Office 2013 Guide to PowerPoint Transitions and Animations
Are you looking to make your PowerPoint presentation more effective in Office 2013? Try some animations and transitions, here’s a look at all of them!
There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who say effects are useless and only waste time, and others, who insist that they are a key part of any PowerPoint presentation. I’m from the second kind, personally, and that’s exactly why I took this opportunity to break down all the PowerPoint effects and explain where they should be used. This is quite a long guide, which is broken up into four parts, so you may want to give it some extra attention.
PowerPoint Transitions
I’ll start with the transitions. The transition is a short animation that you can place in between two slides. Transitions used more often than animations, which is why we’re giving you a full in-depth look at all 46 transitions PowerPoint 2013 has to offer. (Click the GIF image to view it larger in more detail.)
Transition | Information | Effect Options | GIF |
 | This is the default setting for each slide after you’ve added it. I highly recommend that you don’t leave any slides with the transition set to None, because it seems rather unprofessional and ignorant. |
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 | Just like the None option, Cut is a transition effect which does absolutely nothing. It simply cuts to the next slide without any animation whatsoever. The only time when it may come in handy is if you decide to try the Cut Through Black effect option, which gives the transition a nice movie trailer look. |
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 | The Fade transition is one of the best transitions you can choose for just about anything. It fits nicely everywhere, it’s not too distracting, and it gives the presentation a smooth and professional look. Probably my all-time-favorite. |
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 | Push is a transition that emphasizes on advancing forward. Use it as a regular transition throughout most of your presentation, or whenever you’re bringing new information to the table or changing the topic. |
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 | Transitions between slides using Wipe is nice and smooth. It’s a slow and gradual transition that fits almost everywhere, so you can use it just like you would use Fade. |
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 | In earlier versions of PowerPoint, Split was much more direct and spontaneous. In the newer ones, however (2010 and 2013), the effect is much smoother. It’s a nice transition to use throughout most of your presentation. |
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 | The Reveal transition is among the slower transitions in PowerPoint. The name speaks for itself – use it when you want to reveal something using a transition that is not dramatic, but rather slow and smooth. |
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 | Random bars is a PowerPoint transition which I’ve personally never liked. The newer version of it is a lot smoother than the previous one, but it’s still a rather meaningless transition. The less you use it, the better. |
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 | Shape is one of those “double-sided blade” transitions. While not very useful in general, it can come in very handy on some rare occasions. For example, the Plus effect option is great when pointing out something positive, or when adding something to the information mix. |
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 | The quick transition Uncover can work great as a general transition throughout most of the presentation. Keep in mind that this transition will work a lot better if you’re doing a quick, fast-paced presentation. |
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 | Cover is, obviously, the exact opposite of Uncover. You can use it just like you would the other one. The transition visually stacks slides on top of each other, so use it whenever you’re “stacking up” information or as a general transition throughout your presentation. |
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 | The Flash transition falls into the dramatic and spontaneous category. Use it when you want to introduce something with a bang, or when you want to quickly direct the viewers’ attention to something important. |
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 | Fall Over isn’t among my favorite transitions, but it still does the job. Use it when discarding a slide showing old information and moving to a slide with more recent data, or whenever something has “fallen apart” – plans, projects, ideas etc. |
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 | Drape is a nice transition that stands right in the middle between spontaneous and smooth. Use it as a general transition throughout most of the presentation and when you don’t like going to extremes (in terms of transitions). |
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 | Want a very classy transition? Curtains is definitely a candidate. Use it as a transition from the title slide to Slide № 2, or when unveiling what the audience has been waiting for all along. |
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 | Wind is a rather interesting transition. Similar to Fall Over, it can represent an idea that was “blown away”. In a more creative look, however, this effect is great when you’re using a full slide to display a country’s national flag and want to advance. |
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 | Curtains not the type of classy you were looking for? In comes Prestige a wonderful transition which I really love. Great for advancing the title slide, and a very clever animation idea if you’re presenting anything related to food (revealing the dish). |
