The PowerPoint® Blog

If you’ve been designing presentations for a while, you’re already familiar with Morph transitions.  It’s the PowerPoint transition that creates animations to smoothly move objects from one slide to another. It can be a shape or color change, words and text that magically rearrange, or photos and tiles that fly in across the screen, doing whatever you tell them to. Whether it’s changing location, becoming other objects or shapes, rotating, or spinning, Morph transitions can make it happen!

Since 2016, PowerPoint has been offering this amazing feature that simplifies the old tweening process between objects. 

What is Tweening? 

For years, tweening – short for “in-betweening” – was the way to animate graphics in video, games, and presentations. The term actually goes back to the early days of hand-drawn animation.

It’s the process of creating images that go between keyframes – a keyframe being the start or end rendering of an animation. In hand-drawn animation, the main artist would draw the keyframes, and the start and end looks. Then the “inbetweener” artist would draw several frame-by-frame animations to create a smooth movement connecting the start and end looks (aka Keyframes).  

Today, the legacy term “tweening” is still in use. Adobe Flash (now Adobe Animate) adopted the term and process pre-2000. It is also used in Adobe After Effects. With Flash, the artist set the start and end keyframes, and the software accomplished the “in-between” animation frames. 

Furthermore, Flash had three different types of tweens, depending on what type of motion animation you needed.  

• The Classic Tween: Just a basic move, scale, or rotate.  

• The Motino Tween: Added additional motion and effects within the move, scale, or rotate.  

• The Shape Tween: Changed one shape to another. The definition of this is literally Morph! 

What is Morphing? 

So how does PowerPoint Morph compare to tweening? Well, basically Morphing is a form of advanced tweening: a simple-to-use transition effect that animates smooth movement and transformations of objects, photos, and text between slides. 

For those with old-school Flash experience, the one thing PowerPoint’s Morph is missing is the ability to see the “in-between” frames and modify them (with additional keyframes). It’s the cost of simplification, where more of the software is empowered to make the decisions.

Essentially, with PowerPoint, the motion is smooth because Morph understands structure, whereas tweening uses numeric values. Think of it this way: Tweening says, “Move from A to B.” Morphing says, “Become B.” 

Why is Morphing the New Tweening?

Well, first, Morph just feels more natural. It’s simple to use. And it fits into presentations seamlessly. When things Morph from one shape to another, you’re not jumping from slide to slide or screen to screen; you’re watching things actually change.  

This enhances presentations because it’s easier on the brain. Sudden changes on screen can be kind of jarring and distracting. Morphing helps ease you into what’s coming next by showing the transition, not just the end result.  

The best part is that moving content with Morph just looks really cool. For PowerPoint, Morph adds a modern, professional vibe without making things overly flashy. It gives presentations a “wow” factor with minimal effort. 

Here is an example of PowerPoint Morph (aka tweening) by the TLC Creative presentation design team. Only 4 slides, each is a keyframe. Slide 1 is the start keyframe. Slide 2 is the end keyframe for the slide 1-to-2 animation, AND the start keyframe for the slide 2-to-3 animation. Slide 3 is both an end keyframe and start keyframe, and slide 4 is the end keyframe for the slide 3-to-4 animation (This is probably the most complex aspect of Morph, and all you really need to do is set up the 1st slide, adjust on the 2nd slide, set to Morph transition, done). 

A few years of use and improvement is always fun to review and compare the before-and-after! We are reflecting on our December 20, 2021 post series, “Teams – Presenting with PowerPoint”, which was a 4-part series on Teams PowerPoint Presenting. 

This was Teams in 2021: 

And this is Teams in 2025 (pretty much the same interface, although I have updated my preference from the Teams dark mode to light mode):

Overall, it’s the same UI and layout with several feature updates. Here are our summary notes on Teams PowerPoint Presenter View improvements and newer features.  

Edit Speaker Notes Directly in Presenter View 

We can now edit speaker notes during a presentation; something very recently added to most builds of Desktop PowerPoint. Presenter View continues to (only) have basic text formatting, including keyboard shortcuts like bold (Ctrl+B) and italics (Ctrl+I). 

Teleprompter View with Auto-Scroll 

In Teams PowerPoint, speaker notes can auto-scroll like a teleprompter, something also available in Desktop PowerPoint’s record feature, but not available while actually presenting. The adjusted Presenter View layout and speaker notes auto-scrolling is great for the smooth delivery of presentations! 

