Adding animations to your PowerPoint presentations can make them more dynamic, memorable, and engaging. Animations allow you to make text, images, shapes, charts, SmartArt, and other objects appear, move, change size or color, and more.
Used effectively, animations can emphasize key points, show relationships, and guide the audience through your information. However, too many animations can be distracting. Follow these tips to add animations that enhance your presentation.
Types of Animations in PowerPoint
There are two main types of animations in PowerPoint:
Entrance animations make objects appear or enter the slide, often with a directional movement like fading in, flying in, zooming in, etc. These are useful for introducing bullet points, images, and other elements.
Emphasis animations draw attention to a specific object after it has appeared, using movements like pulsing, spinning, color changes, and more. Use these sparingly to highlight only your most important points.
How to Add Animations in PowerPoint
Adding animations is easy in PowerPoint:
- Select the object you want to animate.
- On the Animations tab, choose an animation effect from the gallery.
- Customize options like direction, color, duration, and more using the Effect Options.
You can preview animations using the Preview button before running the full slideshow. The Animation Pane provides advanced control for managing multiple animations.
PowerPoint Animation Tips
Follow these tips when adding animations:
- Use subtle, simple animations that enhance without distracting.
- Be consistent with animation styles across your presentation.
- Time animations carefully so they don’t play too fast or overlap.
- Use motion paths sparingly to emphasize key relationships.
- Add sound effects only when appropriate.
- Limit animations to 1-2 per slide, with 2-3 seconds per animation.
Advanced Animation Techniques
You can create advanced sequences by combining animation triggers and timing:
- Trigger animations to start on click, after previous animation, with audio, and more.
- Time animations carefully with varying durations and delays between them.
- Use motion paths to make objects follow custom routes across slides.
- Morph transitions can make objects seamlessly transform into other objects.
With some creativity, you can make truly dynamic and memorable PowerPoint animations. But don’t go overboard—keep your focus on informative content, and use animations to effectively support your message.
