Audio/Video Issues: (Back to Categories)

1. How do I add narration and/or sounds to my PowerPoint presentation?

2. I don't have any sound when I view an impaticized presentation on my Macintosh. Why?

3. How do I make my single sound file play throughout my impaticized presentation?

4. I have inserted a sound file on the first slide in my PowerPoint presentation and have set my automatic slide advance timings but my presentation does not advance properly. What am I doing wrong?

5. What audio formats are supported in Impatica for PowerPoint Version 4?

6. What video formats are supported in this version of Impatica for PowerPoint?

1. How do I add narration and/or sounds to my PowerPoint presentation?
There are several ways to add narration to your PowerPoint presentation. However, we suggest one of the following four methods which are supported by Impatica for PowerPoint, and can be found in the User's Manual. Here is a brief explanation of the four recommended methods of adding narration or other sounds to your PowerPoint 97/2000 presentation (for other PowerPoint versions please refer to the tutorial links that follow this answer):

A. You can record your narration directly into PowerPoint. From the "Slide Show" menu, select "Record Narration". This will play your presentation as a slide show and let you record the narration as it plays. You should specify the slide advance to occur "On mouse click" so that you can synchronize the slide advance timings to your narration. PowerPoint will then remember the slide advance timings and apply them to future playback. In addition, you should leave your animation timings on mouse-click advance as well. The "Record Narration" process will allow you to set the timings for your animations as well.

B. You can also pre-record your narration independently from your PowerPoint presentation. This is often the most convenient approach to including narration, especially if you are using a professional recording studio. It is easiest if you record the narration for each slide as a separate .wav file.

Open your PowerPoint presentation and, for each slide, select "Slide Transition" from the "Slide Show" menu. In the Slide Transition dialog box, from the "Sound" panel, scroll to the bottom of the drop down box and select "Other Sound...", then select the appropriate .wav file to insert.

C. Using your prerecorded narration, you can insert the .wav file using the "Sound from File" option from the "Insert" menu. Selecting this option will prompt you to navigate to your prerecorded sound file to insert your .wav file directly into your PowerPoint slide.

D. Using your prerecorded narration or sound file, you can insert a sound on animation. On virtually any animation that can be added to your PowerPoint presentation, you have the option of adding a sound effect to the animation. Simply highlight the object you wish to animate, right-click and select "Custom Animation" from the menu box. Highlight the object in the list of objects for that slide and select the "Effects" tab from the series of tabs in the "Custom Animation" dialog box. There is a drop box which allows you to select one of PowerPoint's standard sound effects. At the very bottom of that list is the "Other Sound..." option. Selecting this option will allow you to navigate to your prerecorded sound and add it to the animation effect.

View an impaticized tutorial on:
Adding Sound to Your PowerPoint 97 or 2000 Presentation

View an impaticized tutorial on:
Adding Sound to Your PowerPoint XP or 2003 Presentation

View an impaticized tutorial on:
Adding Sound to Your PowerPoint X Presentation

Coming soon: Adding Sound to Your PowerPoint 2007 Presentation

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2. I don't have any sound when I view an impaticized presentation on my Macintosh. Why?
In the latest version of the Impatica applet, in order to accommodate Netscape 6, different audio class files were used. While this solved the problem of support for Netscape 6, it resulted in a conflict with an older version of the MRJ (Mac OS Runtime for Java) for the Mac. Specifically, only users with MRJ 2.1.4 are affected and will not be able to hear sound in an impaticized movie. Mac users are encouraged to visit http://www.apple.com/java/ and download a more recent version of the MRJ.

For Mac users who view Impatica content with Netscape 6, it is essential that their Macintosh be equipped with MRJ version 2.2 as Netscape 6 is only able to view Java applets on systems that have MRJ 2.2.

3. How do I make my single sound file play throughout my impaticized presentation?
You can easily achieve this effect by inserting the .wav file on the "Slide Transition" of the first slide in your PowerPoint presentation and then uncheck the "Wait for Sound ...At end of slide" checkbox (this is checked by default) in Impatica for PowerPoint prior to translation. This will allow the subsequent slides to advance while the audio continues to play.

It should be noted, however, that this approach is not recommended as it will require the entire audio file to load (stream in) before the playback will begin. This may not be a concern when playing back locally or delivering to an audience with access to high-speed Internet connection but may be troublesome for users with dial-up connections. The recommended approach is to use a separate .wav file for each slide or group of slides in the presentation. This should improve the streaming playback performance for dial-up users.

4. I have inserted a sound file on the first slide in my PowerPoint presentation and have set my automatic slide advance timings but my presentation does not advance properly. What am I doing wrong?
By default, Impatica for PowerPoint has the "Wait for Sound... At end of slide" checkbox checked. As a result, when there is a sound file present, your automatic slide advance timings would be ignored during playback and the length of your sound file will determine when the slides will advance. Uncheck the "Wait for sound at end of slide" checkbox and convert the presentation again.

5. What audio formats are supported by this version of Impatica for PowerPoint?
Audio format support is determined by the version of PowerPoint that he source PowerPoint file was created with:

PowerPoint 2007 files: Support for all of the audio formats supported by QuickTime 6+.

All other PowerPoint files: Support for PCM format, ".wav" files only.

You may add audio files to your presentation by inserting existing files, or by using the "Record Narration" feature in PowerPoint.

6. What video formats are supported by this version of Impatica for PowerPoint?
This version of Impatica for PowerPoint supports the use of AVI video files when the PowerPoint was created in PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002(XP) or 2003. While various AVI codecs are supported, we recommend using uncompressed AVI video for best results.

For PowerPoint 2007 files, Impatica for PowerPoint will support any video file that can be played in both QuickTime 6+ and PowerPoint with the exception of:

• MPEG or MPEG-1 (.mpg, .mpeg);
• MPEG-2 (.m2v, .m2a, .m2s, .mpg, .mpeg) unless you have purchased the plug-in for this format from Apple.

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