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 | Fracture. A very dramatic transition that mimics shattering glass. Again, just like Fall Over or Wind, this is a great transition to use when emphasizing on failures. It’s also nice when you want to “shatter the old idea into pieces” and present the new one, which was waiting behind it all along. |
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 | To me, Crush is even more dramatic than Fracture. It’s literally saying “You saw that, right? Now forget about it. Here’s the real deal.”. This can be a great transition if used with caution, and if put into the right place. |
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 | Peel Off is a standard transition for advancing slides. To some, this transition resembles turning a page, which emphasizes on progress and moving forward. Altogether, it is a nice and classic transition. |
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 | Page Curl, unlike Peel Off is actually meant to represent turning a page. The Double Left and Double Right effects are very useful when switching slides with a two-column layout. As for the Singles, to me, they are a slightly better variation of Peel Off. |
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 | Airplane – might want to watch out for this one. A quick and rapid transition emphasizing on positivity, progress, and “flying”. Still, I would advise you not to overdo this one. It’s a bit cheesy and, in my opinion, should only be used once or twice, if needed. |
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 | Way to go from cheesy to cheesiest. Origami is quite similar to Airplane, but a lot sillier. Unless you’re actually doing a presentation about Origami, I see no reason to use this transition at all. It’s what could turn a serious presentation into a laughing matter, so try to completely avoid this transition at all costs. |
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 | Dissolve is a classic transition we know and love from previous versions of PowerPoint. Okay… maybe I lied about the part where I said we love it. While slightly smoother in PowerPoint 2013, it’s still rather meaningless and bad looking transition. I tend to avoid this as best I can. |
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 | Checkerboard is yet another transition you probably all know from older PowerPoint versions. Its revamped look in 2013 makes it look a lot smoother and more professional. While the transition itself doesn’t seem to emphasize on anything, it’s a good transition to use throughout most of the presentation if you need to maintain consistency. |
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 | Blinds is a good transition which, similar to Drape, stands in the middle between dramatic and smooth. A good alternative to Checkerboard, since the black background here is a bit less visible. I would probably use this transition throughout most of my presentation if it was a bit slower. Fortunately, there is a way to slow it down with the Duration option, which makes it nearly perfect (to me). |
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 | Clock is a great transition due to its revamped look and smoothness in 2013. I like to use this when I’m showing a before and after. The clock motion itself emphasizes that it took some time to achieve the result seen in the “after” slide, and the medium speed makes things even better. Additionally, if you get bored of the standard clockwise motion, the Counterclockwise and Wedge effect options present two great alternative transitions which you should also keep in mind. |
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 | Ripple is a very calm and smooth transition. Incredibly valuable when transitioning to slides with images of seas, oceans, or just about any kind of liquid, for that matter. I have used this in the past for some of my biology presentations and it made a great impact. Additionally, the five available effect options make this transition even more flexible and customizable. All in all, a wonderful transition if used correctly. |
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 | Honeycomb is another transition which I tend to avoid. Sure, it’s fancy and flashy, but altogether a bit too slow and rather unfitting for anything. Obviously, this transition would be in your top 3 if you work for a honey making factory as a presenter, but that’s all very unlikely. |
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 | Hexagons or Diamonds? Choose for yourself with the Glitter transition. A transition that’s neither extremely good, nor bad. It stands right in the middle as a savior if you start to realize you’re overusing some of the other transitions. |
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 | Here’s an interesting one. Vortex is a very flashy and fancy transition which is surprisingly well made. I sometimes use this transition before my ending slide or when introducing something very important into the presentation. Use this transition only once per presentation to avoid making the special seem like the ordinary. |
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 | Shred is a transition which nails the perfect level of flashiness. If you want the more standard shredding effect you see on the GIF, pick the Strips In or Strips Out effect options. And if you’re looking for a shorter version of Vortex, but one that’s just as flashy, try Particles In or Particles Out. Yet another useful transition that can represent the “out with the old, in with the new” concepts in your presentation. |
