Animation Delay in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

Once you add animation to any slide object, you can set its animation speed and change its animation event. Other than speed and event, you can also alter the delay caused before the animation actually starts. So why would you add a delay? There are several reasons and primarily a delay can be beneficial if you want to maintain a time limit between two animations -- as in having the second animation occur 10 seconds after the first one has concluded. Of course, that was just a simple example and animation delay can be helpful in many other scenarios. This delay is calculated in seconds. Follow the steps to learn more in PowerPoint 2010:

Select the object that has an animation applied to it. Refer to the Adding an Animation in PowerPoint 2010 tutorial.
Next, make the Animation Pane visible, by accessing the Animations tab of the Ribbon and clicking the Animation Pane button, as shown highlighted in red in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Animation Pane button
This opens the Animation Pane within the PowerPoint interface, as shown in Figure 2. Note that within the Animation Pane, the animation bar (highlighted in red in Figure 2, below) is starting at 0 seconds. Note that the animation bar is aligned to 0 seconds (highlighted in blue in Figure 2, below).

Figure 2: Animation starting at 0 seconds delay
As you can see in Figure 2 (above), the slide object we selected has got only one animation applied. If more than one animation is applied to the slide object, you should now select the animation you want to apply a delay to, within the Animation Pane.
Within the Animations tab of the Ribbon, locate the Delay box as shown highlighted in red in Figure 3. Use the up and down arrow buttons within the Delay box (refer Figure 3, below) to increase or decrease the delay. You can also type in the exact delay value you want.

Figure 3: Delay box within the Animations tab

Note: Animations in PowerPoint 2010 are timed to decimals, rather than using the typical 60 parts. So, half a second is shown as 00.50 rather than 00:00:30.
Alternatively, right-click the animation within the Animation Pane, and from the resultant menu, choose the Timing option, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Timing option selected for animation
This brings up the dialog box with the Timing tab selected, as shown in Figure 5. Within this tab, select the Delay option that you can see highlighted in red in Figure 5. You can use the up and down arrow buttons within the Delay box (refer Figure 5, below) to increase or decrease the delay. Or you can also type in the exact delay value you want.

Figure 5: Delay option within your animation dialog box
We have entered a delay of 2 seconds within the Delay box as shown highlighted in green in Figure 6. Now, notice the animation bar (highlighted in red in Figure 6, below) is starting at 2 seconds. Note that the animation bar is now aligned to 2 seconds (highlighted in blue in Figure 6). Compare with Figure 2, shown earlier on this page.

Figure 6: 2 second delay is applied to the selected animation
You can also use the Advanced Timeline to apply delay to any selected animation.
Thereafter, click the Preview button within the Animations tab of the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red in Figure 7. You can preview the animation happening after the delay time specified.

Figure 7: Preview button within the Animations tab
Save your presentation.