Animate Charts in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

In this series on using animation in PowerPoint, we have already explored how you can apply animation to any slide object, and then tweak the animation speed and animation events. Charts can also be animated in a similar way. However PowerPoint provides some extra animation options that are applicable only to charts. For example, you can animate series and categories individually as required, and you can also decide whether you want to animate the plot area or not.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to apply animation to charts, and also explore the various chart animation options in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

So, why would you want to animate a chart? Here are some reasons:

• You might want to highlight an individual chart series or category over others, and animation lets you highlight that part of the chart.
• You want to animate the plot area separately from the rest of the chart.
• You want to animate all the columns or bars in a chart to wipe up (or down, left, or right) one at a time—either automatically or sequenced. Similarly, for a pie chart or a line chart, you may want individual pies and line elements to animate respectively.

Those were just the most common reasons why you would want to animate a chart. There are plenty of other reasons you will discover for yourself! Also remember that animation is movement, and that's something that will draw attention. For that reason, only animate charts that you want to highlight.

Follow these steps to apply animation to a chart. In this tutorial, we'll use a column chart, but the concepts remain the same with other chart types:

1. Insert a chart on the PowerPoint slide. Then, access the Animations tab of the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1, below.
2. 
   Figure 1: Chart inserted on PowerPoint slide
2. Make sure that the entire chart is still selected rather than a single chart element. To achieve this objective, click on the edge of the chart. This step ensures that the entire chart is selected, as shown in Figure 1, above. Now to add animation to the chart go to the Entrance Effects group, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 1, and open the Entrance Effects drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 2, below.

Entrance, Emphassi, or Exit Animations?

Based on your requirement, you can even apply an Emphasis Effect or an Exit Effect to animate your chart.
3. 
   Figure 2: Entrance Effects drop-down gallery
3. In the Entrance Effects drop-down gallery, click on any of the entrance effect animations to apply the effect to your selected chart. In Figure 2, above, you can see that the Rise Up entrance effect has been selected.
4. Doing so will animate the whole chart as a single object. Go ahead and play the Slide Show to preview the chart animation.
5. To animate chart elements individually, you need to first access the Custom Animation tab of the Toolbox. To do so, click the Reorder button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below, within the Animations tab of the Ribbon.
6. 
   Figure 3: Reorder button within Animations tab
6. Doing so brings up the Custom Animation tab of the Toolbox, as shown in Figure 4, below. Select the Chart Animations pane, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 4.
7. 
   Figure 4: Chart Animations pane within the Custom Animation tab of the Toolbox
7. This action reveals the options within the Chart Animations pane, as shown in Figure 5, below.
8. 
   Figure 5: Chart animation options
8. Click on the Group graphic selection-list, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 5, above. Doing so opens a drop-down list of options to animate different elements (graphics) of the selected chart, as shown in Figure 6, below.
9. 
   Figure 6: Group graphic options

Choose any of the available options that are explained below:

As One Object: Animated all at once.
By Series: All Series are animated one by one.
By Category: All categories are animated one by one.
By Element in Series: All individual series elements are animated sequentially.
By Element in Category: All individual category elements are animated sequentially.

All Animations are Not Equal for Charts

Cannot find all the options shown above within the Chart Animations pane? The options you see depend upon the animation effect you apply. Rise Up is one of the effects that provides the maximum amount of options.
8. Notice the Start animation by drawing the chart background check-box, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 5, above. Chose this option to begin the animation sequence by drawing the chart background including the plot area on the slide.
9. Save your presentation.

Sample Presentation

Click below to view on YouTube