Jerky Animations in PowerPoint 2010 and 2013

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Do your animations appear a little jerky while playing in PowerPoint 2010 or 2013 compared to how they played in PowerPoint 2007 (all Windows versions)? There could be any number of reasons why the animations may not play smoothly. You may have too many applications using resources in the background, or your graphics system may not be able to cope up.

However, when the same animations play well on PowerPoint 2007, and do not in versions 2010 and 2013 (sometimes, even on the same computer), then, this easy trick may help!

1. First, run PowerPoint 2010 or 2013, and at least in the latter version, press the Esc key to create a blank presentation — otherwise PowerPoint 2013 won’t let you access the File menu! Now, select the File menu and choose Options in the resultant Backstage view.
2. Doing so brings up the PowerPoint Options dialog box. Then, choose the Advanced tab within the sidebar, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1, below. Scroll down the right pane until you see a section called Display.


Figure 1: PowerPoint Options

If you are on PowerPoint 2010, check the option called Disable hardware graphics acceleration, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 1, above.

If you are on PowerPoint 2013, also check the option called Disable Slide Show hardware graphics acceleration. If this option is (or options are) already checked, leave them.

Click the OK button to apply these changes. You can now close all instances of PowerPoint.

3. Now, you need to run the Registry Editor and make a small edit. Do remember that it’s wise to back up your Registry before you make any edits. Also, if you are not comfortable with editing your Registry, then, ignore this step altogether. Whatever you do, remember that anything you are doing is at your own risk!

To run the Registry Editor on Windows 7 or 8, click the Windows key on your keyboard to access the Start Menu. Now, type Run to bring up an icon for the Run program. Click this icon so that you see the Run dialog box, as shown in Figure 2, below.


Figure 2: Run dialog box

Now, type in regedit inside the Run dialog box. Click the OK button.

4. You may see the User Account Control window shown in Figure 3, below. Click the Yes button to go ahead and open the Registry Editor.


Figure 3: User Account Control

5. The Registry Editor now opens. If you are using PowerPoint 2013, navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\PowerPoint\Options key, as shown in Figure 4, below.


Figure 4: Registry Editor

If you are using PowerPoint 2010, you will navigate to the similar HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\PowerPoint\Options key.

6. Now select Options in the left-pane, and then right-click and you will see a small menu, as shown in Figure 5, below. Click the New option in this menu to open a sub-menu. Click on the option that says DWORD (32-bit) Value. It’s not necessary that your computer provides this option. In that case, you will see an alternative DWORD Value option; click on that option.


Figure 5: Add a new DWORD Value

7. You will see a new DWORD Value called New Value#1, as shown in Figure 6, below. Click on this value, and type over it to replace the value with DisableSpriteClipping, as shown in Figure 7, below.


Figure 6: Replace existing text…


Figure 7: ..with a new DWORD Value

8. Double-click this value to bring up an Edit dialog as shown in Figure 8. Change the Value data to 1. Exit the Registry Editor.


Figure 8: Edit DWORD Value

Animations in your presentation should now be smoother!

Thanks to several folks who contributed to this post, which brings us to some history.

Someone named Amy first raised this issue in the Comments section of the PowerPoint Blog, and then posted on Microsoft Answers.

Christopher Maloney of Microsoft responded with the solution. And thanks to Steve Rindsberg, PowerPoint MVP who rediscovered this treasure. Thanks thereafter to Glenna Shaw who provided further input on this solution.