, we'll see how you can add free animation to your PowerPoint presentations.

PowerPoint Animation Basics

It is useful to understand the four basic types of free animations for PowerPoint:

• Entrance : used to introduce animated objects on a slide.
• Emphasis : used for emphasizing elements already present on a slide.
• Exit : how objects move off the slide.
• Motion Paths : move objects in a specified path on the slide.

Use Preset Animation for Text or Objects in PowerPoint

To animate any object and make your PowerPoint presentation more engaging, go through the following steps:

• Select the object you wish to animate.
• On the ribbon, select the Animations tab.
• Choose an animation from the Animation menu or head to the Advanced animation menu and click Add animation .

Use Custom Animation for Text or Objects in PowerPoint

If you want to change the default settings for your animations, select the animated object and head to the Advanced animation pane. You can adjust the trigger or add another animation to the same object. Also, use the Timing menu to adjust when the animation should start, its duration, and delay.

For more options, click open the Animation pane . There, you can readjust the order of the animations with the re-order buttons at the top and preview them individually. For additional options, click the More icon next to the animation. If you click Effect options , you can change the animation direction, add sound effects, or rewind it when done playing, among other options.

Add Motion Path Animation in PowerPoint

To make a graphic object move in a certain path on the slide, use Motion Path animation. This works best for graphic images with transparent backgrounds, as the graphic moves across other elements on the slide. To add Motion Path animation to an object, do the following:

• Drag the object you wish to animate to its starting position.
• Click to select the object.
• Open the Add animation menu and select open of the options from Motion Paths .
• Edit the object trajectory by clicking the path.

If you double-click on the animation, you can adjust more of its settings.

To create a custom path for your animated object, go to Add animation > Motion Paths > Custom paths . PowerPoint will allow you to draw a custom trajectory. To set the end point of the trajectory, double-click.

How to Delete an Animation From Your Slides in PowerPoint

If you want to remove one of the animations, select the slide containing it and click Animation Pane . There, open the drop-down menu next to the animation and select Remove . Or, you can choose the animation and press Del .

Add Transitions Between Slides in PowerPoint

Animations between two slides are called Transitions. To add a transition effect to your PowerPoint presentation, open the Transitions tab and choose one of the options. Keep in mind, PowerPoint will add a transition only to the selected slide.

You can add a different effect to different slides, but if you want to have the same transition throughout your entire presentation, select all the slides before adding a transition effect. This way, you don’t have to set the transition effect for each slide, so you can save time while working in PowerPoint .

Go to the Timing menu to configure the transition settings. You can add a sound, change the duration, and choose if it should start on mouse click or after a specified time.

If you have selected different transition effects for different slides, click the Apply to all button to have a uniform-looking PowerPoint presentation. If you want to remove the transition for a certain slide, open the Animations tab and select None from the available transitions.

Add Animated Clip Art

You can check out free animated clip art graphics on the web. This way, you can get some cool free animations that are ready to be added to your presentations. Also, you can include free animated PowerPoint templates in your presentation.

Quickly Animate PowerPoint Objects

With the above tips, you can now insert and configure animations and transitions into your slides. Before doing so, make sure you don’t have to replace any of the objects that you want to animate.

Now that you’ve gotten the PowerPoint animation basics, there are a few tips you could use to take your presentation to the next level.

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How to Add Animation to PowerPoint

Give your presentations some pizzazz

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What to Know

• Select the item you want to animate, then go to the Animations tab > Animations group > More . Choose an animation.
• Use Effect Options if you want the animation on multiple items. Use the Animation Pane to change the order and timing.
• Use Play All to preview your animations.

So you have to give a talk to your boss and their entire team next week. You know what topics you want to cover, and you've put together a simple PowerPoint slide deck to help the audience understand your concepts. Consider using animation to make your presentation really stand out.

How to Add Animation to PowerPoint on a PC

Here are easy steps for using PowerPoint slide animation. The following instructions are for PowerPoint 2016, 2013, and 2010, as well as PowerPoint for Microsoft 365.

Open your PowerPoint presentation and navigate to the slide to which you want to apply animations.

Select the item you want to animate .

On the Animations tab, in the Animations group, select the More arrow in the Animations box.

You can also add Entrance , Emphasis , or Exit animations:

• An Entrance animates the item as it appears on the slide.
• An Emphasis animates the item after it’s already on the slide.
• An Exit animates the item as it leaves the slide.

