If you want an effect to run only when you click an item, you need to set it to use interactivity.

1. After you have added the effect, select the object.
2. In the Custom Animation task pane, click the down arrow on the selected item and then click Timing.
3. On the Timing tab, click Triggers, and then select the Start effect on click of: option.
4. Choose from the list to select an item, and click OK.

Note  You can preview this interaction by clicking Slide Show in the Custom Animation task pane.

If the gray band labeled Trigger is still in the list, you just need to click the band below it to expand the list of effects. If the gray band is gone, you have probably deleted the items that were associated with the effects. You may be able to recover these items by clicking Undo on the Edit menu. Otherwise, you will have to recreate the items and the interactive effects.

The gray band indicates that the items listed below it are set to use animation triggers (animation trigger: An animation option that can be set so that the animation plays when a specified item is clicked.). You can't drag this band in the list. To change the interactivity settings:

1. Select the item you want to add or remove the interactivity settings for.
2. In the Custom Animation task pane, click the down arrow on the selected item and then click Timing.
3. On the Timing tab, click Triggers.
4. Do one of the following:
   • To turn off the interactivity, click Animate as part of click sequence.
   • To change the interactivity trigger, select a different item from the Start effect on click of: list.

To show animation and transition effects when viewing your presentation in a browser, do the following:

1. Open your presentation in PowerPoint.
2. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.
3. Click Web Options.
4. On the General tab, select the Show slide animation while browsing check box.

Some animation effects are not supported when the presentation is published (publish: To save a copy of a file in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format to a Web server.) to the Web or saved as HTML (HTML: The standard markup language used for documents on the World Wide Web. HTML uses tags to indicate how Web browsers should display page elements such as text and graphics and how to respond to user actions.) or Single File Web Page (MHTML) (Single File Web Page (MHTML): An HTML document saved in MHTML format, which integrates inline graphics, applets, linked documents, and other supporting items referenced in the document.).

• Sound only plays for a single slide (it doesn't continue playing when you jump to another slide).
• Chart effects are not supported.
• Linked and embedded objects don't play.
• The Spiral, Stretch, Spin, Swivel, and Zoom paragraph effects are not supported.
• Rotated text isn't animated separately from the attached shape (the AutoShape and text are animated together).
• If you have automatic slide transitions, all mouse-click animations on the slide behave as automatic animations.
• OLE (OLE: A program-integration technology that you can use to share information between programs. All Office programs support OLE, so you can share information through linked and embedded objects.) object effects are not supported (OLE objects are static).
• Animated GIF pictures are static if they are grouped together.

You might be clicking on the shadow of an object If you have applied a shadow to an object with a triggered (animation trigger: An animation option that can be set so that the animation plays when a specified item is clicked.) effect, you must click on the object itself— not the shadow— to trigger the event.

You might be in preview or normal view You must be in slide show view to trigger this event.

There are probably animations applied to items on the master (master: A slide view or page on which you define formatting for all slides or pages in your presentation. Each presentation has a master for each key component: slides, title slides, speaker's notes, and audience handouts.) slide. If this is the case, the effects are listed in the Custom Animation list (Custom Animation list: The list of animation sequences for a slide. Items are listed in the order in which they are added, and include icons that indicate timing in relation to other animation events.) as Master: itemname. If you did not add these items to the master yourself, they are probably the result of applying an 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 make a custom animation effect play before a Master effect, try one of the following:

• Break the link to the master for this particular slide. This procedure applies only to the slide you are working on. The animation scheme (and the Master effects it applies) is still applied to the other slides following that master in the presentation. To do this, in the custom animation list, click a Master effect. Click the arrow and then click Copy Effects to Slide. All Master effects show up on the slide instead of the master. In the custom animation list, drag the effects into the order you want.

  Note  This process cannot be undone.

• Put the effect you want to add on the master. This will put the effect (in addition to any text or object you add with it) on every slide that is associated with that master. To do this, in the custom animation list, click a Master effect. Click the arrow and then click View Master. On the master, add the animation that you want.