Enhanced Magnify Capabilities 

Zoom, as in to enlarge, into parts of your slide while presenting. Desktop PowerPoint Presenter View has a zoom/magnify icon that magnifies the slide content at a fixed 200% larger. Teams Presenter View makes the magnification adjustable, up to 400%! 

Cameo Integration 

Presenter View now shows a live preview of your camera feed when using the Cameo feature embedded into slides. Cameo is a really great PowerPoint multimedia feature that has not received enough attention, or use, yet. The Teams Presenter View integrates Cameo into a seamless experience, and coordinates with the actual Teams meeting with the option to remove/turn off the Teams webcam of the presenter so attendees see the Cameo-enabled webcam directly in the slides. 

Private View Button Now Visible and Prominent 

The Private View button, previously hidden or buried in settings, is now clearly accessible in Presenter View. 

▶️ Tip: USE THIS FEATURE. It prevents meeting attendees from advancing through slides on their own or downloading the full deck—a security must for confidential presentations. Go to Slideshow > Set Up Slide Show and ensure the checkboxes for “Browsed by an individual” and “Allow viewers to navigate” are unchecked. 

“Present in Teams” Button Now Built Into PowerPoint 

PowerPoint now includes a Present in Teams button directly in the desktop app and web version. This lets you present slides natively in Microsoft Teams without screen sharing, launching into Teams Presenter View automatically. 

▶️ Bonus: Your audience sees crisp slides, while you keep full Presenter View control 

Present in Teams Button in Desktop App 

Provides full Presenter View, including access to speaker notes, slide thumbnails, and upcoming slides. 

Present in Teams Button on Web Browser 

In a Teams meeting go to “Share” and a list of available presentations is seen in the “PowerPoint Live” section, which means the presentation will open up in Teams Presenter View.

In PowerPoint desktop app the top right corner has a “Present in Teams” button which opens up in Teams Presenter View. 

In PowerPoint Online click the “Present” dropdown and select “Present in Teams” to open the presentation in Teams Presenter View. 

That’s our observations on Team Presenter View updates and improvements. Overall, many good things as Microsoft Teams continues to mature. 

-The TLC Creative design team 

Our “Look Back” series has brought to the surface blog posts and topics from 4, 6, even 15 years ago! This one is a look back to just this past December’s post “TLC Welcomes Teams Phone!” as technology is moving fast! 

Let’s talk about something that every graphic designer, and company, needs, but no one really talks about today – telephones! We all need phones to quickly communicate with clients, field new projects, and hunt for work. 

And for over 20 years, TLC Creative Services has maintained the same company phone number – even as it transitioned through multiple business phone providers! Six years ago, everyone at TLC Creative had a corporate phone with their own extension – sitting on their desk. It was a setup that seemed essential for many years. 

Yet as business communication evolved, we noticed something: our phone call usage was in free-fall, but projects and work were increasing. Where we once logged thousands of minutes in phone conversations each month, during an audit we discovered that we now averaged less than 50 minutes of monthly calls – total, for everyone! 

The lack of phone call minutes did not mean that communication within our team, or with clients, shrank – we were now talking in Microsoft Teams or Zoom for meetings, chat, and email. Phone calls, using an actual phone, have become rare occasions. 

Going Fully Virtual 

Now, after lots of planning and testing, TLC Creative officially ditched the desk phones and has gone virtual! Our longtime company phone number remains active, but now incoming calls ring to an auto-attendant that directs inquiries, provides key information, and connects callers to the right team members.  

The major shifts? 

• All calls happen through the Microsoft Teams Phone, which is an add-on service to Business M365 accounts.  

• Incoming calls, outgoing calls, voicemails, call transfers, and all traditional phone functions remain – just accessed via the Microsoft Teams app instead of a physical phone. 

• Plus, all the telephone services work through the desktop Teams app, or the mobile Teams app. We are no longer tied to our desk – or even our computer! 

Honestly? This transition has been smooth for us, given how heavily we already rely on Teams calls for internal and client meetings. Using Microsoft Teams as our primary phone system was simply an adjustment to our daily workflow and learning how to use the Teams app phone tab when it became active. 

Something New! 

One missing piece to the TLC Creative phone system has always been text messaging —until now. 

Two months ago, Microsoft released SMS functionality for Teams Phone, allowing users to send and receive text messages directly in the Teams app! After working through the technical setup (something our IT manager needed 3+ weeks to accomplish – with the assistance of the Microsoft Teams Phone people), TLC Creative now has SMS capability on our business phone lines – yay! 

This update is especially important because it means we no longer need to use personal cell numbers for business communication. Now, all client interactions via text remain within our professional environment, further centralizing communication. 

What’s Next? 

