Introduction
PowerPoint allows you to add sound to your presentation, which opens up many possibilities. Perhaps you want to add background music to one slide, a sound effect to another, and some narration or commentary to a few slides. You can either add an audio file from your computer or browse PowerPoint's collection of clip art audio. You can then edit the sounds within PowerPoint so they are tailored to your presentation.
In this lesson, you will learn how to insert sounds into a presentation and edit them.
Inserting audio
Video: Inserting Audio in PowerPoint 2010
Have you ever watched a PowerPoint presentation that seemed to
narrate itself? Or have you seen a slide show that featured applause
when the last slide was reached? If so, you've heard examples of how
audio can be applied to slide shows. PowerPoint allows you to insert audio files from your computer, or you can search the Clip Art Studio to find the audio you need. Once you've inserted audio, you can then edit it.
Optional: You can download this example for extra practice.
To insert audio from a file on your computer:
- From the Insert tab, click the Audio drop-down arrow and select Audio from File.
- Locate and select the desired audio file, then click Insert.
- The audio file will be added to the slide.
To insert clip art audio:
- From the Insert tab, click the Audio drop-down arrow and select Clip Art Audio. The Clip Art pane will appear on the right.
- Enter keywords in the Search for: field, then click Go.
- The results will appear in the Clip Art pane. To preview an audio file, right-click the file and select Preview/Properties.
- A dialog box will appear, and the audio file will start playing
automatically (it may take a few seconds to load). To play it again,
press the Play button.
- When you're finished previewing the file, click Close.
- Once you have found the audio file you want to use, click it to insert it into the slide.
Recording your own audio
Sometimes you may want to record audio directly into a presentation, like if you want the presentation to include narration. Before you begin, make sure you have a microphone that's compatible with your computer; many computers have built-in microphones or ones that can be plugged in to the computer.
To record audio:
- From the Insert tab, click the Audio drop-down arrow and select Record Audio.
- Type a name for the audio recording if you want.
- Click the red Record button to start recording.
- When you're finished recording, click the Stop button.
- To preview your recording, click the Play button.
- When you're done, click OK. The audio file will be inserted into the slide.
Working with audio
Video: Editing Audio in PowerPoint 2010
Just like with videos, you can modify your audio files using the various features of the Playback tab. For example, if you add a song to a slide, you can trim it so it will only play one section of the song, and you can add a fade in and fade out to smooth out the beginning and end. You can also add bookmarks that allow you to jump to specific points in the audio file.
To trim the audio:
- From the Playback tab, click the Trim Audio command. The Trim Audio dialog box will appear.
- Use the green and red handles to set the start time and end time.
- To preview the audio file, click the Play button.
- Adjust the green and red handles again if necessary, then click OK.
To add a fade in and fade out:
- On the Playback tab, locate the Fade In and Fade Out fields.
- Type in the desired values, or use the up and down arrows to adjust the times.
To add a bookmark:
- Click the Play/Pause button to play the audio file, and when you have located the part you want to bookmark, pause it. You can also click the timeline to locate the desired part of the audio file.
- From the Playback tab, click Add Bookmark.
- A small circle will appear on the timeline to indicate the bookmark.
- You can now click the bookmark to jump to that location.
To remove a bookmark:
- Select the bookmark.
- From the Playback tab, click Remove Bookmark. The bookmark will disappear.
Audio options
There are other options you can set to control how your audio file plays. These are found in the Audio Options group on the Playback tab.
- Volume: This changes the audio volume.
- Start: This controls whether the audio file starts automatically or when the mouse is clicked.
- Hide During Show: This hides the audio icon while the slide show is playing.
- Loop Until Stopped: This causes the audio file to repeat until it is stopped.
- Rewind After Playing: This causes the audio file to return to the beginning when it's finished playing.
Formatting the audio icon
By default, an audio file will show up as a speaker icon in the
slide. If you want, you can change the icon to a different picture, and
you can apply all of the different types of image formatting that you
would apply to a picture such as artistic effects and picture styles, which are accessed in the Format tab.
To change the icon to a different picture:
- Select the audio icon in the slide.
- From the Format tab, select the Change Picture command. The Insert Picture dialog box will appear.
- Locate and select the desired picture, then click Insert.
- The icon will change to the new picture.
For information on corrections, color adjustments, borders, shapes, and effects, check out our lesson on Formatting Pictures.