Playing Sound And Movie Files In PowerPoint2003

If you've used PowerPoint to show lists, tables, graphics and shapes, with accompanying animations, you'd be forgiven for thinking that was it. But you can do more, and this article looks at how to add and play sound and movie files as well. We'll first look at using sound files, then later look at movie files.

Suppose you've already created a PowerPoint slide show with several slides. You'll be familiar with the different slide layouts you can apply. Some of these include multimedia, (clapper board icon). If you double click the media icon you can add media files from the Clip Board or import media files to the Clip Board and then add them to a slide.

Alternatively you can add a media file by choosing Insert, Movies and Sound and choosing an appropriate option. To add a sound file, for example a short round of applause, we choose Insert, Movies and Sounds, Sound from Clip Organiser. The Clip Art Task Pane Clip appears to the right. Click the Go button to list all the available sound files. You should see the WAV file "Claps Cheers" at the top of the list. Click it once and PowerPoint embeds this file in the slide.

A Microsoft Office PowerPoint panel then appears asking how the sound file should be started. If you click "Automatically" the file will play when the slide is viewed. If you click "When Clicked" the file will play if clicked by the mouse when the slide is viewed. Once you've added the file to the slide confirm it's the correct one. Make sure your speakers are turned on, then right click the sound file icon and choose "Play Sound" - you should hear the applause.

PowerPoint embeds all WAV files into the actual slide, (provided it is below a 100K file size set in PowerPoint.) If you happen to use a non WAV media file, PowerPoint adds a link in the slide to the sound file rather than embedding it. If you do use a media file which you know PowerPoint will link to, it's a good idea to put the file in the same folder as the PowerPoint slideshow. That way PowerPoint will always find the correct file.

PowerPoint can play these different sound file formats; AU, MIDI, MP3, WAV and WMA files. Don't forget all WAV files below 100K are embedded and all others are linked. AU is the format typically used to create sound files for the web.; MID or MIDI is the standard format used by musical instruments and synthesizers. MP3 is the popular compressed format used by many audio players. WAV is the audio format which stores sounds as waves, making WAV files often very small in size. WMA is Microsoft's own audio compression format.

Once you've added a sound file to your slide you can edit it in a couple of ways. Firstly you can right click on the sound file icon, then choose "Edit Sound Object". In the Sound Options panel you can set the sound file to loop when played, hide the sound icon when not in use and change the sound level. You can also see in the lower part of the Sound Options panel whether the sound file is embedded or linked.

Secondly you can edit the play settings by right clicking on the sound file icon and choose "Action Settings". In the Action Settings panel you can set the sound to play either from a mouse click or mouse hover if you wish.

We can add a movie file in much the same way as adding a sound file. Select the slide you want to add your movie to, then choose Insert, Movies and Sounds, Movie from Clip Organiser, or Movie from file if you want to add your own movie file. If you use the Clip Organiser it shows a selection of animated GIF files. Click on one to add the file to your slide. You may want to then resize the display size of the file in the slide.

PowerPoint can play these movie file formats; AVI, MPG, WMV. Don't forget movie files will be linked rather than embedded.

AVI is one of the most popular formats because audio and video compressed content can be created by using a variety of software tools. MPG or MPEG is the widely used media format originally designed for CD media. WMV is popular highly compressed media format developed by Microsoft.

Once you've added a movie file to your slide, you can edit the movie by right clicking the icon, then choose "Edit movie object". You can then set the movie file to loop when played, rewind back to the first frame when finished, change the sound level, hide the icon when not playing, and zoom to full size screen when playing.

And just like sound files you can set the action settings by right clicking the movie icon and choose Action Settings. You can then set the movie to play on a mouse click or mouse hover.

Hopefully this article has given you some ideas for using some of the many PowerPoint features. There are other media features we've not mentioned here, for example adding your own sound narration to your slide show. Why not consider attending a PowerPoint training course. That's one of the best ways to really get to grips with all the PowerPoint features in a short space of time.