Including Movies

Adding movies to your presentation can add a professional touch. Most people use them to show demonstrations, but you can also use them to train others or show a speaker who could not attend an actual event. Movie files are always linked to your presentation, never embedded. The default is to show movies on just part of your slide, but you can change this default to show the movie in full-screen mode. Be careful with this option, though-it often results in blurry or distorted movies depending on the resolution involved.

Animated GIF files are sometimes referred to as movies, but technically they are not. As a result, not all movie options are available for GIF files, so keep that in mind if you run into trouble working with these files and using movie settings. For this section, information and instructions will refer to the following compatible movie file formats for PowerPoint 2007:

• Windows Media file (.asf)

• Windows Video file (.avi)

• Movie file (.mpg or .mpeg)

• Windows Media Video file (.wmv)

Caution 

You cannot add Apple QuickTime movies (.mov) to PowerPoint 2007 presentations. Instead, you need to create a hyperlink to the .mov file or convert that file to a compatible file format that PowerPoint 2007 accepts.

Here’s how to add a movie to your presentation:

1. In Normal view, select the slide where you want the movie added.

2. On the Insert tab, in the Media Clips group, click the arrow on the Movie button. Clicking the arrow on the Movie button will provide you with two options: Movie From File and Movie From Clip Organizer. Be careful: If you click the icon above Movie, the Insert Movie dialog box will open instead.

3. Click Movie From File or Movie From Clip Organizer. Your choice depends on the location of the movie you want to insert. Select the movie from the location you have chosen.

4. A dialog box appears and asks you to choose between launching the movie automatically or when clicked. Click your selection. PowerPoint 2007 adds the movie to the center of your slide.

If you want the movie to fill your entire screen when it plays, you need to make some minor adjustments. Here’s how to play a movie in full-screen mode:

1. In Normal view, click the movie frame on your slide.

2. Go to the Options tab under Movie Tools.

3. In the Movie Options group, select the Play Full Screen check box.

4. Preview the movie to look for distortion or blurriness. If you have clicked the Automatically option, you can drag the movie frame completely off the slide into the gray area so that your audience never sees it (but still hears it).

Note 

PowerPoint 2007 automatically generates a pause trigger effect when you insert a movie into your presentation. This means you must click the movie in order to start it when you show the slide. If you want your movie to start automatically when you show the slide, you must click Automatically when the dialog box prompt appears.