Quick Review
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:
- In the ribbon, click on the Insert tab
- Go to the Media grouping of commands and click on Video
- Choose Video on my PC from the drop-down menu
- Search for and select the video
- Click on Insert
Now, we'll take a look at the steps for embedding audio:
- In the ribbon, click on the Insert tab
- Go to the Media grouping of commands and click on Audio
- Choose Audio on my PC from the drop-down menu
- Search for and select the audio clip
- Click on Insert
Okay, so now we're ready. So, let's move on to the re-sizing and trimming of the video.
Size of the Video Window
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:
- Select the video, then right-click on the video to pull up the options menu
- Click on Size and Position. The Format Video panel will open on the right side of your slide
- Select the Size and Properties command
- Under the Size options, enter the height and width
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:
- You can click, hold and drag the green marker to the position where you paused.
- You can make a note of the time position and enter the time in the Start Time box.
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.
Lesson Summary
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.
Learning Outcomes
You should be able to do the following by the time you complete the lesson:
- Recall how to embed a video and audio in PowerPoint
- Demonstrate how to resize a video
- Illustrate how to trim an audio or video clip
