Changing the Font Color in PowerPoint using Animation

For the longest time, I thought it couldn’t be done: add an “emphasis” animation to text in a PowerPoint slide by changing the color of the text. Turns out it is possible after all, and here is how to do it (in PowerPoint 2007 – haven’t tried older or 2010):

1. Open the Custom Animation pane.
2. Select the text that needs to change its color.
3. In the Custom Animation pane, click Add Effect, Emphasis.
4. Choose the Change Font Style animation (Change Font Size and Change Font also work, but if you only intend to change the color, Change Font Style looks like the best option).
5. By default, the Change Font Style animation causes the font to change to Bold. (You can keep it if you want.)
   1. To remove the bold effect, use the dropdown arrow next to the animation in the list of animations.
   2. Click Effect Options…
   3. In the Font Style dropdown, unselect Bold.
6. In the After Animation dropdown, select the color to change the font to.

You can even determine how long your style change lasts: there are several choices, including until the end of the slide or until the next click.

Unfortunately, it’s not a perfect solution, because you will need to click the mouse (or whatever method you use to animate) twice: once for the non-effect and then once for the after-effect.

So, maybe I was the only PowerPoint user who couldn’t figure that out (for years and years…), but just in case I am not the only one, I hope it helps.

UPDATE: PowerPoint 2010 has a built-in Emphasis animation for Font Color.