Ungrouping Tables to animate cells

[Sikhandini]

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

I read in a previous discussion that this can be done in PPT 2004, but is no longer possible in PPT 2008. Well that's just a big drag.

Certainly putting a bunch of text boxes together to look like a table is way too much work!

Has anyone found a better work around?

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Just out of curiosity, why would you want
to animate cells? What effect are you trying to accomplish?
Is this a feature that you simply can't duplicate with any
other technique? That should be the first thing we talk
about: what are you trying to do?

For instance, if you wanted to highlight some figures,
you could overlay a text box on top of the table,
and animate it to appear using a mouse click. Use your
imagination with these things - there is generally a
workaround for most animation-related issues to make it
look as you want. The solution is not always obvious.

I think the reason why PowerPoint 2008 doesn't
do this any more is because the table creation engine
for PowerPoint seems to have been changed from version
2004. PowerPoint 2007 for Windows doesn't allow ungrouping
of tables, either. However, if you are using PowerPoint
2007, you can copy the table to the clipboard, do a
Paste Special, repaste the table into the PowerPoint slide
as an Enhanced Metafile (EMF), and then ungroup the EMF.
However you look at it, it's a lot of work.

Jeff

 

[CyberTaz]

Have you considered using the SmartArt Graphics rather than tables? Use the
Custom Animations of your choice & set the Custom Graphic property to One by
One. You may find the possibilities interesting.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello Bob,

The SmartArt Graphics are interesting, but I couldn't find a simple table in
there. About the closest thing I could find was the "Table List" SmartArt in
the list. Is that what you were referring to?

It took me about five minutes to locate the "One by One" custom animation
property as well. I finally found it in the Toolbox, Custom Animation pane,
SmartArt Animation section... AFTER I had added a custom effect.

This makes me wonder, though... how do you apply animations to specific
components (i.e., cells) within that SmartArt graphic? Hmmm...

Jeff

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Jeff;

I guess it depends on how "tabular" your "table" needs to be For what
I'm guessing the OP's intent is there seem to be several in the List,
Hierarchy, Process & Matrix groups that might serve the purpose. I haven't
played with them much so I'm not sure how much variation - if any - you can
apply to each element... Just figured it might be a new direction to pursue.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac