Animate objects

To make your presentation more dynamic, you can animate the objects on a slide. For example, you can make text appear on the slide one bullet point at a time, or make an image of a ball bounce onto the slide.

Object animations are called build effects. Different build effects are available depending on whether the object is a text box, chart, table, shape, or media (photo, audio, or video).

Moving an object onto a slide is building in. Moving an object off a slide is building out. Moving an object around on a slide is an action build.

Animate an object onto and off a slide

You can make an object move onto a slide, off a slide, or both.

  1. Select the object or text box you want to animate.

  2. Do any of the following:

    • Animate the object onto the slide: Click the Build In tab at the top of the sidebar on the right, click Add an Effect, then choose an animation.

      If you don’t see a sidebar, or the sidebar doesn’t have a Build In tab, click Animate button in the toolbar.

    • Animate the object off the slide: Click the Build Out tab at the top of the sidebar on the right, click Add an Effect, then choose an animation.

      If you don’t see a sidebar, or the sidebar doesn’t have a Build Out tab, click Animate button in the toolbar.

  3. Use the controls to change the duration of the animation, and more.

You can also make several objects build as one object by grouping them, then adding an animation to the group.

Animate an object around the slide

You can use action builds to move objects along a path or change how an object looks without moving the object onto or off the slide. For example, you can change an object’s size, make it transparent, and more.

There are two types of action builds: Basic action builds change how the object appears by adjusting its position or size on the slide. Emphasis action builds start and end in the same position and are used to call attention to an object on the slide.

You can combine Basic action builds to create an interesting animation. For example, you could apply a Move build that plays at the same time as a Rotate build so the object appears to rotate while it moves across your slide.

  1. Select the object you want to animate.

  2. Click the Action tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar, or the sidebar doesn’t have an Action tab, click Animate button in the toolbar.

  3. Click Add an Effect, then choose an animation.

  4. Use the controls to customize the animation.

  5. To apply another Basic action build to the object, click the red diamond below the object, then choose another build.

  6. To combine two Basic action builds, apply both Basic action builds to an object in the Action tab at the top of the sidebar, select Build Order, then choose With Build to select the previous build in the Build Order window.

When an object changes its position as a result of an action build, a “ghost” object appears on the slide. These ghost objects represent the resulting position of an object with an action build.

Build objects by their parts

You can build tables, charts, lists, or blocks of text all at once or piece by piece. For example, you can have a pie chart appear on a slide one wedge at a time or a list appear one point at a time.

  1. Select a table, chart, or block of text that has an animation.

  2. Click the Build In tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar, or the sidebar doesn’t have a Build In tab, click Animate button in the toolbar.

  3. Click the Delivery pop-up menu, then choose how you want the object to build.

    Delivery options depend on the type of object you choose. For example, a pie chart can be built in wedge-by-wedge, and a bar chart can be built in set-by-set.

    Some effects, like Move In, have additional text delivery options. You can use text delivery options to animate words or characters. For example, you can build in several paragraphs, but the words inside the paragraphs can be animated to come in randomly during each paragraph delivery.

Change the build order and timing

You can change the order in which objects animate on a slide. You can also adjust the timing of builds, setting some effects to build automatically after others, or setting builds to run simultaneously. You can also specify when a build starts.

Build order window
  1. Select the slide with the build effects you want to reorder.

  2. Click the Build In, Build Out, or Action tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar, or the sidebar doesn’t have these tabs, click Animate button in the toolbar.

  3. Click Build Order at the bottom of the tab.

    All the build effects on the slide are listed. To easily identify the build order for a specific object, select the object on the slide.

  4. To change the build order for a build effect, drag the build effect to a new position in the Build Order window. Command-click to select multiple builds.

    If you drag a build effect on top of another build (they become merged in the window), the second build effect plays automatically after the effect it’s paired with.

  5. To modify timing for a build effect, select the build effect, click the Start pop-up menu, then choose an option:

    • On Click: The build plays when you click.

    • With Build [number]: The build plays at the same time as the build before it.

    • After Build [number]: The build plays after the previous build finishes. Adjust the delay using the arrows next to the Delay field.

Remove an animation

To remove a build effect, change the build effect to None.

  1. Select the object you want to modify.

  2. Click the Build In, Build Out, or Action tab at the top of the sidebar on the right.

    If you don’t see a sidebar, or the sidebar doesn’t have these tabs, click Animate button in the toolbar.

  3. Click Change, then choose None.