While SMS is a welcome addition, it’s still a “Short Message Service”, so text only. We are hopeful that MMS (“Multimedia Messaging Service”) will be integrated, so photos, emoji’s and videos will be supported  

Overall, this shift to a virtual phone system has streamlined our workflow, cut costs, and aligned with modern business communication trends. Traditional phone calls are becoming increasingly rare, replaced by email, chat, and video meetings. And yes—our accounting department is happy with the cost savings! 

-Troy @ TLC 

Microsoft Teams has become an industry leader in the world of remote work communication and collaboration. It is inevitable that some of you used Teams today!
Of course, our focus is presentations, and PowerPoint. When it comes to opening PowerPoint files, Microsoft Teams can be surprisingly touchy. There is open in Teams, open in PowerPoint for web, and open in PowerPoint desktop. Just clicking the presentation file name opens it directly inside Teams – and you have thought that same as us, why is this harder than it should be?
We polled the TLC Creative design team and this is our current list of complaints (we are really not negative, so we look at this as constructive input to the Microsoft Dev teams).

Teams presenting bandwidth is amazing
Let’s start this list with one benefit presenting with Teams PowerPoint has that Desktop PowerPoint cannot compete with (see, we really are a super positive group of people at TLC Creative!). Microsoft has done amazing work in optimizing PowerPoint presenting by up to 90% less bandwidth vs. screenshare of the slides! This is when presenting a Teams based file, through Microsoft Teams vs. screen sharing the presentation. See this Microsoft video (now 5 years old, so this is not a new technology improvement – May 16, 202o Post).

Multitasking is Tough
First, Teams in its current form, is horrible as multitasking. You’re viewing a presentation inside Teams and want to send a Teams chat to your co-worker to clarify a stat on a slide – and guess what – you can’t! We have to first close the presentation, then switch to Chat, and after getting the answer, go back to the Team, find the presentation file, and click to open it again – ugh! Teams just doesn’t handle multitasking well (yet)!

Teams Presenter View Has Limitations (vs. Desktop Presenter View)
The Teams version of Presenter View has some great improvements we hope to see integrated into the desktop app. But, it also is on our bad list. It is a web-based app, so it can, and does, change often. It does not align with the desktop version on all of its functionality, which is confusing. And it is run inside of Teams, which is just a different environment from the Desktop Presenter View (and for us the desktop version is the standard). Last, edits made to a presentation DO NOT update if the presentation is being presented in Teams – this is a huge issue for us, and our absolute love of co-authoring and making live edits to presentations (yes, even while they are being presented).

Custom Fonts Vanish
As we’ve mentioned in a previous blog posts [LINK], custom fonts need to be installed on the computer. The Teams app only recognizes web-based fonts (eg. Microsoft cloud fonts). So any custom font, even if installed on that computer, is not going to display when the presentation is presented through the Teams Presenter View. Best to stick with classic desktop PowerPoint Presenter View!

Embedded Videos Lose Styling
Here’s another topic we’ve talked about before (October 19, 2017 post). We leverage a lot of video in presentations. And PowerPoint’s ability to stylize, crop and customize videos is fantastic – until you play a stylized video in Teams Presenter View. Cropped video disappears and the full rectangle is displayed. Drop-shadows, rounded corners, and duo-tone color effects are also stripped out and not displayed when presenting in Teams Presenter View. If you added a custom styling, there’s a good chance it’ll disappear when the file is opened in Teams PowerPoint.
No Quick Access Toolbar (QAT), and different toolbars
When editing slides, there is no Quick Access Toolbar (aka QAT) in Teams PowerPoint (or PowerPoint for the web). And Teams PowerPoint (and PowerPoint for the web) have their own unique organization of the toolbars, tabs and menus. So many extra clicks to get things done!

Editing Is Slower
Editing presentations in Teams is simplified. There is different toolbar organization, lack of QAT, lack of plugins, and different interface in many areas. This translates to a slower, less efficient editing process.

The Best Way to Avoid These Issues
Our recommendation, instead of opening presentations with Teams PowerPoint, always use the “Open in Desktop” option! This ensures:

• Full functionality of the desktop PowerPoint app
• So many fewer formatting issues
• The most common Presenter View experience
• Fewer font and video display issues (hey we recognize this is PowerPoint, and the desktop version is not perfect)

Final Thoughts

While Teams is a powerful tool, opening PowerPoint files with Teams PowerPoint comes with more issues than benefits. To avoid frustration, always open PowerPoint files in the full function desktop app. It makes everything smoother and more reliable!

– Troy & the TLC Creative Team