Insert and delete audio in PowerPoint - it's that easy!
In lectures or seminars and also in webinars – i.e. courses on the Internet – nothing works without PowerPoint, the presentation programme included in the Microsoft Office 2021 Standard package under Windows 11. Interrelationships are explained clearly on individual slides and provided with effects. The presentation is even more impressive with the option of inserting audio into PowerPoint. How to get the sound onto the slides – and how to remove it again – is shown here.
Inserting an audio file into PowerPoint – it’s fun!
A presentation about your last adventure trip to Papua New Guinea. The travel pictures, presented with PowerPoint, ideally accompanied by dramatic music. Or you present the latest advertising campaign and back up the figures, data and facts with comments spoken directly to match the pictures. Or maybe you just want to spice up a webinar on the correct use of a drill. In that case, sound effects in the recording are guaranteed to keep the viewers on their toes. All this can be realised very easily with Microsoft Office 2021 Home and Business with the Windows 11 Home operating system, for example. With a few simple steps, you can add audio to PowerPoint to make all presentations even more effective, impressive and lasting. And this is how it works:
Insert music as audio in PowerPoint
Music in the background that matches the images shown and creates an atmosphere impresses everyone. The following steps are necessary to be able to insert audio in PowerPoint:
- Click on Insert > Audio in the menu bar.
- Now select Audio on my PC.
- In the Insert Audio dialogue box, now select and add the desired audio file.
- Use the Insert command to insert the corresponding audio file into PowerPoint.
This is where the music plays
If Microsoft Office 365 Home is installed under Windows 11 Pro or Windows 11 Pro N, PowerPoint can be used and audio can be inserted into PowerPoint accordingly. To ensure that a selected song plays during the entire presentation, make the following settings:
- First click on the inserted audio file in the slide.
- Next, select „Playback“ in the menu bar.
- In the „Audio options“ area under „Start“ you now have the option of selecting „Cross-slide playback“. With this option, the song does not interrupt even if the slide is changed.
- If „Endless playback“ is activated, the selected song always starts again from the beginning during the presentation.
- However, it is also possible to insert audio into PowerPoint in such a way that a song is only played at a certain point in the presentation.
- In this case, simply click on the play button at the appropriate point during the presentation.
- In the PowerPoint menu in the Microsoft 365 Family package, for example under Windows 11 Education or Windows 11 Enterprise, select the item „Animations“, and the audio file can also be played immediately with the start of the slide.
Inserting a self-recorded audio file into PowerPoint
You can also insert audio into PowerPoint that you have recorded yourself, for example your own voice.
- In Microsoft 365 Business Premium or another Microsoft package, for example in the Windows 11 Pro for Workstation operating system, select Insert > Audio as usual.
- Then click on the item Audio recording.
- Name the file and select Record with Micro activated.
- To check the recording, click Stop and then Play.
- If the recording is OK, click OK – otherwise simply select Record again.
- If you want to move the clip, select the audio symbol and drag it to the appropriate place on the slide.
Delete PowerPoint audio – very simple
The music doesn’t fit, you no longer like the voice or the sound effect is simply in the wrong place? Then you can easily delete any PowerPoint audio.
- If the audio file was embedded directly on the PowerPoint slide, first mark the corresponding speaker symbol by clicking on it with the mouse.
- The Del key deletes the file from the slide.
If the presentation is set up so that the sound effect is activated every time the slide is changed, the following steps are necessary to remove it:
- Call up the slide.
- Select the Transitions tab.
- Open the drop-down menu next to the option Sound in the group Display duration.
- Select the option Without Sound.
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