Insert Video (Movie) Clips in PowerPoint 2010
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: PowerPoint 2010
Date Created: November 10th 2010
Last Updated: November 10th 2010
Excerpt/Capsule: Learn how to insert a video or movie clip in PowerPoint 2010.
Follow these steps to insert a video clip in PowerPoint 2010:
Remember: As far as possible, work with a presentation that has been saved at least once; then copy any movie/video file you want to insert to the same folder as the presentation. This ensures that your links always work.
- From the Insert tab of Ribbon, click the bottom part of the Video button
to bring up the menu shown in Figure 1.
Then choose the Video
from File option.

Figure 1: Video from File option
- This brings up the Insert Video dialog, as shown in Figure
2.
Locate the folder where your videos are saved, and select any video
clip you want to insert by clicking on it.

Figure 2: Insert Video dialog
- You can now click the Insert button (refer to Figure
2 above) -- this
option adds the movie to the slide and also embeds it as part of
your presentation. This behavior is changed in PowerPoint 2010 compared
to earlier versions which did not embed any inserted video or movie clips.
This of course can balloon the file size -- and you can still link
the video or movie clip rather than embedding it by following the alternative
option explained next.
To link rather than embed, click on the downward pointing arrow next to the Insert button (see Figure 3). This brings up a menu with two options: Insert (which is the same as discussed in the preceding paragraph) and Link to file. You will choose the Link to File option. If you do choose to link rather than embed, always copy your video or movie clip to the same folder as your presentation before you insert it within your slide.

Figure 3: Link to File option links to the video or movie clip rather than embedding it within the presentation
- Whichever option you choose (as explained above), PowerPoint will place
the video at the center of the slide as shown in Figure
4.

Figure 4: Video placed on slide
- Click on the video to play, or use the Play button on the Player
Controls (shown below the video clip, as shown in Figure
4 above). You can also set the video to play automatically
after the slide shows -- to do that select the video so that the
two Video Tool tabs of the Ribbon are visible. Click the Video Tools
Playback tab of the Ribbon to activate it as shown in Figure
5 below.

Figure 5: Video Tools Playback tab of the Ribbon
This tab offers you different options to control the playback of the video you have selected. Locate the Start dropdown list as shown in Figure 6, and select the Automatically option.

Figure 6: Automatically playing mode
- Save your presentation.