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Discover 5 creative ways to highlight or call attention to specific text in PowerPoint. Follow our simple step by step instruction to enhance the look and feel of your business presentation slides.
Why highlight text in PowerPoint?
Highlighting certain parts of the text for emphasis is a routine requirement for business presenters. Unfortunately, there are no ready-made options to call attention to the text in PowerPoint as there is in Word.
In this article, we’ll show you five creative ways to highlight your text with PowerPoint animation. We’ve built these highlights to appear on click, to enhance the impact of your message even further.
Let’s explore the techniques…
1: Using Animated Circle
Take a look at the following slide:
Steps to create this kind of highlight:
Choose the portion you want to highlight. Draw an oval to cover the portion completely. Choose Fill color -> No fill. Choose Line color -> color of your choice. Choose line weight -> 3 points. This ensures that the highlight is clear and effective.
Select the oval and go to custom animation. Choose -> Entrance -> Wheel. Click on the drop down menu in the custom animation pane. Choose -> Effect options – 1 spoke. Your highlight text in PowerPoint is ready.
Where to use it:
This technique usually works well when you want to highlight certain numbers. You can use the technique to highlight certain parts of a map, table or a diagram if you wish.
Remember that when you copy this highlighted and animated text, the animations also copy. So, once created, you can reuse the circular highlight over and over in your presentations.
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2: Using Change color option
Take a look at this slide:
Steps to create this highlight text in PowerPoint:
Choose the text you want to highlight. Go to custom animation pane.
Select Emphasis -> Brush color. Once you finish, click on the drop down menu in the custom animation pane. Go to Effect options -> choose the color of your choice.
When to use:
This is an alternative to circle animation. The technique is helpful to highlight numbers.
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3: Using Animated Highlight Fill
See the following slide
Steps to create this animation:
Choose the text you want to highlight. Draw a rectangle covering the text completely.
Choose Fill color -> Color of your choice. Choose Line color -> No line color.
Highlight the rectangle and go to custom animation. Choose the Entrance effects -> Wipe. Click on the drop down menu in the custom animation pane. Choose the Direction – Left to right. Right click on the shape and send it to back.
Related: Animation Effects Tutorials
When to use this animation effect:
You can use the wipe animation effect to highlight certain parts of a diagram. Trace the portion you want to highlight using ‘Free form tool’. Fill color. Reduce the transparency of the fill by Right click -> Format -> Reduce transparency levels.
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4: Using Animated Arrow
See the following slide
Steps to create this kind animated arrow:
Choose the text you want to highlight. Draw an arrow pointing to the text as shown in the above slide. Choose Fill color -> Color of your choice. Choose Line color -> No line color.
Highlight the arrow and go to custom animation. Choose Motion paths -> Up. Click on the drop down menu in the custom animation pane. Choose the Effect options – > Auto reverse. Choose your Timing -> Repeat 2 times.
If you want the arrow to exit after highlighting, choose Exit animation -> Fade. Let the exit animation happen ‘after previous’.
When to use this arrow to highlight text in PowerPoint:
You can use the technique to highlight certain parts of a quote.
The technique is especially useful when you want to show a busy image or a map. The movement of the arrow attracts the attention of the audience and focuses it on the area you want to highlight.
Related: 3D PowerPoint Arrow tutorials
5: Using ‘Darken’ custom animation
Take a look at the following slide:
Steps to create this custom animation effect:
This technique is useful when you have an underlying shape and text written over the shape. Ensure that the text and shape are separate.
Choose the shape you want to highlight. Go to custom animation -> Emphasis -> Darken. This will darken the underlying shape and differentiate the text from the rest of the list.
When to use:
The technique allows you to use the agenda as guide post for the presentation and highlight the section you would cover next.
More text animation ideas in this tutorial:
Conclusion on How to Highlight Text in PowerPoint:
The look and feel of a slide has a significant impact on the attention levels of your audience. You can enhance the appeal of your slides by using techniques like the ones you just learnt.
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