Creating a presentation, users often prefer to “animate” it with the help of music. The sounds built into the program do not please with originality and variety, but the developers have provided the ability to add audio files. Consider how to insert music into a presentation.
Music for one slide
This is the easiest way to insert music into a presentation. For any selected slide, if desired, you can set the music. To do this, in the "Insert" tab, find the item "Sound". In the drop-down menu, select "Sound from file" - so the user can specify the path to the desired object on the computer. An icon will appear on the slide layout in the form of a speaker, when you click on it, the sound will start playing.
It is important to remember that when choosing a file, the user does not load it into the presentation, but only indicates the path to it. If you open the project on another device where the desired track is missing, the sound will not play. The program simply will not know where to get the file. To avoid this problem, download presentations to media along with music.
Sound editing
You still have to work with the track, since inserting music into the presentation is only part of the job. PowerPoint provides the ability to simplify (basic) sound editing. To do this, click on the speaker icon and select the “Playback” tab on the toolbar.
In the item "Extinction Duration" you can configure a smooth start or end of the track. This is necessary so that the music is not “tattered”. If desired, you can set up continuous playback. When you click on “Sound editing”, a window will open in which you can specify which part of the song should be played.
Of course, you can trim the length of the track using third-party programs. But in this case, it will be difficult to adjust it so that it fits the slides exactly. Making installation in PowerPoint is much more convenient.
Music for all slides
Users rarely set music for just one slide. As a rule, they prefer to set a song on all slides in the background.
To insert music into a presentation on all slides, you should open the already known section “Playback”. In the "Start" item in the drop-down list, you can select three options:
- automatically - music will start playing simultaneously with the slide show;
- by clicking - the user himself must turn on the sound during the demonstration;
- for all slides - the selected track will be applied to all slides.
We are interested in the latter option (the first two relate to setting the sound for one slide). If there are a lot of slides, it is advisable to include continuous playback, so that the song loops.
Different music for all slides
But what if you need to apply several tracks for one presentation? Such an opportunity is provided. To do this, the user must add the selected songs to certain slides, taking into account their length.
Let's look at an example of how to insert music into a presentation. Suppose a presentation consists of 20 slides to which you need to apply two different tracks. Moreover, the second composition should begin with a specific slide, for example, with the tenth. Then the user must first add sound to the first object of the presentation, but not put continuous playback (so that the tracks do not overlap each other). After that, you need to trim the song so that it ends on slide nine. In order not to make a mistake, you may have to rehearse the demonstration several times. And from the tenth slide, you should install the second track.
Merge tracks
There is an alternative way to insert different music into a presentation. So the sounds probably will not "move out". Songs should be combined using third-party applications. Free online programs are also suitable for these purposes.
Serious skills in processing audio files are not required. Even the limited functionality of online programs is enough to make a smooth transition between tracks and combine them into one composition. The saved file can be added to the presentation as one song.
A clear advantage of this method is reliability: the sounds will definitely not shift. But on the other hand, when two or three slides are added to the middle of the project, all the work will have to be done anew. Also, this method is not very convenient if during the demonstration it is fundamentally important when the song should start: “catching” the desired track length will be extremely difficult. Changing the settings in the first case is easier, because you just need to increase or decrease the length of the track fragment and, if necessary, move it to another slide.
Finally
Since you can insert music into a PowerPoint presentation in several ways, each user has the opportunity to make the project bright and interesting, taking into account the ultimate goal. Tracks are used for one or all slides, and users are also able to add several songs to the project.