Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Animations

In Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, you have the ability to add animated effects that can be visual as well as audible. Animations provide a stimulating addition to your presentation and can emphasize specific elements to your production. You can add Entrance, Exit, Emphasis, and Motion Paths to the context of your presentation. In addition, you also have the ability to add sound to further accentuate elements of your Microsoft PowerPoint creation.

Whether you wish to adjust text or a graphic with an animation, PowerPoint makes it easy to customize the desired effect. An “Entrance” effect will display the context as it appears at the start of your slide. The “Exit” effect will display your selected bulleted item or graphic in a disappearance display at the click of your mouse.

Once you get to the slide you wish to add an entrance or exit animation to, select the first bullet of text or select an object. On the Animations tab within PowerPoint 2007, select Custom Animation in the Animations group. Under the Custom Animation task pane, click on Add Effect and then point your mouse to “Entrance” or “Exit.” You will notice that once you select the effect, you can then choose how you want your text/graphic to enter or exit your slide.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 provides an additional window on the right hand side of the screen that keeps track of the different effects that you have applied to your text/graphic (Custom Animation). This is very helpful as it provides you with reference and a quick preview to see how it will be displaying during your presentation.

It is important to note that the selected effects will appear in the Custom Animation list in the order that you add them.

To add “Emphasis” to your bulleted text or graphic, you would follow the same steps as you would to add an “Entrance” or “Exit” animation. When you click to add “Emphasis”, you can select from numerous animation displays that can add visual stimulation to your document. It is important to remember that you should always consider the audience who will view your presentation as you contemplate whether to add an “Emphasis” animation. Some graphics work well with some animated effects, others do not.

The “Motion Path” animations allow you to move the text or clipart in a specific direction within a slide. This can be a very helpful animation to add to your presentation if you are utilizing SmartArt tools (i.e., data flow diagram selection) where you want a specific image to demonstrate a visual “motion”. It is important to note that before you apply a “Motion Path” to an object, you need to add the object, (such as a picture or clip art) to your slide.

It is important to remember that after you add one or more animation effects to your presentation you should check your document to be sure that they work. You can check this by clicking on Play at the bottom of the Custom Animation task pane.