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 | Switch is a very good transition which can be used throughout most of your presentation. It’s the perfect mix of smoothness along with the sharper and bolder look of Uncover. Use this as a general transition, or when “switching” from one point to another. |
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 | Flip reminds me of flipping over a flashcard. As a matter of fact, I’m almost fully convinced that’s what it was meant for in the first place. This Windows 8-ish effect is great when displaying a question and then flipping over to reveal its answer. Very effective and useful if you happen to have your presentation laid out in a similar way. |
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 | The Gallery transition is nice to keep in mind when moving through a series of slides with nothing but a full-size photo on them. Essentially, it’s a good effect when displaying slides that contain more images than they do text. Personally, I wouldn’t use this as a general transition, due to the slightly distracting reflection below the slides, but that’s just a matter of my opinion. |
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 | Cube is another transition which will probably always be in my all-time favorites. It fits just about everything – advancing slides with information, images, charts and much more. It’s simple, straightforward, and the added smoothness in 2013 makes it better than ever. |
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 | Doors is another transition that emphasizes on “the big reveal”. It’s quick, simple, and far from the flashiness of any other transitions. Works great if your first slide has a two-column layout and your second one is a big title or image. |
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 | Box is essentially the Cube transition viewed inside out. Sadly, it doesn’t look as good from an inside view, making it an okay transition that is still nothing special. Use this only if you run out of other transitions. |
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 | Comb looks like a watered down version of Shred. The cut-out pieces moving to the left and to the right move slightly faster at the bottom, which introduces a fake feeling of smoothness to this rather old transition. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either. That’s exactly why this is one transition which you might want to avoid. |
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 | Zoom is quick and straightforward. The title of this transition speaks for itself, and there’s only one trap which you might want to avoid – the Zoom and Rotate effect option. It literally turns this wonderfully smooth transition into a cheesy and distracting one. Whatever you do and wherever you use it, avoid the Zoom and Rotate effect option at all costs. |
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 | It’s needless to say that Random definitely won’t be amongst your favorite options. You never know what you’ll get – it can either be a really fitting transition, or one that is and absolute fail (Origami?). If you’re not sure which transition to pick, you’re better of playing it safe with Fade and risking to bore a few people, rather than giving PowerPoint the change to ruin your entire presentation due to just one badly randomized transition. |
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 | Pan is just like the Push transition. The only difference is the smoothly fading background, which you may like more than the standard looking slide overlay on Push. It’s all a matter of taste, so take your time between the two to find out which one you like better. |
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 | Ferris Wheel is an interesting transition. Presented full screen, this is probably the transition which best succeeds at combining smoothness and dynamics. The angle of the outgoing and incoming slides bring the right amount of motion to the table, while the slowly fading background nicely contrasts while the transition is on-going. A great saviour if you’re running out of transition ideas. |
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 | Conveyor – an odd name for an transition that just seems really familiar. Why? Because it is. Conveyor is just an alternative version of Gallery, again utilizing the smooth background fade. Pick wisely, because these two transitions are as different as they are similar. |
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 | Rotate is a clone of Cube, again using a smooth background fade. Not much there can be said here. Just like Pan and Push, these two are really similar, so it’s all up to you. |
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 | Window – the smooth background fade version of Doors. |
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 | Well, well, well – seems like Box got it’s smooth background version as well. It’s cleverly named Orbit and is fits into the same situations where Box does. |
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 | Last, but definitely not least… another clone. Surprisingly, one that actually looks and works pretty good. Fly Through is (you guessed it) a revamped Zoom transition. Just like Shred, it seems to nail the perfect level of flashiness quite well. I use this effect quite often, and when I realized it, I honestly thought PowerPoint was trolling us by putting one of their best effects at the bottom. |
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Animations
PowerPoint 2013 offers 40 Entrance, 24 Emphasis and 40 Exit effects to animate the contents on your slide. If we had to cover each and every one of those separately, that means you’d have to read 104 separate effect descriptions. To save you the trouble, we’ll just tell you about which ones to use more often and which ones to avoid. We’ll start with Entrance.
