MacPPT: Placeholder Is Animated When Saved in PowerPoint Movie

In Microsoft PowerPoint, when you add animation to text in a placeholder that has a fill color or border applied to it without selecting the Animate attached shape option, and then view the slide show, the text inside the placeholder is animated but the placeholder itself is not.

However, when you save the presentation as a movie, and then view the movie, the placeholder is animated along with the text.

NOTE: Placeholders are boxes with dotted outlines that appear when you create a new slide. These boxes serve as placeholders for such objects as the slide title, text, charts, tables, organizational charts, and clip art. Just click to add text in a placeholder, or double-click to add the specified object.

To work around this behavior, instead of adding a fill color or border to the placeholder, draw a separate shape (such as a rectangle), apply the fill colors and borders to it, and then place it behind the placeholder (which should now have no fill color or border applied to it). Now when you save the presentation as a movie, only the text in the placeholder is animated on screen.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

For additional information about PowerPoint 2000 and animations in the PowerPoint movie format, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: