PowerPoint Pearls: Adding Sound Clips to a Slide

As with most functions in PowerPoint adding a sound is rather easy; deciding which way to do it is the difficult part.

Let's begin this topic by exploring the Insert, Sound option.

Add sound clips to a slide

1. Under the Insert menu click Movies and Sounds. From the dropdown menu choose Sound from File.
2. The Insert Sound window will appear. Look in will default to the My Music folder. Use the drop down menu to choose the folder containing your audio file.
3. When you select your sound, PowerPoint will display a window asking if you want the sound to play automatically in the slide show. If you want the sound to start when the slide appears, respond Yes. If you respond No, the slide will contain a speaker icon that you will need to click to play the sound.

If playing the sound when the slide loads fits your slide design, you can pick the yes option and you're home free. But, what if you pick no? This option is less desirable for two reasons. One, there is a speaker icon on your slide and two, if you don't click the icon while presenting, your slide advances and your audience never hears the sound.

Next time, I will show you another option for inserting sounds.