Animated graphics do not animate in PowerPoint

[Dolores]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

I use PowerPoint a lot and I need to use the animated graphics from time to time. They download and preview well enough, but when I run the show, they do not animate. How can I get them to animate?
I need easy-to-follow instructions as I am new to this technology.

 

[Jeff Chapman]

By "animated graphics", are you referring to
GIF animation files or clip art, or are you
referring to Flash animation? (Or perhaps something
else, such as PowerPoint's built-in animation
features?)

It would be helpful for us if we knew more about
how and what kind of file you are "downloading",
and how you are inserting or adding it into your
presentation, in order to give you more specific advice.

Jeff

 

[Dolores]

By "animated graphics", are you referring to

GIF animation files or clip art, or are you
referring to Flash animation? (Or perhaps something
else, such as PowerPoint's built-in animation
features?)

It would be helpful for us if we knew more about
how and what kind of file you are "downloading",
and how you are inserting or adding it into your
presentation, in order to give you more specific advice.

Jeff

Jeff, I mean the GIF animation files, PowerPoint's built in animated graphics. I also download some from the Microsoft Office clip website (when I click the "online" option on the graphics screen). I am able to insert them in my presentations, but when I click "View Show", they do not animate. They look like regular clip art.

 

[Romeo C.]

Dolores:

You are 100% correct. The new version of PowerPoint for Mac does not allow my animated gifs to work. It's very annoying because as a middle school educator I sometimes rely on animations to have students grasp certain concepts. What is being done to address the problem of animated gifs not working in the 2008 Version of Powerpoint for Mac?

 

[Jeff Chapman]

This is a known issue in PowerPoint 2008.
You can find mention of it in the help screens
(of all places). It says:

------------------
Animated GIF files do not play in slide show mode
You can insert and save animated GIF (.gif) file formats in PowerPoint 2008,
but you cannot play them in slide show mode. To correct this issue, on the
Insert menu, point to Movie, and then select the file that you want.
------------------

You can also go into the Custom Animations toolbox,
Media Options and specify whether to loop the animated
file or not.

Pretty lame that Microsoft forced us to insert
GIF animations as movies - it seems like PowerPoint
has regressed in this department. Anyway, there's
the workaround - now, get along with reinserting
several dozen of those nifty little GIF animations
as Movie files, only to find that the animation may
break in PowerPoint 2009 (?) as Microsoft undoes
whether they did to us this time

Jeff

 

[Dolores]

Jeff, Thank you for the advice. First of all, when I clicked INSERT and MOVIE, I was only able to access the animated graphics I downloaded (not the ones preloaded into the program). Then the program told me that those graphics "were not a recognized movie format".
How can I convert the animated graphics to a "recognized movie format"?
I bought a MacBook Pro because I am not technically savvy and wanted an alternative to the Microsoft madness.

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hi Dolores,

First of all, when I clicked INSERT and MOVIE, I was only
able to access the animated graphics I downloaded (not the
ones preloaded into the program).

The clip art already built into the Clip Gallery is contained
within a database file named "Clip Gallery User Database",
which is typically located at [user name]/Library/Application
Support/Microsoft/Office/Clipart/Personal.
Apparently, it can't be pried open without using the Office
Clip Gallery tool.

However, I believe that all of the Clip Art in Office 2008
is also located on the Microsoft Office Online Clip Art
gallery. So, you can locate the filename from
the clip art already in the Office Clip Gallery user database
on your computer (more information on finding the filenames
for specific clip art below), type it into the search box
online, and download your clip art from there.
Once the clip is up on the Microsoft site in your web browser
window, click on the magnifying glass for a preview,
and then drag and drop the animation from the preview window
into the file of your choice. (Whew.) It will be a bit small,
but it will give you an animated GIF.

The Windows version of PowerPoint (currently 2007) is a bit
more flexible when it comes to these things.

Then the program told me that those graphics "were not a recognized movie
format".
How can I convert the animated graphics to a "recognized movie format"?

The animated clip art to insert needs to be in .gif
format to be recognizable by Office's Insert Movie tool,
if it isn't already. If you want to check whether the
clip you already have in the Clip Gallery is an animated GIF,
use these steps:

1. On a blank slide, use the Insert - Clip Art... menu option to
open the Clip Gallery.

2. In the Search box, do a search for the clip you want to insert,
and do a right-click on the clip. Select "Clip Properties."
In the clip's Properties dialog, you should see the filename
under "File Information". The file extension on that name
should be .gif.

Insert - Movie also allows you to insert other "animated"
file formats besides GIFs, such as .MOV files. GIFs are indeed
recognized movie formats - you just have to tell the Insert Movie
file chooser dialog where to find them... and make sure that the
filename has the .GIF extension on it.

Not sure if this answers your question.

I bought a MacBook Pro because I am not technically savvy and wanted an
alternative to the Microsoft madness.

It seems that you simply couldn't keep away from the
"Microsoft madness"...
Actually, this is an issue with Office 2008 for Mac, not
the Mac as a computer itself. So it's best not to beat yourself -
or your MacBook over the head/monitor about this. If you really
want to remove yourself from "Microsoft madness", try OpenOffice.
(But alas, that may bring its own set of madness... and certainly
less clip art.)

Jeff