Change Order of Animations for PowerPoint Slides

Vary the sequence with simple click-and-drag reordering

Animations are a great way to add interest to a PowerPoint presentation. But, animations may not always appear on the screen the way you intended. When your animation goes wrong, change the order of the animations.

Instructions in this article apply to PowerPoint 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010; PowerPoint for Mac, and PowerPoint for Microsoft 365.

Reorder Animations

When you want to change the sequence of a PowerPoint animation, it's as easy as dragging the animation to a new location in the Animations pane.

To change the order of an animation, select the slide with the animations, go to Animations, and select Animation Pane. The Animation pane shows every animation on the slide in the order the animations will execute.

PowerPoint animations may be presented in any order.

Drag an animation from its current position to a new position (you'll see the insert point represented as a red line in the animation list). Reordering takes effect immediately.

Animation Transition Best Practices

Using too many animations in a presentation can confuse your audience. When a presentation is over-animated, your audience will spend most of their time watching the movement instead of concentrating on your message.

Recommended best practices include:

  • Limit slides to three or fewer animation effects.
  • Use the same effect for the same activity.
  • Apply short-duration effects (less than 2 seconds).
  • Avoid animations that paint over a large area (for example, bounce-ins).

Animations pair well with presentations that include recorded audio, such as narrations. It's more difficult to get the timings right for slides that include embedded video along with animation pieces.

When your animations are ordered properly, play the entire presentation from the beginning for a final quality check. Don't forget to save your work.

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