To use Magic Move in Keynote on Mac, duplicate a slide, change the position or appearance of objects on the copy, then apply Magic Move to the first slide. The transition animates objects that appear on both slides between their two states.
Build the two-slide sequence
- Choose the starting slide. In the slide navigator, select the slide whose objects will be the starting state. If it has no object to animate, add one and select the slide again.
- Duplicate the slide. Press Command-D. Keynote places the duplicate immediately after the selected slide, creating the consecutive pair Magic Move uses. See Apple’s instructions for adding or deleting slides.
- Make the ending state. On the first slide, the duplicate, or both, move, resize, or rotate objects, or add and remove them. For a clear movement effect, keep at least one object on both slides and change its position or appearance.
- Apply the transition to the first slide. Select the first slide in the pair. In the Animate sidebar, click Add an Effect and choose Magic Move. The transition plays after that slide when you present.
- Preview it. With the first slide selected, click Preview in the sidebar. Adjust the settings there and preview again to check the result.
Apple’s Magic Move instructions describe this paired-slide workflow. The precise sidebar labels may vary between Keynote versions.
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What moves, fades, or appears instantly
Objects present on both slides take part in the transition. Objects found only on the first slide fade out by default, while objects found only on the second fade in. To make unmatched objects appear or disappear instantly instead, turn off Fade Unmatched Objects in the transition settings.
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For text, the matching setting determines what Keynote treats as the moving unit:
- By Object: Moves the text box as a whole between its positions.
- By Word: Matches words, allowing words to appear to rearrange into new text.
- By Character: Matches individual characters, which can make letters appear to rearrange.
Choose duration, pacing, and start timing
Use the Animate sidebar on the first slide to tune the transition:
- Duration: Adjust the slider to control how long Magic Move lasts.
- Acceleration: Choose a timing preset. None keeps a constant speed; Ease In slows near the destination; Ease Out accelerates after departure; and Ease In & Ease Out accelerates away and slows on approach. These are presentation timing effects, not exact descriptions of physical motion.
- Start: Choose On Click to advance the effect with a click, or Automatically to start it without a click. Automatic start can include a delay.
To change the effect, click Change in the Animate sidebar and choose another transition. Choose None to remove it.
Use Magic Move with video or 3D objects
Video continuing across slides
Magic Move can create the appearance of a movie continuing to play while it expands to fill the slide as the presentation advances. If a video does not play across the slides as expected, check that its repeat settings match on both slides, its trim settings match on Mac, and that a build out on one slide is not paired with a build in on the next. Apple says that build combination prevents the file from playing across slides. See Apple’s guidance on playing video or audio across slides.
3D objects
Magic Move can create the appearance of a 3D object moving or rotating between slides. Keep in mind that 3D objects appear as 2D when the presentation is exported to another file format, opened in Keynote for iCloud, opened in Keynote 13.1 or earlier, or viewed in Preview. Apple’s 3D-object guide lists these compatibility limits.
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Apple’s current Mac user guide identifies itself as a guide to Keynote 15.4 and says that version requires macOS 26 or later. Those details are specific to that version; controls and requirements may differ in older Keynote releases. See the Keynote User Guide for Mac.
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