We have already explored how you can
add an audio clip within a PowerPoint slide. Once you place an audio clip, you can associate this clip with several
Media actions such as Play, Pause, Resume, and Stop.
And although Media actions work the same way for both audio and video clips, there are some subtle differences. Due to
these differences, we have explored both of them separately. In this tutorial, we explored Media Actions for Audio in
PowerPoint 2010, and we have explored the same options for video clips
in our Media Actions for Video
in PowerPoint 2010 tutorial.
Once you add these Media Actions to your audio clips, PowerPoint will allow you to make these Actions interact
with other animations, including
Triggers. Although Media Actions are not strictly animations, PowerPoint does place them within the
Animation tab of the Ribbon.
To access Media Actions for audio clips, you must
insert an audio clip
within a slide. Once inserted, your audio clip is already set by default to the Play action.
Click on the audio clip in the Slide Show
view to trigger this Play action. In addition, you can apply more Media Actions to the audio clip --
follow these steps to learn more:
- Make sure you select the inserted audio icon on your slide, as shown in Figure 1.
Note that we have used a blank slide for this tutorial as you can see in Figure 1. Your slide may
look different if you have placed more slide objects or placeholders.
Figure 1: Selected audio clip icon on the slide
- Now, access the Animations tab of the
Ribbon, and click the
Animation Pane button, as shown highlighted in red within
Figure 2. Remember that this is a toggle button -- so, if your Animation Pane is
already visible, then clicking this button will make the pane disappear.
Figure 2: Animation Pane button within the Animations tab
- You should now see the Animation Pane, as shown in Figure 3.
Note the Play symbol (highlighted in red in Figure 3)
placed in front of the name of the audio within the animations list. Also, PowerPoint adds a Trigger for the
Play action automatically so that when you click the placed audio clip icon, the audio will start
playing. Go ahead and test if your audio clip plays.
Figure 3: Animation Pane displaying Play media action added by default, to the selected audio clip
- With the audio icon on the slide still selected, click the Add Animation button (highlighted in
red in Figure 4, below) within the Animations tab of the
Ribbon.
Figure 4: Add Animation button within the Animations tab
- This brings up the Add Animation gallery that you can see in Figure 5.
Note that the typical Add Animation gallery starts with
Entrance
animation effects (refer to our
Adding an Animation tutorial). But in this case, you have an extra section on the top area of the gallery called
Media, as shown in Figure 5. This section shows up only if you have an audio or video
clip selected on your slide.
Figure 5: Media section within the Add Animation gallery
Options within the Media section are explained below:
• Play: This is the default media action - it is used to play the audio.
• Pause: This action is to pause the playing audio.
• Stop: This action is to stop the playing audio.
• Seek: This action may be grayed out, as shown in Figure 5. This action is
only available if you have added a Bookmark to your audio clip. We explain how you add bookmarks in our
Add Bookmarks for Video Clips in
PowerPoint 2010 tutorial. Although the linked page pertains to Bookmarks in video clips, the technique works in
the same way for audio clips.
- Since we already have a Play Media Action in our Animations list (highlighted in
red in Figure 3, shown earlier on this page), let us go ahead and add
Pause and Stop Media Actions. With your audio clip still selected, click the
Pause action within the Add Animation gallery's Media section (refer to
Figure 5 above). This will add a Pause Media Action in your animations list, as shown in
Figure 6. Also note the Pause symbol placed in front of the name of the audio in the
animations list (highlighted in red in Figure 6).
Figure 6: Animation Pane displaying Pause media action added to the audio clip
- Again, with your audio clip still selected, go ahead and add a Stop Media Action as well --
this will also show in your Animations list, as shown in Figure 7.
Also note the Stop symbol placed in front of the name of the audio in the animations list (highlighted in
red in Figure 7).
Figure 7: Animation Pane displaying Stop media action added to the audio clip
- Save your presentation. In subsequent tutorials of this series, explore how you create
Bookmarks, and set
Trigger animations
that result in Media Actions such as Play, Pause, Stop, etc.
See Also:
Media Actions for Audio in
PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Sound Actions in PowerPoint 2007
for Windows