Exit Animations in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

Now that we have explored both Entrance Effects and Emphasis Effects for animation in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac, let us take a look at Exit Effects. Exit Effects determine how the animated slide object exit the Slide Area. For example, the slide object can fade or fly out the screen area—or use any of the many other Exit Effects available within PowerPoint. Typical Exit animation effects are Disappear, in which an object just vanishes, or Float Down, in which a slide object mimics the setting sun. You can also apply Exit animation effects to text objects so that words Spiral out of the slide.

In all, there are 50 or more Exit animation effects that PowerPoint provides. However, make sure you use animation sparingly to emphasize rather than to distract.

When you summon the Exit Effects drop-down gallery for applying animation to your selected slide object, you will notice that the Exit Effects available are divided into four categories, as shown in Figure 1, below. These categories are:

1. Basic,
2. Subtle,
3. Moderate, and
4. Exciting.

These category names represent how much attention-seeking each of these available effects are.

1. Effects in the Basic category are simple animations such as Wipe that causes a slide object to wipe out of the Slide Area. Animation effects in the Basic category are important if you need to show technical procedures in your slides.
2. Subtle effects are simpler effects that fade, contract, or zoom slide objects and send them off the slide. A classic example is the Fade animation that fades out an object until it disappears.
3. Moderate effects do ask for some extra attention by floating, shrinking, or spinning off the slide.
4. Finally, effects in the Exciting category just shout for attention.

As far as possible, you should use something simple such as a Fade, a Disappear, or a Wipe effect. These are all from either the Basic or Subtle categories.

Figure 1: Exit Effects drop-down gallery opened along with a shape selected

As with Entrance Effects and Emphasis Effects, the Exit animation effects within the Exit Effects drop-down gallery entirely depend upon the slide object you have selected. Figure 1, above shows the Exit Effects drop-down gallery when a shape is selected for applying animation. Here, we selected a Star shape. If you summon the Exit Effects drop-down gallery to apply animation to a text object, it will be populated with a few extra Exit animation effects, as you can see in Figure 2, below.

Figure 2: Exit Effects drop-down gallery opened along with a text box selected

The Exciting category, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2, contains three extra Exit Effects: Drop, Flip, and Whip which you don't see in Figure 1, as shown previously on this page. These three Exit Effects work only with text, not with shapes.

This sample presentation shows all the Exit Effects available in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac. This is not the actual PowerPoint presentation. It's an online presentation converted from PowerPoint to video.