How to Animate Bullet Points One at a Time in PowerPoint
Showing a whole list at once means your audience reads ahead while you're still on point one. Revealing bullets one at a time keeps everyone with you. It takes three clicks, and there's a tidy way to do it on every slide at once.
Quick reference
| What you want | How |
|---|---|
| One bullet per click | Select the text box → Animations → Appear (or Fade) |
| Check it's by paragraph | Effect Options → By Paragraph |
| Dim the previous bullet | Animation Pane → Effect Options → After animation |
| Same on every slide | Do it on the Slide Master's text placeholder |
| Preview | Shift + F5 |
1. Animate a list
1. Click the edge of the text box that holds the bullets.
2. Go to the Animations tab.
3. Click Appear, Fade or Fly In. Keep it subtle — Fade is the one most presenters use.
2. Go to the Animations tab.
3. Click Appear, Fade or Fly In. Keep it subtle — Fade is the one most presenters use.
Small numbers appear next to each bullet. Each number is one click during the show.
2. Make sure it's one at a time
Click Effect Options on the Animations tab and check By Paragraph is selected. All at Once does what it says, and As One Object animates the whole box.
3. Include sub-bullets
By default, sub-bullets appear with their parent. To make them click separately, open the Animation Pane, click the arrow next to the animation → Effect Options → Text Animation tab → group text By 2nd Level Paragraphs.
4. Dim the previous bullet
A classy touch: as a new point appears, the earlier ones fade to grey.
1. Animations → Animation Pane.
2. Click the arrow next to the list's animation → Effect Options.
3. Under After animation, choose a grey colour.
2. Click the arrow next to the list's animation → Effect Options.
3. Under After animation, choose a grey colour.
5. Do it on every slide at once
Rather than repeating this on 20 slides:
1. View → Slide Master.
2. Click the Title and Content layout.
3. Select the body text placeholder and apply the animation as above.
4. Close Master View.
2. Click the Title and Content layout.
3. Select the body text placeholder and apply the animation as above.
4. Close Master View.
Every slide using that layout now reveals bullets one by one.
6. Preview
Press Shift + F5 and click through. Press Esc to come back.
Troubleshooting
All the bullets appear together. Effect Options is set to All at Once, or you animated a text box that isn't a list. Change it to By Paragraph.
The numbers show on the slide when I present. They don't — those are only visible in editing view.
I want them to appear automatically. In the Animation Pane, change Start from On Click to After Previous and set a Delay.
Wrapping up
Select the box, click Fade, check By Paragraph. Put it on the Slide Master if you want every slide to do it. Your audience stays on the point you're actually talking about.
