Updated October 14, 2026. Written for DeckCraft 0.6.1 (what changed since).
Add a transition to a slide
- Open a deck. Go to easyruncraft.com/deckcraft/editor, click the Home icon at the top left and open your .pptx, or pick a theme for a new presentation.
- Select the slide the transition leads into. A transition plays as the show arrives at a slide, so the effect belongs to the second slide of the pair.
- Pick the effect. On the Transitions tab, click one of the twelve tiles in the gallery, or the arrow beside it for all 48, grouped as Subtle, Exciting and Dynamic Content.
- Adjust it. Effect Options lists the variants the transition has, such as From Left or Vertical. Set Duration in seconds (it steps by a quarter second).
- Preview plays the transition on the slide. Apply To All copies the same transition to every slide.
| Group | Transitions |
|---|---|
| Subtle (12) | Morph, Fade, Push, Wipe, Split, Reveal, Cut, Random Bars, Shape, Uncover, Cover, Flash |
| Exciting (29) | Fall Over, Drape, Curtains, Wind, Prestige, Fracture, Crush, Peel Off, Page Curl, Airplane, Origami, Dissolve, Checkerboard, Blinds, Clock, Ripple, Honeycomb, Glitter, Vortex, Shred, Switch, Flip, Gallery, Cube, Doors, Box, Comb, Zoom, Random |
| Dynamic Content (7) | Pan, Ferris Wheel, Conveyor, Rotate, Window, Orbit, Fly Through |
The names and groups are PowerPoint's, so a deck made here reads the same in PowerPoint's Transitions tab. Fade and Push are the safe choices for a work deck. The Exciting group (Curtains, Vortex, Origami and the rest) gets noticed, and gets old by the fourth slide.
Make a Morph
Morph animates the difference between two slides: objects that appear on both glide from their place, size and color on the first slide to those on the second. Duplicating the slide is the reliable way to start, because the copy holds the same objects.
- Build the first slide. For a first try: a title at the top and a circle on the left.
- Duplicate it. Right-click its thumbnail and choose Duplicate Slide, or use Duplicate Selected Slides under the arrow on the Home tab's New Slide button.
- Change the copy. Move the circle to the right, make it larger and change its fill. DeckCraft also morphs one shape into another, so you can change the circle into a star.
- Apply Morph to the copy. With the second slide selected, choose Morph on the Transitions tab. Under Effect Options, Morph can match whole objects, words or characters; use words or characters when the text itself changes between the two slides.
- Preview, then add a third slide the same way to keep the movement going.
Longer effects are chains of these copies, each with one change: a zoom into one part of a diagram, a list where the item you are talking about grows, a timeline that slides along.
Advance on a click or on a timer
Each slide advances On Mouse Click by default. Tick After and enter seconds to move on by itself, which suits a kiosk or a deck playing on a screen in a lobby. Set Up Slide Show on the Slide Show tab can then loop the deck until someone presses Esc. To present it, see presenting a .pptx from a browser.
Will it play in PowerPoint?
Save it as PowerPoint: click the search icon at the top right, type Export, open the Export… dialog and choose PowerPoint Presentation (.pptx). All 48 transitions are written in PowerPoint's own format, the newer ones such as Morph and Vortex included, so PowerPoint reads them as its own. The Save icon writes DeckCraft's .deckcraft format instead, which PowerPoint can't open.
Older PowerPoint is the catch. PowerPoint 2016 plays Morph only in updated builds; without those updates it plays a Fade instead. If the deck is going to someone on PowerPoint 2016 or earlier, check with them or keep the Morph to slides where a fade does no harm. A PDF has no transitions at all.
Apple's Keynote has its own version of the idea, Magic Move, which moves objects from their places on one slide to new places on the next.
What DeckCraft's transitions don't do yet
- No transition sounds. A sound set on a transition in PowerPoint isn't played, and DeckCraft has no way to add one.
- 3-D effects are approximations. Cube, Box, Flip, Doors and similar transitions are drawn with flat, angled panels, and the particle effects (Vortex, Shred, Fracture, Crush) are close to PowerPoint's but not identical.
- Morph has gaps. PowerPoint's trick of forcing a match by starting two object names with
!!works only in part, and 3-D models and ink don't morph.
DeckCraft is in alpha. If the exact look matters, open the exported .pptx in PowerPoint once and play it.
Animations, next
The Animations tab handles movement inside a slide: entrance, emphasis and exit effects, motion paths, and play and pause for media. It has 64 effects against PowerPoint's roughly 190, including the common ones (Appear, Fade, Fly In, Wipe, Zoom, Float In, Grow/Shrink, Pulse, Spin). Each effect starts On Click, With Previous or After Previous, with its own duration and delay, and the Animation Pane lists and reorders them. For most talks we'd use two or three of these and save Morph for the one slide that needs it.