PowerPoint Voice-Over Guide

Lockdown? Canceled meeting? Thanks to PowerPoint’s voice-over option, you can still give a polished and professional presentation.

The pandemic has changed the way we present. Thankfully, PowerPoint has made it easy to add audio clips to your presentation slides, enabling your audience to view the presentation as many times as they want, whenever they want.

Keep reading to find out how to take advantage of PowerPoint’s audio capabilities.

What is a PowerPoint Voice-Over and Its Uses?

In today’s world, in-person presentations are becoming increasingly rare. So how can you create a complete presentation that can be enjoyed remotely? PowerPoint’s audio feature is the perfect solution. You can use it to record audio for your presentation so your audience can view it from anywhere and at any time.

Whether for business, academic purposes, or product marketing, a PowerPoint voice-over allows you to add audio clips to your slides, ensuring your message reaches your audience effectively.

How to Create Audio Commentary for Your Presentation

You can insert your prerecorded audio commentary into your presentation from your hard drive or record it directly in PowerPoint. Let’s explore both options.

Adding an Existing Audio File to Your Slide

1. Click on the slide where you want to add audio commentary.
2. Navigate to Insert > Media > Audio.
3. Select Audio on My PC.
4. Choose the audio file you want and confirm by clicking Insert.

Recording New Audio Commentary for Your Slides

1. Go to the desired slide and select Insert > Media > Audio. Then choose Record Audio.
2. To start your recording, click on the red circle. When finished, click the square to stop recording. Enter a name for your recording.
3. To listen to your recording, press the play arrow.
4. If you’re satisfied with your recording, click OK. If you wish to start over, click Cancel and repeat the process.
5. You can move the audio file by dragging it to your desired position on the slide.

Editing Playback Features of Your PowerPoint Voice-Over

To make changes to your audio recordings, click on the audio icon on your slide, and then click the Playback tab in your PowerPoint ribbon.

To shorten your audio file, select Trim Audio and use the sliders to adjust the length of your recording.

You can also adjust the fade-in and fade-out durations by modifying the values under Fade Duration.

To determine when your audio should play, click the arrow next to Start in the Audio Options group. You can select one of the following options:

• In Click Sequence: the audio clip will play with a mouse click.
• Automatically: the audio clip will automatically play as soon as you click on the slide.
• When Clicked On: the clip will play when you click the audio icon.

To adjust the volume of your audio files, select Volume and choose your preferred setting.

You can further control how your clip is played back in your presentation with these options:

• Loop until Stopped: the clip will continue to play until manually stopped by clicking Play/Pause.
• Play Across Slides: the clip will play on all slides in your presentation.
• Play in Background: the clip will play continuously in the background on all slides.

To delete a PowerPoint voice-over, simply select the audio icon on the slide and press DEL.

Additional Tips for Your PowerPoint Voice-Over

Here are some useful tips to enhance your PowerPoint voice-over experience:

• Consider investing in an external microphone to ensure that your audio files are of superior quality compared to the built-in microphones of laptops and computers.
• Remember that recording audio commentary is only available in the desktop version of PowerPoint, not the web version.

After recording your PowerPoint voice-over, make sure to listen to it. While it may feel unusual to hear your own voice, this is the best way to ensure your audio is clear and effective before adding it to your slides.

Optimize Your Presentation with PowerPoint Audio

PowerPoint audio is an excellent way to enhance your presentation and infuse your personal commentary. Especially in today’s environment, your audience will be able to enjoy your presentation from anywhere and at any time.