VBA Code: Remove Animations in PowerPoint

Do you want to remove all animations from your slides? You may want to remove animations for a variety of reasons: maybe the sequencing is all messed up, and starting all over again seems like a great idea. But one look at your Animations task pane reveals tens or hundreds of animations on each slide. Is there a magic button somewhere in PowerPoint that can get rid of all animations altogether?

Yes, you can do this easily in PowerPoint using some simple VBA code, as John Wilson of PowerPoint Alchemy explains. John adds that this only removes animations from individual slides, and not any animations added within the Slide Master.

First, you need to know how you can run VBA scripts in PowerPoint — then use this code. Explore the code a bit though since John has put in some helpful comments so that you can edit some values as required.

Sub Zap_Animations() 
Dim oeff As Effect 
Dim i As Integer 
Dim t As Integer 
Dim osld As Slide 
'Remove normal animations
For Each osld In ActivePresentation.Slides 
For i = osld.TimeLine.MainSequence.Count To 1 Step -1 
osld.TimeLine.MainSequence(i).Delete 
Next i 
'Remove triggers
For i = osld.TimeLine.InteractiveSequences.Count To 1 Step -1 
For t = osld.TimeLine.InteractiveSequences(i).Count To 1 Step -1 
osld.TimeLine.InteractiveSequences(i).Item(t).Delete 
Next t 
Next i 
Next osld 
End Sub

Once you have placed this code in the VBA editor, close the window to get back to your PowerPoint slides. Before you proceed further, it’s a great idea to save your file — be sure to save as a PowerPoint Macro-Enabled Presentation with the PPTM file extension or PowerPoint Macro-Enabled Show with the PPSM extension. If you save as any of the other file formats, PowerPoint will offer to remove the macros, and then of course the Zap_Animations macro will not work! See our PowerPoint File Formats page to learn about these file formats.

Thereafter run the macro — more info can be found in our Use Macros and Scripts in PowerPoint tutorial.

Thank you so much, John.

We tested this code using PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

You May Also Like: What is VBA? | Resources on PowerPoint Programming and VBA | Use VBA in PowerPoint, Even if You Can’t Program for Nuts

John Wilson is a Microsoft PowerPoint MVP who creates some cool add-ins for PowerPoint. He participates in the PowerPoint newsgroups and runs the PPTAlchemy site. John is based out of the UK and loves to hear from PowerPoint users about concepts and ideas to create even more PowerPoint add-ins!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.