Slide Transition Duration in PowerPoint 2010
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: PowerPoint 2010
OS: Windows 7 / Vista / XP
Date Created: January 18th 2012
Last Updated: January 18th 2012
Excerpt/Capsule: Learn how to change the slide transition duration in PowerPoint 2010.
Every transition you add to a slide within PowerPoint 2010 has a fixed, default duration. Some transitions such as Cut happen sooner than you can imagine (just 0.10 seconds). Some others like Reveal can take 3.40 seconds to be done with. But you really do not need to be happy with the default transition durations as you can make them to happen for as long, or as soon as you want. Before we show you how you can change the duration, do remember that transition duration and transition time are not the same.
Note: While transition duration is what we are exploring in this tutorial, transition time is the actual time that the slide stays during a slide show before moving to the next slide. Transition timings are purely optional, since you can choose to let any slide show as long as you want and only move to the next slide with a mouse click. Transition duration though is not optional -- even if you do not change the duration, there still is a default duration for each transition effect.
Follow these steps to change the transition duration of slides in PowerPoint 2010 -- we assume you have already added transitions to your slides:
- Navigate to the slide for which you want to modify the transition duration. Access the Transitions tab of the Ribbon, and take a look at the time shown in the Duration box, highlighted in red in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Duration box within the Transitions tab
Tip: PowerPoint uses a decimal system for part of a second – so, 1.50 refers to one and a half second (also known as 1 second, 50 centiseconds) – each second thus has 100 centiseconds.
- Use the up and down arrow buttons within the Duration box (refer to Figure 1 above) to increase or decrease the transition duration. You can also type in the exact duration value you want. Thereafter, click the Preview button found within the Transitions tab of the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red in Figure 2. You will see how long the actual transition takes to complete.
Figure 2: Preview button within the Transitions tab
Tip: The maximum transition duration allowed in PowerPoint 2010 is 59 seconds – try this out with some transition effects and you will find the results can be gorgeous or boring!
- If you are happy with the transition effect and duration, you can apply the same effect and duration to all slides in your presentation by clicking the Apply To All button located within the Transitions tab (highlighted in red in Figure 3, below).
Figure 3: Apply to All button within the Transitions tab
- Save your presentation.
