Using Transitions in a 2007 PowerPoint Slide Show

An animation often overlooked is Slide Transition. Transition is the way that a slide is presented on the screen. A guiding rule to use in planning animations in a PowerPoint slide show is the " Bells and Whistles " rule. The more bells and whistles that you include in your PowerPoint slide show, the more likely it becomes that the only thing your audience will remember about your presentation will be the bells and whistles.

Using Transitions - Transitions can be added after you have written your show, or as you design each slide. Timing of when transitions are added is personal preference. This module will be written as if you add transitions to a completed show.

Seeing Transitions - Select the Animations tab on the PowerPoint ribbon. There are three sections in the Transitions to This Slide area; transitions, style, and timing.

Available Transitions - Each of the choices in the listing of transitions can be seen as a Live Preview. In Normal View (the view used to edit a slide) rolling your mouse cursor over any of the transitions will give you as Live Preview of how the transition looks.

Transition Styles - You have three decisions to make regarding transition style; associating a sound with the transition, transition speed, and whether to apply the transition to a single slide or to all of the slides in your show.

Sound - In the image below I have indicated the sound which I recommend that you use with each transition. If you are unsure as to my meaning, look at the Bells and Whistles rule above or send email to inquire [our addresses are at the bottom of this page].

Speed - The default speed of a transition is Fast . You may also select Medium or Slow .

Apply to All - You may see my remarks as a violation of the Bells and Whistles rule, but I prefer to use several subtle transitions within my show rather than the exact same transition for each slide. This choice will be determined by personal preference and the length of your show. A long show with the same transition used may become a bit repetitive or even boring.

Timing of the Transition - Actually this is setting the time that the slide will be displayed on the screen before advancing to the next slide. There are other ways to accomplish this instruction, but the timing can be set manually in the Transition area.

If you want to specify a number of seconds in this area, click on the up arrow to add seconds or minutes. As soon as you begin scrolling up to a larger number of seconds a check mark is entered in the box to the left of Automatically After . You do not need to remove the check mark inside the On Mouse Click box after selecting a time for the slide. Even though the check mark remains there the slides will advance without a mouse click.

Rehearse Timing - Another way to set the timing of your slide show can be found on the Slide Show tab in the Set Up area. Once your show has been written, click on Rehearse Timings .

Immediately your show begins from slide one with a small time elapsed block in the top left corner. Each time you feel that a slide has been displayed long enough progress to the next slide by clicking or pressing the right arrow.

When you reach the end of the slide show you have a choice to make.

If you are satisfied with the timing of the show, select Yes. You can always go back to Transitions on the Animation tab and adjust the timing of any specific slide.