How to Create a Countdown Timer in PowerPoint

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In today's video, we will show you how to create a countdown timer in PowerPoint.
Open PowerPoint. We are going to create three slides. The start slide, the end slide and the middle slide with a timer.
First, we need to create two shapes. Delete text box in the middle slide. Go to 'Home' tab and look for 'Drawing' box. Click on the round shape. Click somewhere on the slide and pull mouse pointer to create a shape. Repeat and create a smaller shape.
Click on the bigger shape and then go to 'Quick Styles'. Select the one you prefer. Make sure the style has a fill. Go to 'Animations' tab. Click on 'Add Animation'. Choose 'Wheel' in the 'Exit' box. You can see our circle has now countdown animation. Now, we need to adjust some settings. Go to 'Timing' and set 'Start' to 'With previous'. Set the duration to 5 seconds. If you need a longer timer, set your preferred time.
Now, let's go back to the smaller shape. Select it. Go to 'Quick Styles'. Select the one you prefer. Make sure the style has a fill. Copy the shape and paste it four more times, so we have 5 shapes for each second of our timer. Again, if you need a longer timer – create as many small shapes as you need. Pull them down in a line, so they have numbers from 1 to 5.
Select the last shape, in our case it's fifth. Go to 'Animations' tab. Click on 'Add Animation'. Choose 'Disappear' in the 'Exit' box. Go to 'Timing' and set 'Start' to 'With previous'. Set 'Delay' to 1 second.
Select the next shape, in our case, it's fourth. Go to 'Animations' tab. Click on 'Add Animation'. Choose 'Disappear' in the 'Exit' box. Go to 'Timing' and set 'Start' to 'With previous'. Set 'Delay' to 2 seconds.
Select the next shape, in our case, it's third. Go to 'Animations' tab. Click on 'Add Animation'. Choose 'Disappear' in the 'Exit' box. Go to 'Timing' and set 'Start' to 'With previous'. Set 'Delay' to 3 seconds.
Select the next shape, in our case it's second. Go to 'Animations' tab. Click on 'Add Animation'. Choose 'Disappear' in the 'Exit' box. Go to 'Timing' and set 'Start' to 'With previous'. Set 'Delay' to 4 seconds.
Select the next shape, in our case, it's first. Go to 'Animations' tab. Click on 'Add Animation'. Choose 'Disappear' in the 'Exit' box. Go to 'Timing' and set 'Start' to 'With previous'. Set 'Delay' to 5 seconds.
Now, move the small shapes into a big one. Set them in the center, starting from 1 to 5. Put them one on another. In the end, you will have one small circle inside of a big one.
The timer is ready, let's see how it works. Select the first slide and go to 'Slideshow' tab. Click on 'From Beginning'.

[sebastianjonas]

Thanks for the great explanation! There is also a nice, new add-in called Showmaster which allows creating very fancy countdown/timer animations with music and more.

[sweetdreams]

You know??? YOU ARE AWESOME👍👍👍👍👍👍
fast, clear and easy
I wish all are like you
keep it up 👍

[savitadabhade]

It's really help me to make my presentation different from others. Wow

[aa-khex]

Excellent. Better than anything else I have seen. Thank you.

[lujainbukhari]

This helped me with my presentation tomorrow, thanks man

[EnglishWithMrBakhri]

This is really helpful. Thank you so much!

[gilbertsalang]

Awesome tutorial on the countdown timer. How would you do one for 15 minutes? Do you have a video on how to set it up? Thanks for sharing!

[Lokolopes]

Why not use the "After Previous" instead so you don't have to use delays?

[taashitishaa]

Thank you This tutorial really helped!!

[premiermountaininsurance]

Anyway to do a timer for multiple slides? One countdown timer that stays for multiple slides?

[ramyaachugurukkal]

Thank you so much... short and informative....

[aggarwalprateek]

thanks for your video, it really helped me.

[am]

thank you thank you thank you thank you much for posting this video, it really helped me 👌👌👌👌👌❤❤❤❤👍👍👍👍😊😊😊😊

[SeabrookEnt]

Absolutely perfect, exactly what I was looking for! I used to as a count down on a long slide show to let viewers know how long it would be to the next slide.

[daviddamilare]

thank you for the video. it is really explicitory

[darkwalkernight]

thanks for this tutorial, save my day... 😊

[cellapuchalvert]

Thank you for your video!!!! It was extremely helpful!

[Meaneradicator]

Thank you. Just a small clarification. When adding animation, there are three instances: Entrance, Emphasis, Exit. Make sure you choose the animation from the correct instance. Choose the Wheel from the Exit, not from the Entrance!!

[vanessaaguilar]

This did not work for me. Looking up other ways to create a timer.