Animation Number

[Bruce Williams]

I made the switch from PC to Mac after using a PC for twenty years! It's the
best move I have made. I am using PowerPoint 2008 for Mac. I had a question
about the animations.

In the PP version I used with windows, when I did animations, it showed a
small, blue number showing the order of the animations. I have not been able
to find this feature in the Mac version. Is there a way to turn this on?

Thanks!
Bruce

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Bruce,

Welcome to the world of the Mac! I more or less
made "the switch" myself last year, after over
ten years of using primarily PCs. I still use a
PC at work, and I've got Windows installed in both
of my Macs via Parallels Desktop anyway... so I've
got the best of both worlds now, or so I'd like to
think ;-)

About your animation question, you'll find that there
are several things on the Windows version of PowerPoint
that are simply missing from PowerPoint 2008 for Mac.
(There are a few things that the Mac version has that
the Windows version doesn't, actually, but that's
another story for another day.) The animation number
thing appears to be one of the missing features in
PowerPoint 2008 for Mac, as well as the ability
to create animation paths. PowerPoint 2008 for Mac
simply doesn't offer this functionality.

You can always send feedback to Microsoft via the
Help - Send Feedback about this Product menu option.
That seems to be about the best thing to do...

Jeff

 

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks, Jeff. I thought that might be a feature that was missing from the
Mac version, but believe me - after trying Mac overall, I will never go back
to PC! I am not even running any Parallels now, and don't really plan to. I
have made the switch completely.

I noticed other features missing from MS Office as well - just take, for
instance, the ribbon that is included with MS Office 2007 for Windows. It
was quite useful, but not offered in the Mac version. I hope that perhaps
they will make that change in future versions.

Thanks,
Bruce

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hi again, Bruce,

I noticed other features missing from MS Office as well - just take, for
instance, the ribbon that is included with MS Office 2007 for Windows. It
was quite useful, but not offered in the Mac version. I hope that perhaps
they will make that change in future versions.

Mmmm... at first, I thought so too... but actually, that
floating palette in the Mac version is starting to grow on me.

I've used the Windows version of PowerPoint for years,
and when they made the switch to the Ribbon in the 2007
version, I had mixed feelings. The Mac version seems to
be more of a hybrid, allowing you to either select menu
options or use the formatting palette for the most
frequently-used commands.
There are also the toolbars as well, so there are
often two or three places where you can access commands.
This could potentially be confusing, but it does make sense
in an ergonomic way as well (for instance, PowerPoint 2007
offers a zoom slider in addition to the zoom tool in the
Ribbon).

What I would actually like to see is the ability to
_customize_ what you see on the formatting palette...

What do you think of the dynamic guides feature in
PowerPoint 2008? Some people seem bothered by it and immediately
want to turn it off because they can't figure it out right away,
but I think it's quite useful. (We're getting off-topic, but
just curious...) The Windows version doesn't include
dynamic guides, BTW...

Jeff

 

[Bruce Williams]

Hi Jeff:

I have not delved too deeply into the new features included in the Mac
version of PowerPoint, but I will definitely check out the Dynamic Guides
and get back to you. Thanks for pointing it out. And, yes, I am actually
getting used to the formatting palate. It is quite nice!

Bruce