Animate text by letter, word, or paragraph

  1. Animate the text you want with an entrance, emphasis, exit, or motion path effect.

    Add an entrance, emphasis, or exit animation

    Open the presentation you want to add animation to and do one or both of the following:

    Apply a preset animation scheme

    1. If you only want to apply the animation scheme to a few slides, click the Slides tab, and select the slides you want.
    2. On the Slide Show menu, click Animation Schemes.
    3. In the Slide Design task pane, under Apply to selected slides, click an animation scheme in the list.
    4. If you want to apply the scheme to all slides, click the Apply to All Slides.

    Apply a custom animation

    1. In normal view, display the slide that has the text or objects you want to animate.
    2. Select the object you want to animate.
    3. On the Slide Show menu, click Custom Animation.
    4. In the Custom Animation task pane, click , and do one or more of the following:
      • If you want to make the text or object enter the slide show presentation with an effect, point to Entrance and then click an effect.
      • If you want to add an effect to text or an object that is on the slide, point to Emphasis and then click an effect.
      • If you want to add an effect to text or an object that makes it leave the slide at some point, point to Exit and then click an effect.

    Note   The effects appear in the Custom Animation list, top to bottom, in the order you apply them. The animated items are noted on the slide by a non-printing numbered tag that correlates to the effects in the list. This tag does not show up in the slide show view.

    Tip

    If you preview animations for a slide using the Play button on the Custom Animation task pane, you do not need to click to trigger any animation sequences. To preview how triggered animations work, click the Slide Show button instead.

    Add a motion path

    1. In normal view, display the slide that has the text or objects you want to create a motion path for.
    2. Select the text item or object you want to animate.

      For text items, you can select a placeholder or paragraph (including a bullet).

    3. If the Custom Animation task pane is not displayed, on the Slide Show menu, click Custom Animation.
    4. In the Custom Animation task pane, click , point to Motion Paths, and do one of the following:

      Apply a preset motion path

      • Click a preset path or click More Motion Paths to choose from more options.

      Create a custom motion path

      1. Point to Draw Custom Path and then do one of the following:
        • Click Freeform to draw a path with both curved and straight segments. Drag to draw freehand shapes; click and move the mouse to draw straight lines.

        • Click Scribble and drag to draw a path that looks more like it was drawn with a pen or to create smooth curves.

        • Click Line and drag to draw a straight path.
        • Click Curve and click where you want the curved path to start, and then continue to move the mouse and click wherever you want to add a curve.
      2. Do one of the following:
        • If you want to end the freeform or curved path and leave it open, double-click at any time.
        • If you want to end a line or scribbled path, let go of the mouse button.

        • If you want to close a shape, click at its starting point.

    Tip

  2. In the Custom Animation task pane, in the Custom Animation list, click the animated text item that you want.
  3. Click the arrow, click Effect Options, and then do one or more of the following:

Note   If you want a delay in action between letter, word, or paragraph animations, on the Timing tab, enter a number in the Delay box.

Tip

To animate the text all at once, on the Effect tab, in the Animate text list, click As one object.