Why can’t I animate bars one at a time?
Animate the chart first, then the Sequence options appear under Effect Options. Charts pasted as pictures can’t be animated by part; paste them as charts.
Guide · with a free chart maker
How to animate a chart in PowerPoint
Use Effect Options to build a bar, line or pie chart one series or category at a time, then turn the slide into a video, plus the limit that catches Mac users out.
To animate a chart in PowerPoint, select the chart, choose an entrance effect such as Wipe on the Animations tab, then open Effect Options and pick a Sequence such as By Series or By Category so the chart builds piece by piece. To share it as a video, use File → Export → Create a Video on Windows.
PowerPoint animates the chart’s parts in steps; it doesn’t move values between data points, race bars past each other or count numbers up. For those, the tool above makes the animation from your data and exports an MP4 directly; the animated bar chart page shows the closest match to PowerPoint’s builds.
Animate a chart in PowerPoint (Microsoft 365)
Select the chart
Click the chart’s border so the whole chart is selected, not a single bar.
Add an entrance effect
On the Animations tab choose an effect. Wipe suits bar and column charts (set its direction to From Bottom); Wheel suits pies; Fade suits anything.
Build it in pieces
Select Effect Options and under Sequence pick By Series, By Category, By Element in Series or By Element in Category. Line charts offer By Series and By Category.
Time it
Open the Animation Pane, set each step to start After Previous, and adjust the duration so the chart plays on its own.
Export a video (Windows)
Choose File → Export → Create a Video, pick Full HD (1080p) or Ultra HD (4K), set Seconds to spend on each slide, then Create Video and save as MPEG-4.
Choosing the right sequence
- As One Object animates the whole chart at once.
- By Series brings in one series (one colour) at a time; good for comparing groups.
- By Category brings in one category (one month, one product) at a time; good for a story through time.
- By Element in Series / Category brings in every bar separately; slow for big charts.
In the Animation Pane, the effect’s drop-down menu has Effect Options, where the Chart Animation tab offers the same grouping and lets you decide whether the background (axes and gridlines) animates too.
The Mac catch
PowerPoint for Mac exports movies with File → Export and a File Format of MP4 or MOV, but Microsoft’s own help page says animation effects don’t play in a movie at all. A chart that builds beautifully in the slideshow comes out static. Export on Windows, record the slideshow with a screen recorder, or make the animation somewhere that exports video directly.
Animating a chart without PowerPoint
Copy the chart’s data from its datasheet (right-click the chart → Edit Data) and paste it into the tool at the top of this page. Choose Bars, Line or Pie under Chart, set Reveal to One by one for a build like By Category, and export an MP4 at 1080p or 4K, a GIF, or a transparent WebM. You can still insert that video back into a slide with Insert → Video.
PowerPoint chart animation questions
Can PowerPoint animate a pie chart slice by slice?
Yes: apply Wheel or Wipe, then choose By Category under Effect Options.
Will animations survive Export to Video?
On Windows, yes. On Mac, Microsoft says animation effects don’t play in exported movies.
Can PowerPoint make a bar chart race?
Not with its chart animations. You can fake one with many slides and Morph, but a bar chart race tool builds it from the data directly.
What resolution can PowerPoint export?
Up to Ultra HD (4K) on Windows 10 or later, plus Full HD (1080p), HD (720p) and Standard (480p).