PowerPoint Animation Timing

Once you've applied some animations, you can control when those animations play, their order, and how long they take.

Display the Animations Pane

You can further customize animation effects from the Animation Pane. The Animation Pane gives you a little more control over how effects behave on the slide.

1. Click the Animations tab.
2. Click the Animation Pane button.

   You now can see all the animations used on the current slide.

   During an animation preview, a tiny timer bar appears in the Animation pane. You can use this timer to calculate how long it takes for your animations to play.

3. (Optional) If some of the animations are grouped together, click the Expand Contents button to view them all.
   

Reorder Animations

If you want to adjust the order in which animation effects play, you can simply resequence them. You’ll notice that each animation is numbered, both on the slide and in the Animation pane. This is the order that they'll animate.

1. Select the animation you want to reorder.
2. Click Move Earlier or Move Later in the Timing group.

   You can also reorder animations by clicking and dragging them in the Animation pane.

3. Click Preview.
   

Change How an Animation Starts

1. With the object and animation selected, click the Start list arrow in the Timing group.
2. Select how you want the animation to start.
   • On Click: Starts the animation when you click the slide.
   • With Previous: Starts the animation at the same time as the previous animation so that one click executes two animation effects.
   • After Previous: Starts the animation immediately after the previous animation. If this is the first animation on the slide, selecting this option will start the animation as soon as the slide appears.
   

Change the Duration and Delay of an Animation

1. Select the animation you want to modify.
2. Click the Up and Down arrows in the Duration and Delay fields to adjust the timing.
3. Click Preview.