Sound Across Slides
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
See Also: Sound Across Slides in all PowerPoint versions
Product/Version: PowerPoint 2004 on the Mac
Date Created: June 26th 2008
Last Updated: February 26th 2009
Excerpt/Capsule:
Remember: As far as possible, work with a presentation that has been saved at least once; then copy any sound/music file you want to loop to the same folder as the presentation as you can see in Figure 1 -- and then follow these steps.
Figure 1: PowerPoint presentation and
sound file
Follow these steps to loop a music (or any sound) file across slides in PowerPoint 2004 on the Mac:
- Navigate to the slide where you want the sound to
begin playing, which is usually the first slide of the
presentation. Go to Insert | Movies and Sounds | Sound
from File (highlighted in red), as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Sound from file
- Locate the sound file you want to play,
and click Insert, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Insert Sound
- PowerPoint will prompt you if you want to have the sound on the slide play
automatically, as shown in Figure 4. Choose Yes.
Figure 4: Play automatically
- Control-click (or right-click) the sound icon placed in the center of the slide, and choose Custom
Animation from the contextual menu as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Right-click menu
- This opens the Custom Animation dialog box that you can see in Figure 6 -- with
the inserted sound pre-selected as the object to animate.
Figure 6: Custom Animation
- With the sound object still selected, click the Effect Options button to bring up a dialog box of the same name. Select the Media Options tab as shown in Figure 7 -- and type in "999" in the Stop playing After text box (see Figure 7).
Note: You type 999 here since that's the largest number that PowerPoint will allow you to add here.
Figure 7: Effect Options
- Click OK to get back to the Custom Animation dialog box -- and click OK again to get back to your slide. Now control-click (or right-click) the sound icon placed in the center of the slide again, and choose the Edit Sound Object option (refer to Figure 5 above).
- This summons the Sound Options dialog box that you can se in Figure 8 below. Make sure you check the option that says Loop until stopped (highlighted in red).
Figure 8: Sound Options
- Click OK -- in all versions of PowerPoint, you might see a sound
icon on the slide where you inserted the sound - if you
don't like the icon on the slide, just drag it to anywhere
off the slide - your sound shall still play fine.
Tip: Save your presentation often!
A lot is at stake -- power, money, reputation, future plans, justice. You need to win this case. Your presentation materials surely will play an important role in helping the judge and jury experience the sights, sounds, and details of the case ... or not. The choice is up to you, says one tech-savvy attorney.
The choice is up to you, says one tech-savvy attorney. It all depends upon whether you are willing to push PowerPoint beyond its normal boundaries to maximize its interactive and persuasive potential. This article by Robert Lane and
Bruce A. Olson
provides a better idea of using PowerPoint in court. 