Entrance – Effects to keep in mind
Animation | Information | Effect Options | GIF |
 | Peek In – basic and simple effect. Slightly smoothened in 2013, making it an even better choice. Good for both text and images. |
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 | Split is a slightly more dynamic effect. I wouldn’t use this one too often though – I tend to save it for elements that need a slightly more special animation. |
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 | Here’s an effect you’ll have a hard time seeing through the GIF – Strips. Take my word – open PowerPoint now and check this effect for yourself. It’s quick, has just the right amount of smoothness and works great for titles or small images and icons. |
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 | An effect I often find myself using as my general one is Wipe – it’s good for just about anything. It’ |
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 | Although Wipe is a great general effect, it’s got nothing on Fade. Just like the transition, Fade is a one-of-a-kind effect you’ll probably fall in love with. It has the right amount simplicity and smoothness and it’s perfect for everything. |
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 | Zoom is a rather dramatic effect. Use it only when you really want to make something pop and stand out from everything else. Great and simple effect, overall. |
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 | Compress is an effect I find myself using primarily for images. It’s a bit slow, but you can always tweak the speed to your preference. Simple and smooth, just like every other effect I’ve mentioned so far. |
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 | A slightly distracting effect, but a very useful one – Spinner. Dynamic and flashy, it’s very useful when you really want to slap a title or image in your audience’s face. Avoid using this too often and use it only on really special part of the presentation. |
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 | Nice and curvy effect, as you may have guessed from its name. Curve up is absolutely wonderful for titles and bulleted lists. Personally, I think this is an effect which I use in each and every one of my presentations at all costs. |
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Entrance – Effects to avoid
Animation | Information | Effect Options | GIF |
 | Remember the None and Cut transitions? Appear is their effect equivalent. Seriously. Just don’t do this. Don’t do it to yourself and don’t do it to the audience. |
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 | Edgy, stuttering, and rather old. This sums up Checkerboard in once sentence. |
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 | Although I love the pixelated and rough look of 8-bit games, I’m afraid pixelated edges aren’t meant to be part of a presentation. Dissolve In is so old fashioned, it’s nearly up to the point of cheesy. |
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 | Random Bars holds the same name of the slide transition. Sadly, it doesn’t even feature the same smoothness, giving you one more reason to avoid it completely. |
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 | Swivel is a slow and awkward effect. Some of you might actually like it, but to me it’s rather pointless. |
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 | Here’s an effect that would have been great with a bit of smoothness and a quick bounce. Stretch is an effect which would have had a lot of potential if it was modernized and revamped. Sadly, in its current condition, you may want to leave it out of your presentations. |
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 | Ah, Boomerang – the only TV channel that plays some of the cartoons I grew up with. As awesome as the TV channel is, however, the PowerPoint transition which goes under the same name is easily a disaster. |
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 | Bounce. Just the name by itself sounds childish. And what’s to talk about the effect itself… You can be your own judge on this one. |
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 | Even sped up (like on the GIF), Drop still looks ridiculously out of place. The effect would have been a lot better if the letters didn’t bounce around after they fell down. Unfortunately, it takes little change to turn a good idea into a bad one. |
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 | Flip is a very fancy effect which some of you may actually like. To me, however, it’s really quirky and just the wrong kind of fancy overall. |
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 | Whip is an effect that rhymes with Flip, and quite frankly the two effects have an identical animation style. Again, you might actually like this one, but I prefer leaving it as an Exit animation. |
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Emphasis – Effects to keep in mind
Animation | Information | Effect Options | GIF |
 | A very strong effect which definitely emphasizes well – Fill Color. Best for separate sentences or words out of a paragraph, this effect can bring the heavy amount of emphasis whenever you need it. |
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 | Font Color, an effect especially reserved for text (duh), is the slightly lighter version of Fill Color. Perfect if you find a color that contrasts with the background. A good effect which I use very often. |
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 | Darken. Simple, quick and self-explanatory. Works good when you actually want to draw the attention away from something instead of emphasizing on it (mostly if you have a dark background). |
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 | Desaturate is a great solution for images, as well as text. Again, it can showcase the idea of leaving something behind by making it black and white, and bring the attention to anything that you left in color. |
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 | Lighten – obviously the exact opposite of Darken. On the “strength of emphasis” scale, this goes right after Font Color – it’s an even lighter and more gentle effect and it’s good when you don’t want a heavy eye-catching emphasis. |
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 | Pulse is a clever effect that’s even more gentle than Lighten. Good for pointing out specific entries in longer bulleted lists, or for as a quick final touch right after all entrance effects. |
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 | Teeter is a very gentle and quick effect. It’s barely noticeable if your audience is concentrated on you instead of the presentation, so be careful and try not to put this effect in the wrong place. |
