PPT97: Animation Order Incorrect Saving as PowerPoint 7.0 (159320)

SYMPTOMS

If you save a PowerPoint 97 presentation as a PowerPoint 7.0 presentation or as a PowerPoint Animation for ActiveX, and that presentation contains animation effects, the animation effects may not play in the same order in the converted presentation as they do in the original.

CAUSE

In PowerPoint 97 for Windows, you can specify the order in which objects are animated. This feature is new to PowerPoint 97. Earlier versions of PowerPoint for Windows do not have this feature.

In PowerPoint 7.0, the animation order is based on layering; objects closer to the back of the slide (or the bottom of the layering order) appear before objects closer to the front of the slide (the top of the layering order.)

For example, in PowerPoint 97, you can draw a box and then draw an oval on top of it. You can then use the Animation Settings dialog box to set the oval to appear first and the box to appear second. When you save the file as a PowerPoint 7.0 file or Animation and then view it, the box appears first and the oval appears second. The box is closer to the back of the slide.

When you save a PowerPoint 97 Presentation as a PowerPoint Animation for ActiveX, PowerPoint 97 first converts that presentation to a PowerPoint 7.0 presentation.

WORKAROUND

Change the layering on your PowerPoint 97 slide so that the order in which objects appear is the same as their layering. To change an object's position in the layering order:

Click the object to select it.
On the Draw menu, point to Order.
Click one of the following commands:
Bring to Front
Send to Back
Bring Forward
Send Backward

All of these commands change the order in which objects build when you save your presentation as a PowerPoint 7.0 presentation.