Animating Grouped Objects - Powerpoint 2007

[Tom]

I am animating multiple text boxes on a graph. Each text box I group with an
arrow to use as a call out box for items on a timeline. However, sometimes I
am not being allowed to animate these groups. I have sucessfully grouped and
animated many of these, but frequently I make my text box, add my arrow,
group (select one, hold down shift, and right-click), the "add effect" button
lights up, but wont let me animate my group. I have not resolved this issue,
only by deleting the whole thing, making it again and hoping it works have I
made any progress. The only thing that I can think of is that I am
unintentionally grouping something else? I notice when I click on
successfully animated objects there is no light blue border over the whole
slide itself, but on ones that wont work there is, could this be my graph?
Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Lucy Thomson]

Hi Tom

To simplify life you could use one of the callout autoshapes - they are near
the bottom of the list of shapes. To change the end to an arrow (if that's
what you want) right click the shape -> format shape -> line style -> change
'end type' to whichever you want.

Oh no! Bug alert! When I change the end to an arrow and try to animate the
callout it crashes powerpoint. If I leave it as a line it's ok.... So this
method will work for you if you can live with a callout that ends in a line
and not an arrow.

I'll do some more investigating & report the bug if others can reproduce it.

Lucy

 

[Echo S]

I wonder if you have an object within the group selected instead of the
entire group. If you click away and then click the group, does that allow
you to add the animation?

 

[John Wilson]

I can repro that bug Lucy!
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[Lucy Thomson]

Thanks for checking John
Weird one, eh?

Lucy

 

[Lucy Thomson]

The bug has been reported to Microsoft.

Lucy