Speed of text animation in Powerpoint 2011

[geirole]

In Powerpoint 2003 one can set the speed with which text appears when one lets text appear one word or one letter at a time. For example, one new word every 0.5 seconds.

In Powerpoint 2011 I am not able to find this functionality. The speed with which each new word shows up is just some default like 0.5 seconds, and I cannot find a way to change this. It is strange if PP 2011 has less features than PP 2003, so I sure there must be a way.

 

[autumntrees]

I have Powerpoint 2008 and I click View, Toolbox, Custom Animation to show the toolbox (or Slideshow, Custom Animation).

Then add your chosen effect. Under the effect, there is a Speed selection.

It may be different for the 2011 version, but is this what you mean?

 

[geirole]

speed of text animation

Yes, this is the effect I am having in mind. I checked in PP 2008 on Mac, but also there I cannot see any option for setting the speed with which the text appears. I found this option in PP 2003 under Windows XP.

In PP 2008 and 2011 on my Mac I find the option for letting one word appear at a time, but no option to set the delay between each word. The default of 0.5 seconds is a bit slow, so when I edited my presentation in PP 2003 I set this delay between each word to 0.3 sec. When I open this ppt file in PP 2011, it seems that the speed set in PP 2003 is retained. I guess the problem is just that I have not been able to find out where I set this speed. Just to make it clear: It is not the "Delay" option. The "Delay" option just determines how long the computer waits before it begins to display the text. There is also a setting for Duration under Animation Options. But this seems to have an effect on how fast certain effects are carried out, such as fading in and out and so on.

In PP 2008 and 2011, under the Custom Animation > Text Animations, I find no option for the speed of the text.

I hope someone can help.

 

[autumntrees]

Strange. This is the toolbox I see.

Does it depend on the effect you've chosen maybe?

 

[geirole]

I see the same menu as you in PP 2011, but this is not the appropriate menu item. The Speed button you have encircled determines the speed of certain effects, such as "fade in" and so on. It is not even possible to click when no such effect is chosen. Displaying text word by word, one word at a time, is another kind of effect that one sets lower down, under Text Animations. And there, there is no button for the text speed. Such an option exists in PP 2003.

 

[autumntrees]

I understand.

It looks as if Speed is greyed out for the Basic Appear effect (which I imagine would be what you want), but available for all the others I checked. How annoying, when you've been used to it.

I'm sorry I haven't been any help there. Are there any other effects you could use which might work for you, so the Speed setting could be enabled?

 

[geirole]

Oh, don't worry. Thank you for your attempts. I will search a bit around and hopefully find something. As of now, it looks like this feature has been removed from Powerpoint. It is hard to believe, though, so I still hope that "Text Speed" is hidden somewhere in the jungle of menus and options.