Inserting Flash Within PowerPoint

by Geetesh Bajaj | Last Updated on June 25 2008

See Also: PowerPoint And Flash Index

First Things First
Always Two Ways
Prerequisites
Doing It Yourself
Rewinding Problems
Fullscreen Flash

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First Things First

This page contains a description of how to insert and run Macromedia Flash SWF animations in Microsoft PowerPoint.

To learn the basics of using Flash within PowerPoint and more information on ActiveX, look here:

PowerPoint And Flash

While the page linked above tries to explain the technology behind the scenes, this page contains information of a more practical nature including a step-by-step procedure to insert Flash SWF content within PowerPoint.

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Always Two Ways

There are two ways of including Flash into PowerPoint. You can either insert the file as an ActiveX control, using PowerPoint's Control Toolbox, or you can insert it as an object, which calls the Flash Player to play the file.

The first procedure is time-tested and certain - both free and commercial add-ins are available for PowerPoint which reduce the complicated procedure to just a few clicks.

The latter procedure is a little different - we'll discuss it in the next page...

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Prerequisites

Whichever procedure you employ to insert SWF movies within PowerPoint, you'll need to have the following installed:

• Any version of PowerPoint for Windows (97, 2000 or 2002)
• Internet Explorer
• Shockwave Flash ActiveX control

The Shockwave Flash ActiveX control can be auto-installed at:

www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?
P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

If you need to view more options, visit:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/
download/alternates/

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Doing It Yourself

Copy your SWF file to the same folder as your saved blank or existing presentation. Within PowerPoint, navigate to the slide where you want to insert a Flash SWF movie.

1. If the Control Toolbox is not already visible within your PowerPoint interface, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Control Toolbox. (see screenshot below):
   
   
   
   
2. Within the Control Toolbox, click More Controls (bottom right icon). This will open a drop down menu - choose Shockwave Flash Object. Naturally, the Shockwave Flash control must be installed on your computer for the Shockwave Flash Object to be listed in the Control Toolbox.
   
   
3. Your cursor will change into a cross-hair - draw a rectangle anywhere on screen - don't bother about the size and location now - we'll take care of that later.
   
   
4. Right-click the inserted Shockwave Flash control, and then click Properties in the resultant flyout menu.
   
5. You'll find a "..." within the cell next to the 'Custom' option (usually the topmost option). Clicking this will open the Property Pages dialog box.
   
   
6. Within the movie option, type the name of the movie without any path (since it is saved within the same folder as the presentation). Alternatively, you can type an entire URL within the box to access a SWF live from the Internet. Make sure that the Playing property is set to True - you can experiment with other options as well (see screenshot below):

Tip: You might want to reposition and resize your Flash movie on the slide.

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Rewinding Problems

Although you may have successfully inserted a Flash SWF within PowerPoint using the above procedure, you might find that the SWFs do not rewind after playing. Sometimes, they might even stall. Look here for more info and automated free solutions:

Shyam Pillai offers the free FlashBack add-in for PowerPoint.

Rick Turoczy has more information on his FlashGeek site.

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Fullscreen Flash

At times you may want to run a fullscreen Flash movie over your PowerPoint presentation. In that case, make sure your Flash movie has an Exit option.

To learn how to create fullscreen movies from various Flash versions, look here:

FullScreen in Flash

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