Select the animation you want to use. When you select it, you’ll see the animation happen on your slide.

You’ll see the number “1” appear next to the object you’ve animated, indicating this will be the first animation to occur when you select within the slide during your presentation. If you animate more than one item, they'll be numbered in the order in which you create them.

If you want to animate several items within an object with the same animation, select the object, then choose your animation.

On the Animations tab, in the Animations group, select Effect Options to determine whether you want the animation to happen to all the items at once, or to each one separately. You can also adjust the way the animation happens; for example, whether an item “floats in” from the top or bottom of the slide.

To fine-tune the way animations happen during your presentation, on the Animations tab, in the Advanced Animation group, select Animation Pane . A pane will appear in the right-hand column of your screen.

• To change the order of an animation, select it from the list, then use the arrows in the upper-right corner of the pane to move it up or down.
• To adjust the timing, select an animation from the list and select the down-arrow for options.
• To view how the animations happen, select Play All .

To remove an animation, select an animated item, then, on the Animations tab, in the Animations group, select None .

How to Add Animation to PowerPoint Using a Mac

The following instructions are for PowerPoint 2019, 2016, and 2011 for Mac, as well as PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac.

Open your PowerPoint presentation and navigate to the slide to which you want to apply the animation.

Select the item you want to animate.

On the Animations tab, you’ll see choices for how an item appears on the slide, receives emphasis, or exits the slide. Select the one you want to use.

In PowerPoint 2011 for Mac, the selections are labeled as “entrance,” “emphasis,” and “exit” effects.

You’ll see the number “1” appear next to the object you’ve animated, indicating this will be the first animation to occur when you click within the slide during your presentation. If you animate more than one item, they'll be numbered in the order in which you create them.

To fine-tune the way animations happen during your presentation, click the number of the animation you want to adjust to open the Animations pane.

In PowerPoint 2011 for Mac, these options are available via the Animation tab, under Animation Options .

• Use the Effect Options dialog box to change how the animation works.
• Note : If Effect Options is not available, it may be because there are no options available for that effect.
• Use the Timing dialog box to set how long the animation lasts.
• Click Play From to see your changes in action.

Remember, your purpose is to support your message and build interest. Use animations judiciously, and leave the fancy displays for another time. 

You're done.

Why Animation Makes Your Presentation Stand Out

There are a number of ways to spice up your PowerPoint slides, including music, video, slide transitions, and animation. These elements can add interest and depth to your presentation, but too many can become distracting rather than enlightening. The key is choosing elements that will enhance your presentation rather than overwhelm it.

Using animation means applying movement to an item (such as lines of text, graphs, or images) on a slide. Presenters often use it to reveal bullet points one at a time instead of showing them all at once. This strategy can help keep audiences interested because they won’t know what’s coming next. Subtle effects like “appear,” “fade,” and “wipe” often work best; options such as “swivel,” “bounce,” “zoom”, and "typewriter" may get you into distraction territory.

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eFootball 2024 is live with updated team rosters and new animations

Better eFootball, if not yet better football

The latest iteration of Konami's free-to-play successor to Pro Evolution Soccer, eFootball 2024, is live now. It introduces a new season and a slew of baffling bonus unlockables and currencies to celebrate, but the real draw is that they've continued to try to improve its football simulation after the abysmal launch of eFootball 2022.

If you don't remember, eFootball 2022 launched in early access in 2021 as the first new Konami football game in two years. It was a total disaster and rapidly became the worst rated game on Steam , due to missing modes, a barebones on-pitch simulation of football, and plentiful bugs. Konami cancelled DLC plans and refunded some players as key features were delayed .

All of which is required context for the trailer above, which is six-minutes of no-context football, but which is really showing off new animations and features that you might have thought were already present in previous iterations. Things like defensive block animations, new goalkeeper punch animations, and better responsiveness when dribbling with the ball.

eFootball 2024 also features updated team rosters and kits. You can read more about specific additionsl on on Steam , including a list of the aforementioned baffling launch bonuses .

Note that since eFootball is now a live service free-to-play game, its 2024 iteration doesn't have a new entry on Steam, and is simply a renamed update to the previous store page. That means that at the time of writing, although recent reviews are more positive than they were back in 2021 ("Mixed"), the overall rating remains "Mostly Negative". Still, 37% positive reviews is a big improvement on the 15% positive it was once upon a time.

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