Reversing Paths of Motion Path Animations in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

Applying a preset Motion Path or even drawing a custom motion path is not the high-end of Motion Path excellence. Several other tricks can help you become a better PowerPoint animator. The simplest Motion Path trick is to reverse the motion path. This option is very helpful if you want an object to animate using a Motion Path, and then animate it again from the end of the motion path to the beginning!

Follow these steps to reverse Motion Path animations in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows:

1. Select the slide object that you want to animate. You can select any object on your slide. We created and selected a Star shape.
2. Alternatively, if you just want to follow this tutorial step-by-step, launch PowerPoint. Within the Presentation Gallery, select the Blank Presentation option. PowerPoint will open a new presentation with a Title slide. PowerPoint 2013 users can change the slide layout to Blank by selecting the Home tab | Layout | Blank option. Then, insert a shape and select it.
2. Apply a motion path animation to the shape. You can add a preset Motion Path or draw a custom Motion Path.
3. Now, select the shape to which you have applied the Motion Path animation, and you shall be able to see a dashed line representing the motion path, as shown in Figure 1, below. This dashed line has two arrow heads, one at each end. The green arrowhead represents the starting point of the motion path whereas the red arrowhead represents the end point. If your Motion Path is a closed shape such as a circle, both the green and red arrowheads may overlap.
4. 
   Figure 1: Shape with a motion path animation applied
4. Now, select the motion path by clicking on the dashed line, and right-click carefully to bring up a contextual menu with three options, as shown in Figure 2, below. Choose the Reverse Path Direction option, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2.
5. 
   Figure 2: Reverse Path Direction option to be selected
5. As soon as the Reverse Path Direction option is selected, you'll see a preview of the reversed animation. Also, notice that now the green and red arrowheads have swapped positions, as shown in Figure 3, below (compare with Figures 1).
6. 
   Figure 3: Swapped arrowheads