How to Use Kinetic Typography Animations in Keynote (In 60 Seconds)

Kinetic typography is the slick-looking effect you may have seen before with easy animations on clean, brightly colored backgrounds. You can actually create these text videos in Keynote. You will use these frequently for explanatory type videos, for example.

Note: In this tutorial we use the Kalium Business Keynote Presentation template. You can find more great Keynote presentation templates on Envato Elements, on GraphicRiver or in the 15+ Best Keynote Presentation Templates (For Mac Users).

How to Quickly Add Kinetic Typography in Keynote

Note: Watch this short tutorial screencast or follow the quick steps below, that complement this video.

1. Select a Font

Let's start on a slide design like this one and add our very first text box.

changing the font on a slide — Start by choosing a font for your slide.

Let's change the font by clicking on Format > Text and then change it to a nice big Sans Serif font like Futura.

2. Add a Word Animation

Next up, let's switch over to animating this text by clicking on the Animate tab. Now I'll click on the Add an Effect button. I'll choose Flip for this first kinetic example. Then I'll go ahead and click on the second text box and choose another word animation. This time I'll choose the Move In word animation, which will bring the kinetic text in from the side.

3. Set Timing for Kinetic Typography

kinetic typography timing — You'll want your kinetic typography effects to happen at the same time.

One of the key parts of the kinetic effect is that these happen at the same time. I'll click on the Build Order button and then drag the kinetic text effects up into the same box to bring them onto the canvas at basically the same time.

4. Preview Your Word Animations

word animations preview — Check how your word animations will look with the **Preview** button.

Then I'll click Preview and see that all the kinetic text effects are animated together.

Finishing Up!

Now you just repeat adding kinetic typography effects to more text and more slides to really create an animated kinetic video presentation. And you can even export this to a video file, ready for YouTube, from Keynote. Consider adding kinetic text effects to your next Keynote presentation to add excitement and help your presentation stand out.

More Envato Tuts+ Keynote Presentation Tutorials

Learn more in our Keynote tutorials on Envato Tuts+. We've got an assortment of Keynote material, such as these helpful tutorials:

You can also find some great Keynote presentation templates in the roundup article:

35 Modern Keynote Templates to Create Beautiful Presentation Designs 2025

Dacia Egurrola

14 Apr 2023

It'll help walk you through the complete presentation process. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully.