Sound from a file

Insert a sound file

On the Insert menu, point to Movies and Sounds, and click one of these:

• Sound from Clip Organizer, and select a clip; or
• Sound from File, and browse for a sound file.

Select a way to stop the sound

These options include choices to play a sound for an entire slide or for the number of slides you specify.

1. Right-click the sound icon on the slide, and click Custom Animation on the shortcut menu.
2. In the task pane, display the menu for the sound effect, and click Effect Options.
3. In the Stop playing area, select an option.

For a sound to play for the duration of a slide or several slides, it must be at least as long as the time the slide or slides take to play.

• In the Custom Animation task pane, you can apply "sound action" effects just like animation effects. With the sound icon selected on the slide, click Add Effect, point to Sound Actions, and then click Stop. Other options include Play and Pause.
• If you apply an animation effect, you can open its options dialog box (Custom Animation task pane) and select [Stop Previous Sound] in the Sound box on the Effect tab. The start of the animation stops any sound that's playing.

Change how a sound starts

1. In the Custom Animation task pane, display the menu for the sound effect in the task pane list.
2. Click Timing. On the Timing tab, make a different selection in the Start box or use the Triggers button to create a trigger.
   • If the effect starts automatically and, instead, you want it to start when you click the slide, click On Click in the Start box.
   • If the effect starts automatically and, instead, you want to set up a triggered mouse click, click the Triggers button, select Start effect on click of, and then select the sound effect in the list. The sound will play when you click the sound icon on the slide.
   • If the sound is set to start by a mouse click (on slide or icon), and you'd rather start it automatically, in the Start box, click After Previous to make it follow a preceding effect, or With Previous to make it play simultaneously with another effect.

Tip    If you use the Remove button in the Custom Animation task pane to remove the start effect from the sound, you can apply it again. Select the sound icon on the slide, click the Add Effect button in the task pane, point to Sound Actions, and then click Play. This applies a non-triggered click start to the sound. (For more about how you can use Sound Actions, see the course "Playing movies"; Lesson 2 discusses Movie Actions, which are similar.)

Hide sound file icon

Before hiding an icon, be sure you have the sound set up to play in a way that doesn't require clicking the icon.

• Right-click the icon, click Edit Sound Object, and then select the Hide sound icon during slide show check box.

  You can also find this option in the dialog box opened on the effect from the Custom Animation task pane (Sound Settings tab).

• Make a sound start when you click the slide instead of when you click the icon, and then hide the icon. If you already set a triggered start, drag the sound effect in the task pane list above the trigger bar. Or, on the Timing tab, under Triggers, select Animate as part of click sequence. The sound plays when you click the slide.
• Create a triggered start for the sound but then tie the trigger to something like an action button instead of the sound icon, and then hide the sound icon. Apply an action button by using the Slide Show menu, Action Buttons; select None for its action setting. Then, in the Custom Animation task pane, display the Timing tab for the sound effect, and set up a trigger that starts when you click the action button.

Loop and other "repeat" options

To loop until stopped:

• Right-click the icon, click Edit Sound Object, and then select the Loop until stopped check box.

Other options for repeating are on the Timing tab, opened from the sound effect in the Custom Animation task pane.

Sound volume and path to sound file's location

These are available in two places:

• In the dialog box that you open by right-clicking the sound icon and clicking Edit Sound Object.
• On the Sound Settings tab, opened from the sound effect in the Custom Animation task pane, Effect Options command.

Linked sound files

A .wav file that's 100 kilobytes (KB) or less in size will be embedded in the presentation. A .wav file that's greater than 100 KB will be linked. All other sound files are linked.

When you need to copy the presentation to take it on the road, use Package for CD (File menu) to put all your linked files on a CD with your presentation or in the same folder as your presentation. For details, see the course "So that's how! Great PowerPoint features" or Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® Help.

To change the maximum KB for embedded .wav files, open the Options dialog box (Tools menu), General tab, and change the number in the Link sounds with file size greater than box. The maximum is 50,000 KB.

Sound from a CD

Set up tracks

1. Insert the CD into your computer's CD drive.
2. Select the slide you want the sound to play on.
3. On the Insert menu, point to Movies and Sounds, and click Play CD Audio Track.
4. Set up the tracks you want to play.

If you want to play different tracks of the CD on different slides, keep using the Play CD Audio Track command to "insert" the sound, and set up the track and timing you want for that slide. There is no automatic way to time your CD to your slide.

More things you can do

Set a starting position for the sound

In the play options opened on a sound effect from the Custom Animation task pane, you have choices about when to start playing the sound just as you did for when to stop playing it.

From last position   If you used Sound Actions to add a Pause effect to a sound and then a Play effect, you can set the Play effect to start From last position. It will resume where the sound left off during the Pause effect. (Sound Actions are available in the Custom Animation task pane when you select a sound icon and click Add Effect.) To use this option, you must also have a stop setting that carries the sound at least through the current slide or beyond.

From time   To make your sound file start at a point beyond its beginning, click this option and set a time delay in the spin box.