Sound effects that play along with slide transitions are one of those small touches that can add interest or be pesky.
Whether you want to add these sound effects is entirely your call, but do remember that discretion can often be a better
choice! Tread with caution since a sound playing with every slide transition can not only sound cheesy, but it can also
unnecessarily distract your audience. Having said that, there are occasions where a sound effect can be wisely applied
to PowerPoint slide transitions, maybe a chime sound for just one slide? Whatever you decide, let us now show you how
you can add a sound to accompany a slide transition Powerpoint 2011:
- Open your presentation and navigate to a slide that already has a
transition effect
applied. Access the Transitions tab of the
Ribbon, and click the Sound
button (highlighted in red within Figure 1).
Figure 1: Sound button within the Transitions tab
- This opens the Sound drop-down list, as shown towards left in Figure 2.
You can use the down-arrow in the list (highlighted in blue within Figure 2)
to scroll down till the end of the Sound drop-down list, as shown towards the right in
Figure 2.
Figure 2: Sound drop-down list
Within the Sound drop-down list (refer to Figure 2 above), you can choose from
among PowerPoint's default built-in sounds like Applause, Fly In etc., or you can
choose any of the other four options in the list which are explained below as marked in Figure 2:
A. None: Does not assign a sound to the transition. Also removes any sound that has been already applied.
B. Stop Previous Sound: Stops any transition sound that is already playing. This usually applies
where the previous sound was very long and did not complete when you moved on to the next slide, or in cases where
you used the Loop Until Next Sound option (we explain this further in point D,
below).
C. Other Sound: This opens the Choose a Sound dialog box, from which you can select
any WAV sound file stored on your system. Select the required sound file, and click the Insert
button (highlighted in red within Figure 3) in this dialog box to add
your sound clip to the transition.
Figure 3: Choose a Sound dialog box
Note: PowerPoint 2011 allows you to use only WAV files as transition sounds. Other file formats
for sounds, such as MP3, AIFF, and WMA are not accepted.
D. Loop Until Next Sound: This option will be grayed out until you select a sound for Slide Transition.
This is an on/off toggle option that causes the sound you have selected to loop continuously across slides. To stop
this sound, transitions within subsequent slides should either have a sound associated, or the Stop Previous
Sound option selected (see point B, above).
- You can apply the same sound to all slide transitions in your presentation by clicking the
All Slides button within Apply To group (highlighted in red
within Figure 4). Remember, having the same sound play without reason can cause a huge amount of
irritation. So use this option with caution.
Figure 4: All Slides button within Apply To group
- Apply sounds to your slide transitions as required following the above steps, and save your presentation.
Do test your slides in Slide Show
view to ascertain how the transition sounds are performing.
See Also:
Slide Transition
Sounds in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Slide Transition
Sounds in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows
