Text Effect Animation Options in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

By Geetesh Bajaj and James Gordon from Office 2011 for Mac All-in-One For Dummies

In PowerPoint 2011 for Mac, effect options for animation can be applied using the Office 2011 for Mac Ribbon, the Toolbox, or a combination of these two features. When you’re working on your own, you can freely use the Ribbon and the Toolbox in any combination.

Using the Ribbon's Animation Options group in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

The Animation Options group on the Animations tab of the Ribbon features many options that can be applied to a text animation (in this case, the Rise Up text animation):

Select any animation order number to the left of an animation to activate the Animation Options group on the Ribbon.
Click Effect Options.

A pop-up menu displays with options.
From the Start pop-up menu, choose On Click, With Previous, or After Previous.
Use the Duration spinner control to set the duration of the effect by setting the number of seconds it will play.

Using the Toolbox to set Animation Options in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

All the effect option settings on the Ribbon are available in the Toolbox, but the Toolbox has additional settings. The following steps explore what's in the toolbox for the Rise Up text animation:

Select the bulleted text placeholder.
Display the Toolbox by clicking Reorder on the Animation Options group of the Animations tab of the Ribbon, or by clicking Toolbox on the Standard toolbar.
Select the animation you want to tweak, and then click all the disclosure triangles in the Toolbox.

This exposes Animation Order, Effect Options, Timing, and Text Animation groups in the Toolbox.
To change the order in which animations play, select an animation and click an up or down arrow.
In the Effect Options section of the Toolbox, choose from the options in the After Animation pop-up menu.
(Optional) Select a sound to play with the animation from the Sound pop-up menu.

Adding sound can make your presentation distracting unless you have a specific reason to add sound in the first place.
Adjust the timing of the Rise Up text effect by selecting from the options in the Timing section.
To apply fancier text animations, choose from the options in the Text Animations section.

More step-by-step examples can be found in the PowerPoint Presentation Gallery, accessed by choosing File→New From Template. Search for the word Text and then open the Animated Text Effects for PowerPoint Slides template. Some of the examples were made with only a Windows audience in mind. When an example says to use Ctrl-A, use Command-A instead. Also some templates are sourced from Microsoft’s online collection, so you need to be connected to access the template in PowerPoint.