When you insert video clips in your presentations, you may find
that the video clip inserted may be too long. Or maybe you just need to show part of the video clip, rather than wasting your audience's
time showing them the entire clip. Yes, you can use the Player Controls bar (highlighted in
red within Figure 1, below) to scrub and play the clip from exactly where you want it to
begin. However, scrubbing a clip in front of an audience can appear unprofessional.
Another way is to trim the video clip outside PowerPoint in a dedicated video program. You have one more option, and that is to use the
Trim Video option within PowerPoint to get the results. Follow these steps to trim a video clip in
PowerPoint 2016:
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Open your presentation, and navigate to the required slide where you have already
inserted a video clip. Just select or double-click the video
clip to bring up the two Video Tools tabs in the
Ribbon. These two tabs are Format and
Playback. Click the Playback tab to activate it, as shown in Figure 1 (highlighted
in blue).

Figure 1: Video Tools Playback tab of the Ribbon
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Now, within the Video Tools Playback tab, click the Trim Video button, as shown highlighted in
red within Figure 2.

Figure 2: Trim Video button
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This opens the Trim Video dialog box, as shown in Figure 3. By default, it shows the first frame of your
video, which in some cases may be just a black screen. Also notice that any
Bookmarks you may have added to your video clip show
in this dialog box (highlighted in red within Figure 3, below). Additionally, you see a
sound wave representing your video's sound track. This is very helpful if you want to trim off areas that may have no sound at all.

Figure 3: Trim Video dialog box
Notice also the green and red markers representing the Start and End positions, highlighted in
blue within Figure 3, above. In addition, the positions of these markers at any given time
are shown in the Start Time and End Time boxes (highlighted in green
within Figure 3, above).
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If you have added Bookmarks to set your
Start and End times, follow further – if not, skip to Step 5.
Now drag the green and red markers to overlap the Bookmarks, as shown in Figure 4. Notice
that the markers will not snap to your Bookmarks, so try to be as precise as you can.

Figure 4: Green and red markers dragged over Bookmarks
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If you have no Bookmarks added, you will have to first play the video to ascertain where you want to start and end the video clip. Play
the video by clicking the large Play button (highlighted in red within
Figure 5, below). When you reach the position where you want to start playing the trimmed video clip, click the
Pause button. Now, go ahead and set this paused position as the Start position using any of these
approaches:
a. Place your cursor over the green marker to see the two-headed arrow (highlighted in blue
within Figure 5, below). Then click and drag the green marker to the same position where you paused.
b. Make a note of the time position, and manually enter the time value within the Start Time box
(highlighted in green within Figure 5, below).

Figure 5: Drag the markers to the same point where you paused the video
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After setting the Start position, play the video again. When the position where you want to end playing the video clip
is reached, pause the video. Now, set your End position as well by either dragging the red marker to the paused position,
or by manually entering the time value within the End Time box.
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Before you trim the clip, preview which parts are included by clicking the Play button again (highlighted in
red within Figure 5, above). Make changes if you are not satisfied.
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Once you are happy with the parts included in the trimmed video clip, go ahead and trim by clicking the OK button,
highlighted in red within Figure 6, below.

Figure 6: Press the OK button to trim
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This will take you back to the slide with the trimmed video clip, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Trimmed video clip
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Notice that although the video is trimmed, you have not lost the parts that were trimmed off. To get them back, or to change the
Start and End points again, just select the video clip and click the Trim Video button
again. This will get you to the same Trim Video dialog that you saw last in Figure 6, above. You can
actually drag the green and red markers again to their original positions, and all the trimming will be undone!
Note: You can only edit the start and end points of videos as long as you do not use any of
the
Compress Media
options. Once you compress the video clips, the trimming will be final, and not editable henceforth.
- Make sure you save your presentation.
See Also:
Trim Video Clips in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Trim
Video Clips in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows