Slide show and animation automation.

Question

I have a presentation with per slide several animations. Some animations have to stop and wait for a click to go further, the moment I click to proceed (all parts on slide will disappear) the with the last animation I want to automatically start up the new slide. I've tried several settings, under "slide show", checked the "use time settings", not the wanted effect, all animations are started automatically without the necessary stops, under "Transitions", "Next slide", you can set "At mouse click" and/or "after" and then set a time. Also not the wanted effect the whole presentation runs until the last slide, just overriding all the animations who have to wait until a mouse button is clicked. Who knows how to get this right?

Answer 1

Dear Dick Timmerman,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A. 

Based on your description, I understand that you want some animations on each slide to run automatically, others to wait for a click, and then, after the last click (when all objects disappear), the next slide should start automatically.

PowerPoint uses two separate control mechanisms:

Animation timing controls how objects appear, move, or disappear within a slide. Each animation can start On Click, With Previous, or After Previous. Slide transition timing controls when the slide moves to the next one. You can set it to happen On Mouse Click or After [time].

When you enable “Use Timings” globally, PowerPoint follows the timing settings for transitions and animations, which can override your click-based animations if not configured correctly. That’s why your current setup causes all animations to run automatically.

To get the behavior you want, you can do the following:

1. Turn off automatic slide advance
   • Go to Transitions > Advance Slide.
   • Uncheck After and leave On Mouse Click checked.
   • Also make sure Slide Show > Use Timings is turned off. This ensures the slide will only move when you click.
2. Control animations with Animation Pane
   • Open Animations > Animation Pane.
   • For animations that should run automatically, set Start: After Previous.
   • For animations that should pause for your input, set Start: On Click.
   • Arrange the order so click-based animations appear last.
   • If you want everything to disappear before moving on, add Exit effects:
   • First exit > Start: On Click (this is your “clear” click).
   • Remaining exits > Start: After Previous for a smooth teardown.
3. Advance to the next slide when ready

• After the exit sequence finishes, click once more to move to the next slide.
  • Because “After” is off, PowerPoint will wait for you, no unwanted auto-run.

By disabling all timing-based transitions and using only “On Click” for slide changes, you keep full control. The Animation Pane lets you mix automatic and click-based animations without losing your pauses.

If you ever want the next slide to move immediately after the last click without a second click, you can either Set Transitions > After to a very short time (like 0.01s) so the slide advances right after the exit animations finish, or

I hope this information helps point you in the right direction. If you run into any issues while trying the steps, or if something still doesn’t feel quite right, please don’t hesitate to reach out again. I’ll do my best to support you however I can.  

Looking forward to hearing back from you with any updates or additional details. 

Warm regards, 

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