Animate PowerPoint Text One Word or One Letter at a Time

Learn how to add some flash to your PowerPoint presentations with animation

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Updated on November 13, 2019

With Microsoft PowerPoint, it is possible to animate text to appear on the slide either one word, one letter, or one line at a time.

Instructions in this article apply to PowerPoint 2019, PowerPoint 2016, PowerPoint 2013, PowerPoint 2010, PowerPoint for Mac, PowerPoint for Microsoft 365, and PowerPoint Online.

Make Text Appear One Line at a Time

When you have a bulleted list that you want to appear one bullet at a time during your PowerPoint presentation, animate the text so that each paragraph appears on the screen individually.

Create a text box and enter a bullet list or several paragraphs of text.
Select the text box.
Go to Animations and choose an animation. Choose a direction as well, if prompted.
Select Effect Options.
Choose By Paragraph.
Select Preview to see the animation in action.

Make Text Appear One Letter at a Time

When you want the text to look like it is being typed on the screen, animate the text so that it appears one letter at a time.

Select the text box that contains the text you want to animate.
Go to Animations.
Choose an animation.
Select Animation Pane. The Animation Pane appears on the right side of the window.
Select the arrow next to the animation in the Animation Pane and choose Effect Options.
On the Effect tab, select the Animate text down arrow and choose By letter.

To make the text appear on the slide one word at a time, choose By word.
Change the delay time in the % delay between letters box.
Select OK when you're done.

The animation previews automatically.

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