Add Sound and Movement to Slides in Microsoft PowerPoint 2016

Add and manage slide transitions

When you deliver a presentation, you can manually specify when to display the next slide, or you can have PowerPoint move automatically to the next slide after a specific amount of time. Rather than simply replacing one slide with the next, you can use transitions to control the way each slide appears on the screen.

PowerPoint 2016 has 48 basic transition effects divided into three categories: Subtle, Exciting, and Dynamic Content. Many of these have multiple options, such as the direction or specific form of the content in the effect.

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PowerPoint has a wide variety of slide transition effects

As with animations, take care when using transitions to not overdo it. That being said, transitions can be a useful way of visually drawing the audience’s attention to the display of a new slide. The effects in the Subtle category are designed to make the incoming slide content available to the audience members with the least amount of movement.

Here are some ideas about other ways to use transitions:

• In a multisection presentation, use one transition on all the slides, and then use a different transition at the beginning of each new section of the presentation to signal a change in topic.
• Use a more dramatic slide transition to get the audience’s attention at a specific point in a presentation.

You apply and manage transition effects by using the commands on the Transitions tab of the ribbon. The basic transition effects are available from the Transition To This Slide gallery. If you apply a transition that has additional options, the Effect Options button becomes active and you can choose an option from the list. You can specify the duration of the transition effect, or add a sound effect if you want to.

Options are available for many transition effects

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You can add a sound effect even when the Transition is set to None. If you do, the sound effect plays during the normal slide replacement.

You can apply a transition effect or configure effect options for one slide at a time, for a group of slides, or for an entire presentation by first selecting the slide or slides you want to work with. (You can also apply and configure a transition effect on one slide and then apply that effect to all slides.) When you apply a transition effect or select an effect option, PowerPoint immediately demonstrates it.

As mentioned in “Animate text and pictures on slides” earlier in this chapter, PowerPoint displays a star next to the slide thumbnail to indicate that a slide has an animation or transition. (There is no indication on the slide itself.) In the Thumbnails pane or in Slide Sorter view, you can click the star to preview the animated slide elements beginning with the transition.

Every transition effect has a default duration of between 0.1 seconds and 6 seconds based on the complexity of the effect; most are from 1 to 2 seconds. You can change the duration of an effect so that the animation completes in less or more time. The duration is specified in seconds and can be from a minimum of .01 seconds to a maximum of 59 seconds.

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PowerPoint displays the slide timing next to the thumbnail

When you configure a transition, it affects the entrance of the slide. You can’t specifically configure an exit transition, but some of the transitions have an effect on the exit of the preceding slide. You can, however, configure whether the move to the next slide is manually initiated or happens automatically after the slide has been displayed for a specific length of time (which can be from 0.01 seconds to just under 24 minutes).

SEE ALSO

For more information about slide timings, see “Rehearse a presentation and set slide timings” in Chapter 10, “Prepare and deliver presentations.”

To select slides to apply or configure transitions

1. Do either of the following:

   • Display the presentation in Normal view, and select one or more slides in the Thumbnails pane.
   • Display the presentation in Slide Sorter view, and select one or more slides in the Slides pane.

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To select multiple contiguous slides, click the first slide, hold down the Shift key, and then click the last slide. To select multiple noncontiguous slides, click the first slide, hold down the Ctrl key, and then click each additional slide.

To apply a transition to one or more slides

1. Select the slide or slides you want to apply the transition to.
2. On the Transitions tab, in the Transition to This Slide gallery, click the transition effect you want to apply.

To apply a transition to all slides in a presentation

1. Select all the slides, apply the transition, and then configure the transition and timing options.

Or

1. Apply the transition to one slide, and then configure transition and timing options.
2. On the Transitions tab, in the Timing group, click the Apply To All button.

To modify a transition

1. On the Transitions tab, in the Transition to This Slide group, click the Effect Options button, and then click the option you want. PowerPoint previews the modified transition effect.

To add a sound effect to a transition

1. On the Transitions tab, in the Timing group, click the Sound arrow, and then click the sound you want to play. PowerPoint doesn’t automatically play the sound when you select it; only when you preview the transition.

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   If you want to use a sound file of your own, click Other Sound… at the bottom of the Sound list. In the Add Audio dialog box that opens, browse to and select the audio file you want to use, and then click OK. The audio file must be in the .wav file format.

2. If you want the sound to repeat until another sound effect plays, select the sound effect and then, in the Sound list, click Loop Until Next Sound.

3. If you loop the sound effect and want it to stop when you move to the next slide, do either of the following on the next slide:

   • In the Sound list, click [Stop Previous Sound].
   • In the Sound list, click any sound effect other than the one on the preceding slide.

To specify the duration of a transition

1. On the Transitions tab, in the Timing group, enter or set the duration in seconds in the Duration box.

To preview slide transitions

1. To preview one slide transition, do any of following:

   • Display the slide in Normal view. On the Transitions tab, in the Preview group, click the Preview button.
   • Display the slide in Normal view. In the Thumbnails pane, click the star next to the slide number.
   • Display the presentation in Slide Sorter view, and then click the star next to the slide number.

Or

1. To preview multiple slide transitions, select the first slide that you want to preview, and then do either of the following:

   • On the Slide Show tab, in the Start Slide Show group, click the From Current Slide button.
   • Press Shift+F5.
2. Advance through the slide show to preview each slide transition as the slide appears.

Or

1. To preview all slide transitions, do any of the following to start the slide show from the beginning, and then advance through the slide show to preview each slide transition as the slide appears:

   • On the Quick Access Toolbar, click the Start From Beginning button.
   • On the Slide Show tab, in the Start Slide Show group, click the From Beginning button.
   • Press F5.

To remove slide transitions

1. Display or select the slides you want to remove the transitions from.
2. On the Transitions tab, in the Transition to This Slide gallery, in the Subtle section, click None.