How can I animate a table so that each cell containing text can be sequenced in a chosen order, from a headed blank to a full table?

Question

I am new to Powerpoint. From the tutorial I saw how to animate bulleted words, but I want (if possible) to  build a table cell by cell. 

All cells will contain text. I want to start with a blank screen (apart from the heading) then a cell in a particular row. then other cells in that row.

I want to process subsequent rows in similar fashion until the entire table is constructed.

To complicate the issue I want each row to be a different colour.

I want to add cells with a mouse click so that each cell can be discussed.

I am 80 + and been invited to present complex material. I am told the old Overhead projector is defunct.

Cycke

Answer 1

Hello Cycke,

Thanks for posting in the Microsoft answers forum! 

There is no way to animate a table by cell. However, there may be other ways to achieve the same effect, although it would be a bit more cumbersome.  Instead of a table, you can create a series of shapes (say rectangles), add text to them, and place them in the same way the cells would be laid out on the table. You can then animate each shape to appear into place when clicked. 

 If you have a small table that would be simple, but if the table has many rows/columns, it might be a bit painful. 

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Adam's approach will work: I've used it in the past. One bit of advice ... create one cell/box, add the animation you want, and then copy it for each of the subsequent cells/boxes. You can change the text and the color, but the animation will already be there. As well, if you create the cells in the order you want to display them, they should be in the proper order when you are done.

Another approach that I like:

--  Create the entire table as it should look at the end.

--  Add entry and exit animation.

--  Duplicate the slide once for each cell (or group of cells if there are some you would like to have appear together).

--  Starting back at the first slide, clear all the text except for the first cell.

--  On the next slide, clear all the text except for the first two cells.

--  So on until the last one where you clear nothing.

--  Select the table on the last slide (the final appearance). Copy it, then go back one slide and paste.

--  Copy the two tables, go back one slide, and paste.

--  Repeat until you are back at the beginning.

--  Then select all the tables and align center and middle or top and left.

--  Delete the last exit animation.

Answer 3

What I do is create the table, then make a rectangle that fits inside one cell and fill it with the same color as the background of your table (no shadows or special effects on the rectangle...just flat so that it appears to "blank" the cell out).  Animate the rectangle so that it fades out (exit animation) and copy it to the rest of the cells.  This will give the appearance of the cells animating to come into the table, when in fact it's just that they're being uncovered.  If you only want some of the cells to "appear", then just copy the rectangle to those cells.

Answer 4

Hi, 

I struggled with this same issue for a while. Today a solution simpler than others I have seen occurred to me.  Here are the steps with an alternative approach if you have trouble matching colors:

1. Complete the full table just the way you want it with all the information filled in.
2. Create rectangle shapes the same colors as your cells.
3. Copy, past and resize the rectangles to cover your cell contents.
4. Add animation to the rectangles so that they disappear to reveal the cell contents in the desired sequence. 

ALTERNATIVE

If you have trouble matching the cell colors, you can do the following instead:

1. Complete the full table just the way you want it with all the information filled in.
2. Duplicate the slide. 
3. Delete the entries on the duplicate.
4. Use the Snipping Tool built into windows to copy a section of one cell for each color in the table. 
5. Paste and resize the copied sections to cover your content.
6. Add animation to the rectangles so that they disappear to reveal the cell contents in the desired sequence. 

I hope this helps.

Jason