How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac

This wikiHow shows you how to group a set of Microsoft PowerPoint animations together using Windows or macOS. You'll also learn how to group a set of objects together to apply a single animation. Open Microsoft PowerPoint. The icon is...
Method 1 of 2:

Grouping Animations to Run at the Same Time

  1. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 1How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 1
    Open Microsoft PowerPoint. The icon is reddish orange with white lines in it. You can find it in your Applications folder on a Mac, or in the Start menu on a PC.
  2. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 2How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 2
    Open your project. You can open an existing project by clicking File and then Open from the top-left corner.
  3. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 3How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 3
    Go to the slide with the objects you want to animate. Have your animation paths and effects all set up.
    1. To learn more about animations in PowerPoint, see this wikiHow.
  4. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 4How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 4
    Click Animation Pane. This is located at the top next to the star icon that says "Add Animation." A list of your animations will appear.
  5. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 5How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 5
    Select the first object to animate. You'll do this on the Animation Pane. It will become highlighted and an arrow will appear.
  6. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 6How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 6
    Click the down-arrow next to the object. A menu will expand.
  7. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 7How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 7
    Select Start with Click from the menu. This will make the animation begin when you click on it while presenting.
    1. If you want to customize the transition further, click Timing from the drop-down menu. This will open another window where you can control delays and animation duration.
  8. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 8How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 8
    Select the next object to animate. Just click its layer on the Animation Pane.
  9. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 9How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 9
    Click the down-arrow and select Start with Previous. This makes the selected object animate at the same time as the previous. These two animations are now grouped together.
  10. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 10How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 10
    Repeat steps 8-9 for objects you want to animate together. You can preview your animations by clicking Play From.
    1. To group and animate two objects after the previous animation ends, select Player After Previous.
    2. You can click and drag each object around to change the sequence of animations. Just remember that the first object in the list under the Animation Pane will always play first.
Method 2 of 2:

Animating a Group of Objects

  1. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 11How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 11
    Open Microsoft PowerPoint. The icon is reddish orange with white lines in it. You can find it in your Applications folder on a Mac, or in the Start menu on a PC.
    1. Use this method if you want to apply one animation to multiple objects, such as text or images, at once.
  2. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 12How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 12
    Select the presentation you want to group animations in. Alternatively, you can also select 'blank presentation' to start a new one.
  3. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 13How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 13
    Select the objects you want to group. Hold Control (PC) or Option (Mac) as you click to select multiple objects. This should create a black, square outline around each object.
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    Click the Format tab at the top. This will open up a different menu.
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    Click Group and Group again from the menu. This will group together all of your selected objects.
    1. To ungroup your objects, select Ungroup from this menu.
  6. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 16How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 16
    Click the Animations tab at the top. Make sure your group is still selected.
    1. To check if your group is still selected, you should be able to drag all of them at once on the screen.
  7. How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 17How to Group Animations in PowerPoint on PC or Mac Picture 17
    Select an animation that you want to apply to the group. This will apply the animation to your grouped objects.
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