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Advanced Video Options in PowerPoint 2010

Author: Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / 7

Date Created: July 18th 2012
Last Updated: July 18th 2012

Excerpt/Capsule: Explore the advanced video options in PowerPoint 2010 for looping, playing, rewinding, etc.

After inserting a video clip into PowerPoint, you can play the clip with minute control over its volume, looping, rewinding, etc. Rather than create smaller tutorials that explore these options, we are exploring them all on this page. Before we do so, it's important to understand that these abilities only exist so that you can use them when they are required, rather than using them just because they exist! In this tutorial, we'll explore all these advanced options for video clips in PowerPoint 2010:

1. Open your presentation, and navigate to the required slide where you have already inserted a video clip. Just select or double-click the video clip to bring up the two contextual Video Tools tabs in the Ribbon. These two tabs are Format and Playback -- click the Playback tab to activate it, as shown in Figure 1 (highlighted in red).
   
   
   Figure 1: Video Tools Playback tab of the Ribbon
   
   
2. Within the Video Tools Playback tab, locate the Video Options group, as shown in Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: Video Options within Video Tools Playback tab of the Ribbon
   
   Within this group you'll find all the advanced video options which are explained below, as marked above within Figure 2:
   
   
   1. Volume: This button enables you to set the volume for your video clip. Click the downward arrow within the Volume button to bring a drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 3. Within the Volume drop-down gallery choose one of the following options: Low, Medium, High, and Mute.
      
      
      Figure 3: Volume drop-down gallery
      
      Note that you are restricted to setting the volume at only the Low, Medium, and High levels using the Volume drop-down gallery. On the other hand, you can set the volume to whichever level you want by clicking on the Volume button on the Player Controls bar below the actual video clip on the slide, as shown in the bottom right of Figure 4, below.
      
      
      Figure 4: Volume button in the Player Controls bar
      
      
   2. Start: Here you can specify how you want your video to start during your presentation. Click the Start list to bring up a drop-down list, as shown in Figure 5.
      
      
      Figure 5: Start drop-down list
      
      There are two options within the Start drop-down list:
      
      Automatically: Play your video when the slide (containing the video) appears in Slide Show view, automatically.
      
      On Click: Play your video by clicking on the video itself in Slide Show view.
      
      
      Note: PowerPoint 2007, the version before PowerPoint 2010 also provided you with a third option in the Start drop-down list called Play Across Slides, that has been removed in PowerPoint 2010 -- fortunately it is easy to get back that option with a workaround we explain in our Playing Video Across Slides in PowerPoint 2010 tutorial.
      
      
   3. Play Full Screen: Select this check-box to play your video clip so that it fills the entire screen area in Slide Show view. Note that once the video clip has finished playing, the sequence moves back to the slide area so that you can move to any other slide, as required.
      
      
      Note: The full screen option works differently for different video formats and individual files. Formats such as AVI and MOV typically play full screen. Other file formats such as MPG, MP4,and WMV video clip may fit the height or width of the screen.
      
      
   4. Hide While Not Playing: Select this check-box to hide your video clip in Slide Show view. This option makes sense only if you set the Start option for the video to be Automatically.
      
      
   5. Loop until Stopped: Plays your video repeatedly and continuously when the active slide is shown.
      
      
   6. Rewind after Playing: Select this check-box to rewind your video after playing during your presentation.
      
      
3. Choose options based on your requirements. Make sure you save your presentation.