Adding audio

Warning: Sound and video files larger than 100 KB (i.e. anything but a short sound effect) will be linked to your presentation rather than embedded in it. This means that you need to copy your original media files whenever you burn the presentation to CD or even move it to a different folder on your own computer. To avoid problems, I highly recommend copying your chosen media file(s) to the folder containing your PowerPoint presentation before inserting any audio or video. Then you can transfer this entire folder if you need to move or copy the presentation. (If your files are relatively small, it is also possible to increase the 100 KB default up to 5 MB in >Tools - Options).

Inserting an audio file

PowerPoint theoretically allows you to add audio files to your slides, but it can be tricky. To insert a WMA (Windows Media Audio) sound file, just click on >Insert - Movies and Sounds - Sound from File. Then you can choose an audio file on your computer and add it. You will be asked if you want your sound to start automatically or when clicked. Unless you want it to start playing as soon as you open the slide, choose When Clicked. You will then see a small graphic on your slide that looks like this: . If you got this far, your sound will now play in your slide show when you click on this picture!

It will stop playing either when the file ends, or when you go to the next slide. If you want to be able to pause it, you’ll need to animate it (see below).

Why can’t I find and insert my audio files?

This being a Microsoft program, it makes your life difficult if you prefer non-Microsoft audio formats (such as MPEG-4, the iTunes format). If you couldn’t find your file when you tried to insert it, it’s probably because you can’t play it in PowerPoint. Assuming you’re running Windows, check if your music software will convert sound files to WMA format. (Mac users are probably not having this problem, but they’ve got their own troubles – see below). If all else fails, you can insert unsupported sound files as hyperlinks – see the hyperlink section for details.

Differences between Macs and PCs

Mac versions of PowerPoint apparently accept some different audio formats from the PC versions. This causes problems when Mac users need to run their slideshows on PCs. I am guessing there’s not much you can do about this, except test your slideshow out on a PC beforehand, and bring the original CD if you have it.

Inserting Sounds That Aren’t Already On Your Hard Drive

You may have noticed that the >Insert - Movies and Sounds menu also allows you to insert songs from a CD, or record your own sounds from a microphone (no, you can’t just play a forbidden file format on your computer and record it with this tool…I tried). If you choose the CD option, you’ll need to insert the original CD into your computer every time you give the presentation, so for most situations it’s better to copy the song to your hard drive instead (in WMA format!), and then insert it as a file. If you need to give your slideshow on both Macs and PCs, this might be a good option though.

Animating sounds to play, pause, and stop

Sound files will start when you click them, restart if you click them again, and stop playing only when you go to the next slide.  If you don’t like this set-up, you can apply animations to the speaker graphic (follow directions in animations section for adding an animation).  This time, when you click on Add Effect in the animations task pane, you will see an extra menu called Sound Actions.  Here you can set your sound to start, pause, and/or stop when you click anywhere on the slide.  In other words, if you set the Play animation, there is no need to click on the speaker graphic itself in your slide show.  In fact, you can even drag the graphic off the slide into the grey area around it.  (You won’t see it in the slide show, but it will still start playing when you click the slide).

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