Powerpoint: animate the table - how it works

As of PowerPoint 2007, you can no longer animate tables easily. This practical tip shows you which trick you can use to animate a table in the newer versions.

How to animate a table in PowerPoint

To animate a table, you must first save it as an image.

Once you have created your table, right-click on the table edge and select the entry "Save as graphic" from the context menu.
Save the image as an "Extended Windows Metafile (* .emf)".
Now delete your table and replace it with the graphic you just saved.
To do this, switch to the "Insert" tab and click on "Images" to select the graphic.
Now right-click on the inserted image and select "Group"> "Ungroup".
Now a security question opens. Confirm this with "Yes".
To finally break down the graphic into the individual components, right-click the picture again and choose "Group"> "Ungroup" again.
Now you can group parts of the table again to animate them.
For a better overview of the individual parts, navigate to the "Drawings" group in the "Start" tab. Click on "Arrange" and select "Selection area". Now you will see a list of all objects on the slide on the right side of the screen.
Now hold down the [Shift] key and mark the parts of the table that are to be animated together.
Then click with the right mouse button on an edge of the just highlighted objects and select the entry "Grouping"> "Grouping" in the context menu.
Now switch to the "Animation" menu item and assign the desired grouping to the selected effect.
Test the animation of your table by clicking on "Preview" in the "Animations" tab.
By the way, you can create several groups as described and animate them in PowerPoint.