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 | Wave is an effect that might be a bit risky to use. Personally, I like this effect and use it only once or twice in my presentation. Some of you might find it cheesy, however, which is why I’ll let you decide for yourselves. |
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Emphasis – Effects to avoid
Animation | Information | Effect Options | GIF |
 | It’s rather disappointing that such a silly effect gets to have so many customization options. Spin is a really long and boring effect. While definitely does a heavy emphasis on the content of your choice, it does so in a rather bad way. |
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 | Did you catch that? Neither did I. Bold Flash is an effect way too quick to catch anyone’s attention which makes me wonder why it was included in the first place. |
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 | Underline would have been a great effect if was accompanied by a glow or anything similar. On its own it doesn’t really emphasize as much as you would want it to, which renders it unusable. |
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 | Emphasis is a good thing but Grow With Color just overdoes it by a whole lot. Even if, for some reason, you actually wanted to oversize your text, you’ll be very disappointed by the lack of smoothness in the effect. Another one bites the dust. |
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 | Blink – the emphasis effect version of the None and Cut transitions. This is the second time I’m mentioning them, so I’m pretty sure that by now you’re already convinced they’re not a good choice. |
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Exit – Effects to keep in mind
Animation | Information | Effect Options | GIF |
 | Peek Out is quick and simple and is the reverse of the Peek In entrance animation. It’s additional effect options also add a reasonable amount of flexibility to it, making it a great exit effect to keep in mind. |
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 | Split shares the same name with it’s entrance animation, which you’ll see quite often as you move down this table. Essentially, it’s just as good as the entrance animation, if not even a little better. |
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 | Strips is a reversed entrance animation, which somehow doesn’t look as good in its exit state. That doesn’t make it a bad effect, however, and it’s still completely usable. Therefore it doesn’t budge from our “effects to keep in mind” list. |
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 | You guessed it – the list keeps on being completely identical to the entrance one. Wipe is no exception from the effects that look good even when played backwards, so you can play with this effect without any doubts. |
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 | The good old classical Fade. Altogether, it’s the perfect transition, entrance and exit effect. In fact, it’s so perfect I don’t know how my PowerPoint presentations would look without it. And I don’t even want to know. |
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 | Zoom is a bit tricky to master. You don’t exactly want all of your content to disappear by being suckered into the darkness of your slide background… or maybe you do. Try it out for yourself, but definitely don’t overuse this effect. Similar to Strips, it just doesn’t look so good backwards. |
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 | Sink Down is smooth and quick. A good choice for almost everything. I tend to use this effect mostly on images, however, and often find myself wondering why this effect doesn’t have the option to be played up, left and right, aside from down. Oh well – maybe we’ll get that in the next version of PowerPoint… |
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 | If you can spell the word “racecar” backwards and get something that sounds as good as the original word, then so can PowerPoint by reversing Spinner and making it just as good as the original entrance effect. A great choice for a more dramatic and eye-catching exit. |
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 | Curve Down is probably looks better in its exit form than it does in its entrance one. It’s professional-looking, smoothly fading, and overall a really useful effect. |
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 | As you already know, I’m not a big fan of Whip as an entrance effect, but using it as an exit one makes a very dramatic difference. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe both effects are bad. Maybe both are good. You be the judge – either way it’s an interesting effect which you shouldn’t forget to try. |
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Exit – Effects to avoid
Animation | Information | Effect Options | GIF |
 | Checkerboard is back. Sadly, it’s still just as clunky and bad as the entrance effect, so you might want to completely ignore it. Sorry about that, Checkerboard – life’s tough. |
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 | Pixelated and rough effects have never really been my thing. If you like them, however, feel free to use Dissolve Out all you want. Just try to dodge the incoming tomatoes when it comes time to present this to your audience. |
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 | Presentations are made for a specific purpose and shouldn’t really include any randomness. Yes, that includes Random Bars in all of its transition and effect forms. |
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 | Swivel – yet again an effect similar to its entrance brother. Sadly, it’s also with a similar level of usability – close to none. |
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 | Stretchy – not among the worst effects of all time, but definitely an effect I wouldn’t use too often. |
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 | Slow, weird and unfitting. Three quick words I use to describe Basis Swivel whenever someone asks me about it. Actually, nobody asks me about it really – everyone knows it’s not a good effect. |
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 | I’ll say it again. As much as I like the TV channel which goes by the same name, the effect isn’t among my favorites. Boomerang is strangely animated and rather inappropriate for just about anything. |
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Conclusion
Whether you prefer a heavy effect-lead presentation or one with just a few simple transitions here and there, I hope this guide will be useful!
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Roger
The “drape” transition doesn’t appear to be in the Mac version (at least on mine, and I have the latest). But I can’t find any verification of that online. Do you know anything about that?