Microsoft PowerPoint is a powerful tool that allows you to create all kinds of presentations. You probably already know how to use it to create static slides.

However, you may not be aware that you can also use it to create whiteboard animations. Even if you do, you probably may not know how to create whiteboard animations in PowerPoint yourself.

Whiteboard animations appear like the content or characters are handwritten or hand-drawn on a whiteboard in real-time. You've probably seen them in ads and tutorials. In this article, you'll learn how to create whiteboard animations in PowerPoint.

What You Need to Create a Whiteboard Animation in PowerPoint

Whiteboard animations aren't created in a vacuum. To make one, you'll need the following tools:

• Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your PC.
• The write-up or image you want to animate. Images with transparent backgrounds are preferred.
• A pre-recorded narration of the script if you're creating a video.
• A few minutes of your time to follow through with the next steps.

That being said, let's now dive into creating our first PowerPoint whiteboard animation.

Creating Your First Whiteboard Animation in PowerPoint

In this tutorial, we'll create a whiteboard animation of a hand writing on a whiteboard. This should be easy and fun to do. Here's how to do it.

First, Create the Animated Text

1. Open PowerPoint on your desktop.
2. Enter your preferred text into the text box area on the slide. If this is your first whiteboard animation, you can write "My first PowerPoint whiteboard animation" or something.
3. To make it resemble real human handwriting, we recommend changing the font to something more natural. So, go ahead and do so.

   

4. It's now time to animate the text. To do so, select the text and click on the Animations tab in the ribbon area.
5. Click on Appear, but this will make all the text appear at once.
6. To make the text appear letter by letter, click on Animation Pane.
7. From the Animation Pane in the right sidebar, click on the "Title" drop-down and select Effect Options.

   

8. From the dialog box, click on the Animate text drop-down and select By letter.
9. Now, adjust the delay between letters to, say, 0.1 seconds. Click Ok when done.

   

10. Press the Play From... button in the Animation Pane to preview the animated text.

Next, Add the Hand Doing the Writing

To add the hand doing the writing:

1. Click on the Insert tab in the ribbon.
2. Click on Pictures, then click on This Device... or wherever your image is.
3. Add the image of a hand with a pen that you've previously downloaded or created. Remember when we said it should have a transparent background? You can get royalty-free photos from these websites and then use any of these tools to remove the image backgrounds.
4. Select the hand and click on the Animations tab in the ribbon area.
5. Click on Add Animation under the Animation Pane.

   

6. Drag the scroll bar down on the right-side panel and click on Custom Path.
7. Now trace the outline of the text to define the path for the hand to navigate. One-line texts are easier to trace. Tracing multiple lines will take some doing.
8. Once you're done tracing, the hand will start tracing the text automatically. Ensure that it aligns with the text to look as natural as possible. If it's moving too fast you can slow it down a bit.

   

9. Click on the Picture ... dropdown in the Animation Pane and select Timing for the particular animation you want to slow down.
10. Adjust the timing to your liking until both the text and the hand synchronize and move together in harmony.

Start Creating Amazing Whiteboard Animations

There are many use cases for whiteboard animations, and you can start creating them with PowerPoint. Although not as advanced as Adobe Animate, PowerPoint does a decent job with whiteboard animations.

With constant practice, your whiteboard animation skills will start to show, and you can become a true professional. It's one of the many cool things you can do with PowerPoint.