Keynote has really long delay for animations

The latest Keynote has really long delay for animations, When i go to my next build it take 2-3 seconds for it to respond. I am on a mid 2011 27-inch iMac, it's an i7 with 16gb of ram.


I've gone back to the previous version for now but really like the cleaner animations and transitions in the new one. It's just too slow.


Is there any way to fix this with settings? or does Apple just need to clean it up and release an update?

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Feb 16, 2014 6:14 AM

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27 replies

Sep 10, 2014 2:47 PM in response to Tammer Saleh

When I hit space to switch between slides without animations (see screenshot), there is a noticeable lag.

Pressing spacebar is the keyboard command to advance to next build or transition

to Advance to the next slide without builds or transitions use; shift down arrow



I'm assuming this is because the presentation contains quite a few shapes on each slide, which keynote is calculating on the fly.

A Mac with the basic hardware spec for Mavericks should have no difficulty playing hundreds of objects on a single slide using any of the builds.

You either have a software or hardware issue.


Use the hardware test for your specific Mac to test RAM, graphics and processor performance. How to run Mac Hardware test

Sep 10, 2014 11:09 AM in response to Gary Scotland

I've now verified that my delay problem has nothing to do with animations. When I hit space to switch between slides without animations (see screenshot), there is a noticeable lag. I hit space, then there's a lag, then the preview screen updates, then there's another lag, and then the presentation screen updates. Again, I'm assuming this is because the presentation contains quite a few shapes on each slide, which keynote is calculating on the fly.User uploaded file

Feb 16, 2014 7:52 PM in response to Gary Scotland

I understand how to change all those settings. I never use any of the delay settings for anything. When i tell it to advance I need it to quickly. A lot of what I'm working with are long scriptures on a pastors presentation or slides with a lot of fast builds. When i tell it to advance with no delay set, it can take 2-3 seconds to advance. It doesn't seem that there would be a hardware issue because the iMac itself is quite fast.


It seems to start taking longer to advance the longer the presentation gets.

Apr 20, 2014 10:18 PM in response to Gary Scotland

I've been having the same problem with transition delays, not 1 - 2 seconds like jbramble but an exactly 0.5 sec delay. It is laid out quite clearly in gary's picture post.


Under start transition "On Click" you get an uneditable 0.5sec delay. This is causing an unsettling pause for me when I make a transition.


If you set it to "Automatically" you are able to change this value. I experimented with modifying the value to 0 in "Automatically", then switching it back to "On Click". The value stays at 0 after doing this however the 0.5sec delay still remains.


if I had to guess as to why there is a mandatory 0.5sec delay on all transitions, I would guess its because

keynote is allowing itself to process the animation perfectly before executing it. This seems like a really annoying thing to do if its the case, and I sure hope there is a way to change it to a 0.0 sec delay as I have some very fast paced MC's that I need to keep pace with and this is only going to make things difficult.


Apple, please oblige a solution

Apr 22, 2014 4:48 AM in response to Alex.Campbell86

I experimented with modifying the value to 0 in "Automatically", then switching it back to "On Click". The value stays at 0 after doing this however the 0.5sec delay still remains.


I can change the delay to zero and the slide plays instantly without any problems.


Try this repair for Keynote 6.2, ensure you complete all the tasks and in the order shown:



1 delete all the iWork applications if you have them, not just Keynote, using Appcleanerfrom Mac Update, its a freeware application


2 restart the Mac; Apple menu > restart


3 immediately after the start chime, press the shift key until you see the Apple symbol.

let it fully boot up, it will take longer as the OS is repairing the drive


4 when fully booted, go to Applications > Utilities > Disc Utility; click on the boot drive then First Aid tab and click repair disc permissions


5 when complete, restart the Mac normally


6 install Keynote from the Mac App Store


Please report back to let us know if this helped.

Apr 22, 2014 4:50 AM in response to awolk

Have you been able to revert back to Keynote 5.0? I dont have it on my machine and when I attempt to download it I am unable to open the file. I think that I am running to high of an OS to run the old Keynote 5? Any ideas on how to get Keynote 5 on my machine?

Unless you have manually deleted Keynote 5.3, it is still available in iWork 09 folder in the Applications folder.


Keynote 5.3 is fully compatible with the latest Mac OS Mavericks.

Sep 8, 2014 3:57 PM in response to jbramble

I'm having this same issue. Tried clearing out my iwork installations using the method above, but no dice. I also tried changing the slide transition to "automatically", setting the delay to 0 seconds, and then changing back to "on click," but the delay persists.


My theory is that the delay isn't due to the configuration, but that keynote just takes that long figuring out how to do the fade between slides.

Sep 8, 2014 9:22 PM in response to Tammer Saleh

My theory is that the delay isn't due to the configuration, but that keynote just takes that long figuring out how to do the fade between slides.

I have no issues with delayed effects on any of the Macs that are used in presenting Keynote, on over twenty different systems, Keynote uses the timings I set.


Are you using a transition or build, what effect are you using? Post a screen grab of the inspector settings.

Sep 9, 2014 8:22 AM in response to Gary Scotland

I am having the same problems. Ive been using keynotes for restaurants to show menu items etc for a long time. Now, with the latest 6.22 it will load the graphics after each transition then wait for about 1 sec to start the text or first animation. Oddly enough, this delay does not happen when playing it in review mode. Its only noticeable after rendering it to QT. Now I need to edit appx .05 sec out of each new slide to keep the flow going.


As I said, I've been using KN since it first came out. Ive gone over every possibly alteration that could be causing this and now convinced its a calculation or processing problem with the software. It does not happen in the previous version.

Feb 6, 2015 2:52 PM in response to jbramble

Having a similar problem.


Have a slide with a magic move transition. Duration is 0.2 seconds. Animation is triggered on click and happens immediately as expected.


However, if I create a link to another slide, upon clicking the link, there is about a 0.5 second delay before the transition begins.


Without the transition, but with the link, the slide changes immediately as expected.

Feb 11, 2015 11:44 PM in response to jbramble

This is most definitely a bug in Keynote. I have the same problem when I have a Cinema display connected via Mini Displayport. When I unplug the external monitor, there is no delay. The slides transition instantaneously as expected.

I'm using a top-of-line Macbook Pro that I bought a month ago, so speed is not an issue. In fact, it shouldn't be an issue on a 5-year-old computer.

Mar 19, 2015 3:05 AM in response to jbramble

I have also just suffered this problem. I spent all yesterday afternoon going crazy at my desk trying to work out why a keynote i am assembling had an untraceable 0.5 to 2 second delay in animation response to interaction. In the evening when i got home the prototype worked flawlessly immediately on the same macbook as soon as i tried it, and continued to work all evening, and was still working this morning. However when I got back into the office and booted up the prototype …the chronic delay was instantly back. After a little investigation oddly it turns out that this delay seems to be caused by the second screen being attached to my laptop. I unplug the monitor and the delay is gone. Plug it back in and the delay is back… but even more oddly if I plug in the monitor and *close* the laptop …the delay is gone again. weird. really weird.


Hope that helps someone.

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Keynote has really long delay for animations

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