PowerPoint
Add audio from your PC
- Select Insert > Audio.
- Select Audio on My PC.
- In the Insert Audio dialog box, select the audio file you want to add.
- Select Insert.
Record audio
(Note: Your device must have a microphone enabled in order to record audio.)
- Select Insert > Audio.
- Select Record Audio.
- Type in a name for your audio file, select Record, and then speak.
- To review your recording, select Stop and then select Play.
- Select Record to re-record your clip, or select OK if you're satisfied.
- To move your clip, select and drag the audio icon to where you want it on the slide.
If you’re using more than one audio file per slide, we recommend putting the audio icon in the same spot on a slide to find it easily. - Select Play.
Change playback options
Select the audio icon and then select the Audio Tools Playback tab. Then select which options you'd like to use:
- To trim the audio, select Trim and then use the red and green sliders to trim the audio file accordingly.
- To fade in or fade out audio, change the number in the Fade Duration boxes.
- To adjust volume, select Volume and select the setting you prefer.
- To choose how the audio file starts, select the dropdown arrow and select an option:
- In Click Sequence: Plays the audio file automatically with a click.
- Automatically: Plays automatically once you advance to the slide that the audio file is on.
- When Clicked On: Plays audio only when the icon is clicked on.
- To choose how the audio plays in your presentation, select an option:
- Play Across Slides: Plays one audio file across all slides.
- Loop until Stopped: Plays an audio file on loop until it’s stopped manually by clicking the Play/Pause button.
- To have the audio play continuously across all slides in the background, select Play in Background.
Record audio
- Select Insert > Audio.
- Select Record Audio.
- Type in a name for your audio file, select Record, and then speak.
Note: Your device must have a microphone enabled in order to record audio. - To review your recording, select Stop and then select Play.
- Select Record to re-record your clip, or select OK if you're satisfied.
- To move your clip, select and drag the audio icon to where you want it on the slide.
If you’re using more than one audio file per slide, we recommend putting the audio icon in the same spot on a slide to find it easily. - Select Play.
Delete audio
To delete an audio clip, select the audio icon on the slide and press Delete.
Google Slides
Google Slides do not support audio files but you do have the option to embed videos inside the individual slides. The workaround, therefore, is simple – place the video file on a slide, make it invisible and turn on the auto-play mode.
- You can use free tools like FFmpeg or Audacity to convert your audio files into video. Then upload the converted file to either Google Drive or YouTube. Google Drive is better since the playback won’t include any pre-roll advertising.
- Open Google Slides, go to the Insert menu and choose Video. Here you can either select the file from your Google Drive or switch to the “By URL” tab and paste the link of any public YouTube video.
- Now that your video is embedded in Google Slides, right-click the video and choose Video Options. Check the setting that says “auto-play when presenting.” If you are using synchronized voiceover narration, you may want to change the start and end time of the video as well.
- Since you want the audio to play in the background, it may be a good idea to completely hide the video play from the slide. There are two ways to achieve this. You can select the video play, drag the resize handles inwards so that the player size becomes too small to be noticed. An even better option is to place the video player outside the slide area so it’s still part of the slide but won’t show during the presentation.