How can I access the "After Animation" drop-down in the Effect Options of the Animation Pane in PowerPoint?

Question

How can I access the "After Animation" drop-down in the Effect Options of the Animation Pane in PowerPoint?

Green Isabelle 20

I want to animate an object in PowerPoint so that it disappears after I click on it. To do this, I applied an Exit Animation to a shape, opened the Animation Pane, selected the animation, right-clicked it, and chose Effect Options > Effect.

However, the After Animation drop-down menu is grayed out, preventing me from selecting Hide After Animation or any other option.

The object is not grouped with any other elements, so grouping does not appear to be the cause. I'm wondering whether this limitation is related to the specific animation I selected or if my version of PowerPoint does not support this feature.

Could you explain why the After Animation option is disabled and how I can make the object disappear after the animation is triggered?

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Hi @Green Isabelle

Based on your description, I understand that you applied an Exit animation to a shape, and when you open Effect Options for that animation, the “After animation” drop-down is grayed out, so you cannot select “Hide After Animation.”

I’d like to clarify that this behavior is by design and is not related to your PowerPoint version or to grouping. The “After animation” setting (including “Hide After Animation” and the dim-color options) is only available for Entrance and Emphasis animations. Since an Exit animation already removes the object from view when it finishes, PowerPoint disables the “After animation” option, applying “hide after animation” to an object that is already exiting would be redundant. That is why the drop-down appears grayed out regardless of which exit effect you choose.

Regarding your actual goal, making the object disappear after you click on the object iítelf, you do not need the “After animation” setting at all. You can achieve this with a Trigger:

Select the shape and apply an Exit animation (for example, Disappear or Fade).
With the animation selected in the Animation Pane, go to the Animations tab > Trigger > On Click of > and choose the name of that same shape.
In Slide Show mode, the object will now remain visible until you click directly on it, at which point the exit animation plays and the object disappears.

Tip: If you want it to vanish instantly rather than fade, use the Disappear exit effect, which has no duration.

Alternatively, if you wanted an object to play an animation and then hide (for example, spin and then disappear), you would use an Emphasis animation with “Hide After Animation,” or simply add an Exit animation set to start “After Previous” following the first effect.

Please give the trigger method a try and let me know if it achieves the effect you’re looking for. If you have any further questions, feel free to reply — I’m happy to help.

Michelle Nguyen 1,420 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-08-14T03:59:28.64+00:00

Hi @Green Isabelle

Is there any update from you?

If yes, please feel free to let me know.

Answer 2

After Animation is disabled because that setting is an after effect, not the mechanism used to make an object disappear with an Exit animation.

In PowerPoint, after effects apply to shapes that are already animated and then change state after they are built—for example, dimmed, hidden, or unchanged. The VBA documentation also notes that the after effect is only visible when the shape is animated and at least one other shape on the slide is animated after it.

If the goal is simply to make the object disappear when triggered, use an Exit animation itself. That is the supported way to remove the object from view.

Use this approach:

Select the object.
Go to Animations.
Apply an Exit effect.
Open Animation Pane to confirm the effect is listed.
In the Start setting, choose how it should trigger:
- On Click to disappear when the slide is clicked
- With Previous to disappear with the prior animation
- After Previous to disappear immediately after the prior animation
If needed, adjust Duration and Delay.

If the object must first appear and later disappear, add multiple animations to the same object:

Select the object.
On Animations, select Animation Pane.
Select Add Animation and add the first effect.
Select the same object again.
Select Add Animation and add an Exit effect.

Important: after the first animation is applied, additional effects must be added with Add Animation. Otherwise, the existing effect is replaced instead of adding another one.

So the fix is not to enable After Animation, but to add or use an Exit animation for that object. The disabled drop-down is expected behavior for this scenario.