Control Animation Timings using the Advanced Timeline in PowerPoint 2007 for Windows

The main advantage of using the Advanced Timeline to edit your animation is that you can control the start time, duration, and end time of your animation to the most minute level. You are not limited to the time or speed presets that PowerPoint provides. For example, by using the Advanced Timeline you can animate a slide object very slowly to span over a whole minute or more by just dragging the start and end points of any animation bar outwards in the timeline. We have already explored how to show/hide the Advanced Timeline within PowerPoint 2007 for Windows.

Follow the steps to learn how to control animations with help of Advanced Timeline within PowerPoint 2007 for Windows:

1. We assume you have at least one animation applied to any slide object. Also, you should make the Advanced Timeline visible on the Custom Animation Task Pane.
2. Within the Advanced Timeline, hover your cursor on the animation bar. Note that this changes the cursor to a distinct two-headed arrow, as shown in Figure 1, below. You can also view the start and end points as a tool tip, as shown in Figure 1.
3. 
   Figure 1: Animation bar displays animation start and end times within a tool tip

Animation Duration

The duration of any animation is its end time minus its start time. As in the example shown in Figure 1, that would be 2 seconds minus 0 seconds, thus the duration for this particular animation is 2 seconds.

3. To delay the start time of a selected animation, you will need to select the whole animation bar so that it is highlighted and shows the two-headed arrow cursor; then drag it to a point where you want it to start. Note that you can see the new start time as you drag the animation bar rightwards, as shown in Figure 2, below. In this case, we moved the animation to start now at 1.5 seconds rather than at 0 seconds. Compare Figures 2 and 1.
4. 
   Figure 2: Animation bar being dragged to establish a new start time

Drag Left and Right

Note that you just changed the start time, you can drag the animation bar leftwards as well, as long as you do not go to a point before 0 seconds. Also, of the three animation events (On Click, After Previous, and With Previous), the After Previous animations can be dragged only rightwards.

4. To increase or decrease the duration of an animation, place your cursor over the left or right edge of the animation bar. This changes the cursor to a double-headed arrow with an insertion point in the center, as shown in Figure 3, below. Drag the cursor to extend or reduce the animation bar inwards or outwards. The example towards the left in Figure 3 shows the end point at 1.5 seconds. The example on the right shows that dragging the end point of the animation bar resulted in the animation span being increased to 3 seconds.
5. 
   Figure 3: Animation duration increased by dragging the end point of the animation bar
5. If you have too many animations and want minute control over their start, duration, and end times, then you should explore zooming in and out within the Advanced Timeline to view more or less of your animations. Clicking the Seconds button below the timeline will open a drop-down list with the Zoom In and Zoom Out options, as shown in Figure 4, below. Choose as required.
6. 
   Figure 4: Zoom options within Seconds drop-down list
6. Once done with tweaking your animations, you can hide the Advanced Timeline. To do that, right click any animation within the Custom Animation Task Pane or click the down-arrow towards the right of any animation. From the resultant menu, choose the Hide Advanced Timeline option, as shown in Figure 5, below.
7. 
   Figure 5: Hide Advanced Timeline option selected
7. Save your presentation.