Introduction

PowerPoint allows you to insert a video directly into your presentation. You can even edit the video within PowerPoint and customize its appearance with a video style.

In this lesson, you will learn how to insert a video, edit it, and format its appearance.

Inserting videos

Adding a video to your presentation can help emphasize certain points and provide an example. Once you add a video, you can edit it and format its appearance.

Optional: You can download this example for extra practice.

To insert a video from a file on your computer:

1. From the Insert tab, click the Video drop-down arrow and select Video from File.

    

2. Locate and select the desired video file, then click Insert.

    

3. The video will be added to the slide.

    

Embedding a video from a website

Some websites—like YouTube—allow you to embed videos into your slides. An embedded video will still be hosted on its original website, meaning the video itself won't be added to your file. Embedding can be a convenient way to reduce the file size of your presentation, but you'll also need to be connected to the Internet for the video to play.

We have found that this feature no longer works in PowerPoint 2010. If you need to add an online video, you could insert a hyperlink to the video directly on your slide. Review our lesson on Hyperlinks and Action Buttons to learn how.

Working with the video

To preview the video:

1. Make sure the video is selected.
2. Click the Play/Pause button below the video. The video will start playing, and the timeline next to the Play/Pause button will begin to advance.

    

3. To jump to a different part of the video, click anywhere on the timeline.

    

To resize the video:

1. Select the video. A box with resizing handles will appear around the video.
2. Click and drag any of the handles to resize the video.

    

Editing and formatting videos

The Playback tab has several options you can use to edit your video. For example, you can trim your video so it will only play an excerpt, add a fade in and fade out, and add bookmarks that allow you to jump to specific points in the video.

Most of the features on the Playback tab can only be used with videos that are inserted from a file. They will not work with embedded videos.

To trim the video:

1. From the Playback tab, click the Trim Video command. The Trim Video dialog box will appear.

    

2. Use the green and red handles to set the start and end times.

    

3. To preview the video file, click the Play button.

    

4. Adjust the green and red handles again if necessary, then click OK.

To add a fade in and fade out:

1. On the Playback tab, locate the Fade In and Fade Out fields.
2. Type the desired values, or use the up and down arrows to adjust the times.

    

To add a bookmark:

1. Click the Play/Pause button to play the video, 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 video.

    

2. From the Playback tab, click Add Bookmark.

    

3. A small circle will appear on the timeline to indicate the bookmark.

    

4. You can now click the bookmark to jump to that location.

To remove a bookmark:

1. Select the bookmark.
2. From the Playback tab, click Remove Bookmark. The bookmark will disappear.

    

Video options

There are other options you can set to control how your video plays. These are found in the Video Options group on the Playback tab.

• Volume: This changes the audio volume in the video.
• Start: This controls whether the video file starts automatically or when the mouse is clicked.
• Play Full Screen: This lets the video fill the entire screen while it's playing.
• Hide While Not Playing: This hides the video when it's not playing.
• Loop Until Stopped: This causes the video to repeat until it is stopped.
• Rewind After Playing: This causes the video to return to the beginning when it's finished playing.

Formatting the appearance of a video

Much like pictures, PowerPoint allows you to format the appearance of a video by applying a video style, adding a border, changing the shape, applying effects such as 3D rotation, making image corrections, and adjusting the color. You can also add a poster frame, which is the placeholder image your audience will see before the video starts playing. The poster frame is often just a frame taken from the video itself, but you can also use a different image if you want.

To create a poster frame:

1. Select the video.
2. Start playing the video. When you see the frame you want to use, click the Play/Pause button to pause it.
3. From the Format tab, click the Poster Frame command. A drop-down menu will appear.
4. Select Current Frame.

    

5. The current frame will become the poster frame.

    

If you want to use a picture from your computer, you can select Image from file from the menu.

To apply a video style:

1. Select the video. The Format tab will appear.
2. Select the Format tab.
3. In the Video Styles group, click the More drop-down arrow to display all of the video styles.

    

4. Select the desired style.

    

5. The new style will be applied to the video.

    

For information on corrections, color adjustments, borders, shapes, and effects, check out our lesson on Formatting Pictures.

Challenge!

1. Open an existing PowerPoint presentation. If you want, you can use this example.
2. Insert a video from a file on your computer, if you have one. If you are using the example, add a video to slide 6.
3. Preview the video.
4. Trim the video.
5. Add a fade in and fade out.
6. Add a poster frame.
7. Experiment with the different video options on the Playback tab.

Continue

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