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You can animate (animate: To add a special visual or sound effect to text or an object. For example, you can have your text bullet points fly in from the left, one word at a time, or hear the sound of applause when a picture is uncovered.) text, graphics, diagrams, charts, and other objects on your slides so that you can focus on important points, control the flow of information, and add interest to your presentation.

To simplify designing with animations, apply a preset animation scheme (animation scheme: Adds preset visual effects to text on slides. Ranging from subtle to exciting, each scheme usually includes an effect for the slide title and an effect that is applied to bullets or paragraphs on a slide.) to items on all slides, selected slides, or some items on the slide master (slide master: The slide that stores information about the design template applied, including font styles, placeholder sizes and positions, background design, and color schemes.). Or, you can control how and when you want an item to appear on a slide during your presentation — to fly in from the left when you click the mouse, for example — using the Custom Animation task pane (task pane: A window within an Office application that provides commonly used commands. Its location and small size allow you to use these commands while still working on your files.).

Custom animations can be applied to items on a slide, in a placeholder (placeholders: Boxes with dotted or hatch-marked borders that are part of most slide layouts. These boxes hold title and body text or objects such as charts, tables, and pictures.), or to a paragraph (which includes single bullets or list items). For instance, you can apply the fly-in animation to all items on a slide or you can apply it to a single paragraph in a bulleted list. Use entrance, emphasis, or exit options, in addition to preset or custom motion paths (motion path: The path that a specified object or text will follow as part of an animation sequence for a slide.). Also, you can apply more than one animation to an item; so, you can make that bullet item fly in and then fly out.

Most animation options include associated effects to choose from. These might include options for playing a sound with the animation, and text animations usually let you apply the effect by letter, word, or paragraph (such as having a title fly in a word at a time instead of all at once).

You can preview the animation of your text and objects for one slide or for the whole presentation.