How to record your presentation with PowerPoint

Contact Paula Schneider if you need assistance

Recording

Firstly, make sure your microphone and camera are set up and working.

• Open the presentation you want and click the Slide Show tab.

• Click the Slide Show tab, select the slide where you want the recording to begin, and then click Record Slide Show.

• Click End Show to stop recording.

• A Save dialog box appears. Click Yes to save your recording, or No if you want to record it again. Saving overwrites anything you’ve previously recorded. If you want to record another slide show with the same set of slides, save your presentation file with a different name.

• Click Play from Start to preview your recording.

Keyboard shortcuts during the recording process

You may want to print this list of keyboard shortcuts to refer to while you’re recording:

Set playback options

When you’ve finished recording and are ready to distribute the presentation, click Set up Slide Show and choose the options that are right for your audience.

• Show type: Show full screen or windowed.
• Show options: Turn off narration or animations.
• Slides: Choose a subset of slides, or a Custom show if you’ve set one up.
• Advance slides: Set up this version of the slide show so someone can page through it manually.

Recording tips

• • PowerPoint doesn’t record audio or video during transitions between slides, so don’t speak while advancing the slide. Also, include a brief buffer of silence at the beginning and the end of each slide to make the transitions smooth and ensure that you don’t cut off audible narration while transitioning from one slide to the next.

• • You can’t record narration in PowerPoint for the web. Use a desktop version of PowerPoint to record your narration.

• • You can adjust and edit the size of video and ink in edit view.

• • If it’s possible that your audience may use PowerPoint for the web to experience the recording, use the transitions that are supported by PowerPoint for the web (Cut, Fade, Push, Wipe, Split, Random Bars, Shape, Morph).

• • Presentation recording works best with touch-screen PCs that have a web camera.

• • Use video preview to make sure everything is set up correctly before recording.

• • For slides that you want to record gestures (such as ink) on, make multiple copies of the slide so that you can easily record multiple takes. Then delete the extraneous slides when you’re done.

• • Record a few seconds of silence by turning off audio and video to advance after a set time.

• • For higher quality, use an external web cam and/or microphone.
Built-in cameras and microphones are suitable for most tasks. But if you want more professional-looking video, consider using an external web cam, if you’re able. If you’re using PowerPoint on a tablet or laptop and you’re inking with a stylus, an external camera and microphone allows you to minimize stylus noise.

• • As soon as you finish your first slide recording, play it back.
Before you get too far down the road of recording your presentation, make sure your audio and video sound and look the way you expect.