How to Make Videos with PowerPoint?

Liza Brown

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Public speaking is an art, and like with any other type of live performance, each segment of your presentation must be carefully chosen. Writing down the core ideas of the topic you’re presenting will make those ideas more accessible to the audience. Microsoft PowerPoint is probably the best presentation software ever created because it grants you complete control over each segment of your presentation. You can choose a font’s color and size, import images or set the duration of each slide. Even though versions of PowerPoint released prior to PowerPoint 2010 allowed its users to use videos in their presentations, creating video files with this presentation software only became possible after PowerPoint 2010 was launched. So, in this article, we are going to take you through all the steps of creating a video in Microsoft PowerPoint.

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Why Convert a PowerPoint Presentation into a Video?

Making a strong impression on the audience during a presentation is paramount as you have just a short time window to capture their attention. That’s why changing slides can be a bit complicated in certain settings, and instead of changing them manually, you can record narration and create your own video. In this manner, you can prearrange every segment of your presentation and allocate an appropriate amount of time to it.

Saving your PowerPoint presentations as videos can also help you solve a number of technical issues, in case a computer you’re using for the presentation doesn’t have PowerPoint or if the device doesn’t support PPT or PPTX files. Moreover, converting a presentation to a video can spare you the trouble of editing an entire video in a professional video editor like FCPX or Adobe Premiere Pro.

How to Make Videos in PowerPoint?

The process of making a video presentation with PowerPoint is somewhat similar to the process of editing a video, but instead of video clips, you’re working with slides. Here’s how you can prepare a video presentation in PowerPoint:

Animating Slides

In order to avoid creating a static video, you can use PowerPoint’s animation features to introduce graphic elements. Designing the slides so that they fit the dynamic nature of the video medium is of utmost importance because most business presentations have a tendency to be stagnant. PowerPoint lets you animate text and objects or add transitions between slides, which enables you to create a visually compelling presentation.

Adding Music or Narration

Combining sound with slides you create can help you convey important information or create a nice atmosphere in a video. In order to add an audio file to a slide, you have to click on the Insert tab, and then select the Audio option. Keep in mind that the labels of these options may not be the same on different versions PowerPoint. After clicking on the Audio setting, you should drag the Sound icon off the slide, and then go to the Animations tab and open the Animation Panel. Drag and drop the audio file to the Animation panel and then activate the Start with Previous option. However, if you opt for this method of adding animations to your presentations you will have to use the Start with Previous option for all animations you want to add to a presentation.

Besides adding audio files to slides, PowerPoint also lets you record narration, which can be quite useful if you are creating online tutorials and various other types of video presentations. Select the first slide in the presentation and then go to the Slideshow tab and select the Record Slideshow option. Click on the Start Recording from the Beginning and when the Record Slide Show dialogue box pops out on the screen, you should click on the Start Recording button while leaving Slide and Animation Timings and Narrations, Ink and Laser Pointer checkboxes marked. Proceed to record the narration, but keep in mind that you have to change slides manually. Before you export a video you can readjust the timings or record a new voiceover for your presentation from the Create a Video submenu, that is located in the Export menu.

Setting the Slide Timings and Adding Bookmarks

PowerPoint lets sync animations with audio and video files by setting bookmarks and it allows you to define precisely how long each slide is going to be on screen. Go to the Timmings section of the Transitions tab, and then click on the Advanced Slide feature. Mark the After check box and insert the new value to set the new duration for a selected slide. You can change the duration of slide effortlessly, even after you’ve recorded the narration, so you can fine-tune this setting before you save the presentation as a video file.

Exporting a Video

Click on the File menu, select the Export option, and then proceed to choose one of the settings featured in the Presentation Quality drop-down menu. If the Use Recorded Timings and Narrations option is selected the slides will be shown for the same length of time on the screen, and you’ll be able to change their duration by inserting a new value into the Seconds Spent on Each Slide box.

Optionally, you can click on Record Timings and Narration feature to record a new voice over or to alter the duration of slides in the presentation. You can use The Preview Timings and Narration option if you want to ensure that the narration and timings are perfectly set.

Click on the Create Video icon and use the Save As window to change the file name, choose the location on your hard drive where the video will be saved or select the MP4 or WMW file formats. 

Uploading a PowerPoint Presentation to YouTube

After the video file, you created is exported you may want to share it on YouTube or any other online video sharing platform. PowerPoint doesn’t offer the option to upload videos to your social media accounts, which is the reason why you have to upload your video presentation directly to your YouTube channel. You just have to log in to your account on YouTube, click on the Create a Video or Post icon and select the Upload a Video option from the drop-down menu. Follow this link to learn more about different methods of uploading videos to YouTube.

Conclusion

Even though video and audio editing tools Microsoft PowerPoint offers are far less powerful than those provided by professional video editing apps, you can still use it to create captivating video presentations. The process of saving a presentation as video in PowerPoint is simple, but learning how to effectively use animations and transitions or record narration may take some practice. Do you often create video presentations with PowerPoint? Leave a comment below and share your experiences with us.

Liza Brown

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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