Using Music in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 - Learn How to Play Music Throughout Your Presentation
The Power of Music in PowerPoint 2007
The first step of using music in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 is to add music into the presentation. Refer to my Tutorial on How to Add Music on Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Presentation to add your music into the PowerPoint presentation deck. Once you’ve added your music, it’s time to harness the power of music in your presentation.
Music in a presentation can be used to lighten the mood, calm the crowd and overall, really make your presentation stand out from the rest. When a crowd leaves the presentation, you want them to remember it. Adding and using music into your PowerPoint presentations is a fantastic way of leaving an impression.
Using Music in Your PowerPoint Presentation
Step One - Opening and Adding Music to Your Presentation
- Step one can be achieved by following the steps in my Tutorial on How to Add Music on Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Presentation, and having your presentation open and ready. For this tutorial, I will be using Test PowerPoint presentation. I’ve also used the Automatically Play option.
Step Two - Deciding on Usage
- Now that your presentation is open and has music, its time to decide on how you’re going to use your music. There are many ways to use music in your presentation. Do you want to have one piece of music playing from beginning to finish, or do you want it to play only in between certain slides? This tutorial will cover both options, starting with using music throughout your PowerPoint 2007 presentation, then moving on to playing music on a subset of slides in your presentation.
Playing Music in PowerPoint
Step One - Setting the Starting Point
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The first step to take in using your music is to determine where you want your music to begin playing. It can be from the very start of the presentation or in the middle of your presentation to the end. I’ll be starting my music on slide 2, but you can follow the steps and place the starting point on any of your slides.
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When I originally added the music, it was added to slide 1. To move your music to the correct slide, simply click the Sound Animation, or the Horn located on your slide.
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After it is highlighted, move your mouse up to the upper left hand corner and click Cut.
- Now go to the slide you want your music to begin in. In this tutorial, I have moved to slide 2. Once on the slide of your choice, go the the upper left hand corner again and click Paste.
Playing Music From the Beginning to the End
Step Two A - Configuring the Settings
- Now that you have a starting point for your music, it is time to set it so that it plays through the entire presentation. While the Sound Animation or Horn icon is highlighted, click on the Sound Tools tab.
- In the Sound Tools tab, under the Play Sound: option, click on the drop down menu and select Play across slides.
Your music will now play through the entire presentation, starting from the slide you want the music to start at.
Read on to Page 2 to learn how to play music across a subset of your PowerPoint presentation slides rather than the entire presentation…
Playing Music Through a Subset of the PowerPoint Presentation
Step Two B - Configuring the Music to End on a Slide
- Now that you have a starting point for your music, it is time to determine when you want your music to stop. For this tutorial, in my 5-slide presentation, I want the music to start on slide 2 and end on slide 4. For your purposes, you can select whichever slide you’d like.
- With the Sound Animation or Horn highlighted, click on the Animations tab across the top.
- From the Animations tab, click on Custom Animation to make a sidebar appear to the right.
- In the Custom Animation side bar to the right, click on the drop down next to your audio file. From there, select and click Effect Options.
- In the Play Sound pop up menu, under the Stop Playing section, enter the slide that you want the music to stop playing at. I put in 4, as I want my PowerPoint presentation to stop playing at slide 4. Once you’ve entered your slide number, press OK.
Additional Tips and Tricks
- If you followed Step Two B, you may have noticed that in the Effect Options pop up menu there were a few settings that you could modify. You can actually input the starting point of your music under the Start Playing option. The most interesting option here is the From Time: option, which allows you to start your music from a certain start point.
- For example, if my music had a chorus that I enjoyed at 1:01, and wanted my music to start from that chorus, I would place 1:01 in the spot and press OK.
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Also, in that same pop up menu, under the Sound Settings tab, there’s an option to hide the Sound Animation or Horn icon in your PowerPoint presentation. This is useful if you do not want people to see the icon during your presentation.
Using Music in PowerPoint 2007 Complete!
If you’ve followed my tutorial from the beginning, you will have finished not only adding music, but also setting it up to play how you want it to play. Using music in PowerPoint is a simple trick to add a bit of flare to your presentations. However, it is also a tricky piece of added functionality to master. It can be a bit confusing at first, but once you’ve tried it a few times, you’ll be able to master it in no time. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and take chances, at least in your test presentations. Once you’ve started mastering the adding and usage of music, start taking your Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 presentations to the next level!
This post is part of the series: Creating Music Magic in Microsoft Powerpoint 2007
Tutorials on how to add and use music in your Microsoft Powerpoint 2007 presentations. Each tutorial includes step by step instructions with clear screenshots to guide you on your way.
