As a member, you'll also get unlimited access to over 79,000 lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you succeed.
Try it risk-freeAlready registered? Log in here for access
Karen has a Bachelors in Communications. She has 25 years of experience in Information Systems, Adult Learning and Virtual Training.
PowerPoint lets you add video and audio clips to your slides. But sometimes, the video may be too long or you might want to show just a part of it, and you may be in the same situation with your audio clip. This lesson will explain how to adjust the size of the video window and how to trim and adjust the length and timing of a video or audio clip.
Before we get too far, let's quickly review how to embed a video or audio clip to your slide.
So, we'll start with embedding the video:
Now, we'll take a look at the steps for embedding audio:
Okay, so now we're ready. So, let's move on to the re-sizing and trimming of the video.
A placeholder is the box with a dotted outline around the content of your slide. This is commonly used in text boxes around images. However, videos also have a placeholder. Sometimes, after embedding (or inserting) a video onto your slide, the placeholder, or sometimes referred to as the video window, is too large or too small for the slide.
One way to adjust the window size is by using the placeholder handles. If you select the video, the placeholder handles are the boxes that appear around the video, and usually there are eight of them. Use any of the corner handles to click, hold and drag your placeholder to the desired size.
However, there is an alternate way for those who prefer to take out the guesswork when dragging placeholder handles and enter exact dimensions using inches.
To adjust the size by entering in the height and width using exact measurements, follow these steps:
Also under the Size options, you can size the video window by using a scale. You can also rotate the video or see the original size.
The ability to trim your video or audio is a handy feature in PowerPoint. Trim means shortening the media or selecting only the part that is required from the original video or audio. With this feature, you don't need to modify or edit your media before you add it to your slide because you can make these changes directly in PowerPoint.
To access the tools for a video, double-click on the video and under the Video Tools option, click on Playback. There are several commands available. Under the Video Options grouping of commands, you can choose to start your video on click or automatically when the slide loads. You can also choose to Play the video in full-screen or loop until stopped.
If you go to the Editing group of commands, you will see the Trim Video option. Clicking on the command will open the Trim Video dialogue box. And, at this point, you have two options. One way is to enter the start and end times directly into the dialogue box. This is assuming you already know the desired time stamps.
However, if you are not sure when you want to start and end the clip, you can click on the play button, and when you reach the position where you want to start playing the video, click the pause button.
You can set this as the start position using one of two ways:
The same process applies to audio using the Audio Tools and commands. You can trim your audio clip, fade the audio in and out, loop until stopped or even play across all slides.
In this lesson, we started out by reviewing the steps to embedding media, such as video and audio, onto your PowerPoint slides. We learned that a placeholder is the dotted line or box around the content. And using the placeholder handles, you can click, hold and drag your placeholder or video window to the desired size. If you prefer, you can also navigate to the Size Options dialogue box, in the Format Video panel, and enter exact number of inches for height and width for your window.
Finally, you learned that to trim a video or audio means to shorten the media or select only a part of the video or audio to play during your presentation. You can trim your media by double-clicking on the video or audio and going to Video (or Audio) tools and selecting the Playback menu. These features will be a big help when you want to create dynamic slides using media, such as a video or an audio clip.
You should be able to do the following by the time you complete the lesson:
To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account
Already a member? Log In
BackAlready registered? Log in here for access
Did you know… We have over 200 college courses that prepare you to earn credit by exam that is accepted by over 1,500 colleges and universities. You can test out of the first two years of college and save thousands off your degree. Anyone can earn credit-by-exam regardless of age or education level.
To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page
Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Study.com has thousands of articles about every imaginable degree, area of study and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you.
Back To Course
Intro to PowerPoint: Essential Training & Tutorials8 chapters | 66 lessons
{{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | {{courseNav.course.mDynamicIntFields.lessonCount}} lessons | {{course.flashcardSetCount}} flashcard set{{course.flashcardSetCoun > 1 ? 's' : ''}}
Study.com video lessons have helped over 30 million students.
"I learned more in 10 minutes than 1 month of chemistry classes"
- Ashlee P.
"I learned more in 10 minutes than 1 month of chemistry classes"
- Ashlee P.
"I aced the CLEP exam and earned 3 college credits!"
- Clair S.
Over 65 million users have prepared for and other exams on Study.com
"The videos have changed the way I teach! The videos on Study.com accomplish in 5 minutes what would take me an entire class."
- Chris F.
Over 65 million users have prepared for and other exams on Study.com
