Use these tips to fix some common problems. To get started, choose Slide Show and Custom Animation. This opens a task pane with all the relevant information about the current animations, plus all the tools for adjusting them.

Animations run in the wrong order. Icons beside each animation on the task pane indicate its settings. The numbers designate the sequence in which animations will run and match the numbers appearing beside each slide element in the main window.

Changing animations’ order is simple. Let’s say the slide is currently set up so that the corporate logo fades into view right after the company slogan. In the task pane, the slogan is at the top of the animation list (under a name such as “Shape 1”) and the logo is just below it (probably under its file name, such as “Acme logo”). To change the order, click an item on the list and click the up or down arrow near the word “Re-Order” at the bottom of the task pane.

You also can drag an animation to another spot on the list. As you’re dragging it, a bar appears to show where it will land if you release the mouse button. To move several animations at once, click them all while holding down the CTRL button and then click the arrows or drag the mouse.

Animations start at the wrong time. On the task pane’s animation list, mouse icons mark animations that run when you click the mouse, while clock icons indicate animations that run after the previous animation on the list. If there’s no icon, the animation runs simultaneously with the one ahead of it.

Click Start to indicate whether an animation should run with or after the previous one or when you manually click the mouse.

Sometimes, you won’t know exactly when you want an animation to run. Maybe you’re planning for audience members to ask questions that you answer by clicking a star that disappears and reveals the answer. To make the star disappear when you click it, apply a Fade Exit effect and then right-click the effect and choose Effect Options. On the Timing tab, click Triggers and select the star’s name on the drop-down list.

I want to change animation effects. The little star icon is designed to show what effect is applied to an object, but the numerous variations of stars with motion lines on them usually aren’t all that instructive. A quicker way to identify the effect is to click its name on the list and look for its name (such as Peek In or Faded Zoom) toward the top of the task pane.

You can change an animation by clicking the Change button at the top of the task pane and choosing a different effect. (Click More Effects to see the complete options. The Entrance Effects pop-up list, for example, shows fewer than 10 choices, but there actually are about 50 available.)

You can apply multiple effects to one object, even effects that run at the same time, such as a Grow/Shrink emphasis effect that runs as a text block as it’s doing a Fly In from the left.

The direction, speed, and other factors are all wrong. Where do I start? The task pane includes buttons for adjusting basic elements of how an animation actually works. The Direction button is self-explanatory, controlling where the animated object appears from or moves to. Note that some effects have no direction setting.

The Speed setting usually requires some experimentation, depending on the effect and on how fast your computer runs under the graphic burden of a given presentation. On many computers, the Very Fast setting creates an overly frenetic look. But in certain situations, anything slower looks plodding.

For detailed control of an animation, right-click its name on the list and choose Effect Options.

I’d like to use this animation on every slide, but that seems like a lot of work to set up. If all this tweaking creates an animation so good you want it throughout a presentation, there’s quick way to apply it. Choose View, Master, and Slide Master. Settings on the Slide Master affect all similar slides in the presentation. So if you apply a Fly In effect to the bullet list here, for example, then every bullet list in the presentation will use the same effect.