PowerPoint 2010: Animating Text and Objects

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PowerPoint 2010 provides a variety of options for adding animations to text and objects in your presentations. Animations can help draw the audience’s attention, reveal information slowly, and make your presentation more visually compelling. Here are some key things to know about animating text and objects in PowerPoint 2010:

Types of Animations

There are several main types of animations in PowerPoint 2010:

  • Entrance animations: Make text or objects enter the slide, such as Fade, Fly In, Wipe, Zoom, etc. These help reveal content.
  • Emphasis animations: Draw attention to text or objects already on the slide without entering or exiting, such as Grow/Shrink, Spin, Color Change, etc.
  • Exit animations: Make text or objects leave the slide, such as Fade, Fly out, Wipe, Zoom, etc. Help remove content.
  • Motion Path animations: Make text or objects move along a custom or preset path on the slide. Create dynamic movement.

You can find all these animation types by going to the Animations tab in PowerPoint and clicking the Animation gallery.

Adding Animations

Adding animations to text or objects is simple:

  1. Select the text or object you want to animate
  2. Go to Animations > Animation and pick an animation
  3. Customize the animation with Effect Options if desired
  4. Repeat for additional objects/text

The animation will now play when presenting the slide. You can view and manage animations for a slide using the Animation Pane.

Animation Effect Options

Many animations have effect options you can customize, such as:

  • Direction (e.g. fly in from left, spin clockwise, etc.)
  • Color (for emphasis animations)
  • Path, shape, or direction (for motion paths)
  • Grouping objects
  • Timing (duration, delay, etc)

Effect options allow you to tailor the animations to suit your needs.

Animation Triggers

By default, animations play when you advance the slide in presentation mode. You can also set animations to play when clicked using animation triggers:

  • On Click – Play when clicked in presentation mode
  • With Previous – Play at same time as previous animation
  • After Previous – Play after previous animation finishes

Use animation triggers for complex sequences and to better control flow.

Best Practices

When adding animations to PowerPoint slides, keep these best practices in mind:

  • Use subtle, simple animations
  • Emphasize key text/objects only
  • Keep movement smooth and logical
  • Use short duration and small delays
  • Don’t over-animate (no more than 2-3 per slide)

Well-chosen animations can make presentations more dynamic and interesting. But too much movement can be distracting.

Animation Pane

The Animation Pane gives you precise control over animations on a slide. You can:

  • Reorder animations
  • Change effect options
  • Adjust start/delay times
  • Play preview animations
  • Copy animations between slides

Master animations for complex slides using the Animation Pane.

Animating Text

You can animate text in PowerPoint to appear one word, letter, or line at a time:

One Line at a Time

  1. Select the text box with paragraphs
  2. Add animation like Appear
  3. Go to Effect Options > By Paragraph

One Word at a Time

  1. Select the text box
  2. Add an animation like Appear
  3. In the Animation Pane, choose Effect Options > Animate Text By Word

One Letter at a Time

  1. Select the text box
  2. Add an animation like Appear
  3. In the Animation Pane, choose Effect Options > Animate Text By Letter

Animating text incrementally helps information slowly appear on the slide.

Copying Animations

You can copy animations between slides rather than recreating the same effects:

  1. On the slide with existing animations, open the Animation Pane
  2. Click the drop down on an animation and choose Copy to Slide
  3. Select the destination slide(s)
  4. The animation will now appear on the selected slides

Copying animations saves time when you want the same movement across multiple slides.

Animating SmartArt

You can animate SmartArt graphics to emphasize different elements:

  1. Select the SmartArt
  2. Add an animation like Grow/Shrink
  3. Open the dropdown on the animation in the pane
  4. Choose Effect Options > By Node to animate by element

Animating SmartArt incrementally can help explain complex graphics piece-by-piece.

Animating Charts

Charts can also be animated in sections:

  1. Select the chart
  2. Add an animation like Appear
  3. In the Animation Pane, open the dropdown
  4. Choose Effect Options > By Element (or Series/Category)

Animate charts to draw attention to specific data sets or legend entries.

Conclusion

Animations in PowerPoint 2010 provide many options for adding visual interest and controlling information flow in your presentations. Use them strategically on key text and objects. Rely on simple, subtle animations that enhance your content rather than distract from it. With practice and restraint, animations can greatly boost engagement and recall of your key ideas.

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