Sometimes your presentation needs more than just spoken words. Sometimes you need to show some actions so that your audience understands what you are explaining until the tiny pieces can get the information very clearly.
One way to do that is finding a way to insert Video into PowerPoint presentation. “Whoa, we can insert video into PowerPoint presentation?” Yes, we can, and the process is straightforward that you might be surprised.
You need to follow these steps, and you will be able to insert even the whole Avenger movie into your PowerPoint presentation. Here are the steps you need to do to insert Video into your PowerPoint presentation.
Steps to Insert Video into your PowerPoint presentation
As mentioned above, a video in your PowerPoint presentation can be the game-changer that you need to have. But not everyone has the knowledge necessary to do it for some reason. That’s why we present you not only the steps but also how to do it in the simplest way possible.
Before that, you need to know that there are some methods you can use to insert Video into your PowerPoint presentation. Here are the ways:
Embedding video
Embedding video means putting the Video into the PowerPoint presentation file. This is the default behavior of your Microsoft PowerPoint, even though this method has its weakness compared to the other way.
The weakness is that your file size will become humongous, depending on the size of the Video you are embedding. Thus, it is recommended that you should not put the whole Avenger movie in your presentation using this method.
Here are the steps you need to do to embed Video from your PC:
- Open the PowerPoint presentation that you want to put a video into.
- Go to the Insert tab, click the small arrow under the Video option, and then choose Video on my PC
- A dialog box will appear, and you can choose the desired Video you want to put into your PowerPoint presentation.
- Click Insert, and voila! You have successfully inserted Video into your PowerPoint presentation.
Linking a video
Instead of embedding Video from your PC, you also have the option to link a video into your PowerPoint presentation. This method is a little more challenging, especially for those who don’t have the experience to do it.
However, this method will not burden your file size because the Video is not put inside the PowerPoint presentation but instead linked to it. The smaller file size will minimize the chance of getting an error message while playing the Video because of the heavy burden on your PC’s RAM and Processor.
Here are the steps you need to do to link video from your PC:
- Open the PowerPoint presentation that you want to put a video into.
- Go to the Insert tab, click the small arrow under the Video option, and then choose Video on my PC
- A dialog box will appear, and you can choose the desired Video you want to put into your PowerPoint presentation.
- Here, instead of clicking Insert, click down the small arrow beside the button, and you will find the link to the file option. Click it, and you now have linked your Video into your presentation.
Linking Video from YouTube or Vimeo
Don’t you know that you don’t always need to have the Video on your PC to include a video in your PowerPoint presentation? You can look for videos on YouTube or Vimeo or upload the Video you want to share to YouTube or Vimeo first.
This feature is available for Microsoft 365 or starting from PowerPoint 2019. The weakness of this method is that you always need to be connected to the internet. It might be a great help for some people, but for some others, this can be a problem.
Anyway, here are the steps you need to do to link a video from YouTube or Vimeo.
- From your web browser, find the Video you want to link into your PowerPoint presentation.
- Copy the URL address of the Video in the Address bar.
- Now, open the PowerPoint presentation file you want to link with the Video.
- Go to the Insert tab, select Video, choose the Online Video
- A dialog bar will appear, and you need to paste the link you have copied before into the box.
- Click Insert, and check whether the linked Video works in your PowerPoint presentation or not.
How to play the linked online Video?
To play the linked Video, there are some options you can do. In normal view, you will see a play button appear on the Video. However, you might not see it in the slide show view.
The thing is, to play the Video in slide show view, you can click the mouse wherever it points, just like when you are playing a PowerPoint animation. You can also press the spacebar to do this.
The problems you might find in the process
Inserting Video into your PowerPoint presentation will not only make your presentation more understandable but also more impressive. However, during the process, you might find several problems on the way.
One of the most common problems is a notification saying that “PowerPoint cannot insert video.” In this case, you might not know the problem because the message doesn’t say what the problem is that you cannot insert Video into your PowerPoint presentation.
Well, the range of problems you are facing is pretty broad when you see that notification. Here are some issues you might encounter:
1. Your Video’s format is not supported
Sometimes, what you want to put in your PowerPoint presentation is not something that should be there. What does it mean?
On many occasions, people download the video file they captured directly from the camera. While frequently the camera will produce PowerPoint-supported video format, many times we forget to set the options.
But solving this problem is as easy as taking candy from a baby. The solution is to convert your Video into WMV format. PowerPoint and any other Microsoft product always support this format. This way, the outcome will not be supported by PowerPoint.
The steps to do it are so easy. Install a video converter software, and before converting, choose your outcome to be a WMV video.
2. Missing codec
The next thing that may interrupt your work is that your PC doesn’t have the required codec to process the Video. Codec is like the ‘chef’ that prepares your Video by processing data sent to its kitchen. Thus without it, you cannot get the desired ‘meal’ you want.
This problem is solvable with the previous solution because your Windows usually have the WMV codec by default. However, if you want to play your Video in its original format or think that WMV files are too big to be embedded (yes, WMV files are huge), you might try the method below.
You need to install codec packets or bundles you can easily download on the internet. The fact that video codecs usually come in bundles is excellent. Not only can installing one codec for one video format, but you can install a bunch of codecs in one go for many video formats.
3. Your Video is corrupted
Another annoying problem you may face is when you have done every step mentioned above, but your Video still cannot be played partly or entirely. How irritating is that?
Well, wait until you find out what the potential problem is, and you will find it more irritating. If any of those methods mentioned above work, the chance is, your source file is corrupted. It is the worst possible problem you can get.
When your file is corrupted, it means the original file is broken. What you need to do is to repair the corrupted video file using third-party software. There is much third-party software that improves corrupted video files you can try, but some of them require more effort or are not free.
4. Missing Link
Talking about inserting online Video, sometimes you may find that the Video you wanted to link into your PowerPoint presentation is missing. To solve it, there are three methods you can try:
- Make sure the link you insert is correct. Keep a copy of the address in another document and keep rechecking if the link is valid.
- Make sure your internet connection is okay with your work unless you can invoke some witchcraft.
- Check whether the Video still exists or not. If the Video author is taking down the Video, you may want to contact them directly from their channel.
Helpful tips when you insert Video into your PowerPoint presentation
Now, let’s talk about some tips and tricks. The best thing to talk about in this topic is how to prevent the video insertion or linking process fails. These tips will help you control the “PowerPoint cannot insert video” notification from appearing in the first place.
- Check your video type. Some types of videos are not suitable to be added to your PowerPoint presentation.
- Install video codec because it will always be helpful to have a lot of video codecs on your PC.
- Last but not least, make sure your Video is playable. You can try first opening your Video from other video players before adding it to your PowerPoint presentation. This way, you can not only prevent having unplayable Video, but you can also make sure which one is the Video you want to put in the presentation.
Closing
This simple tutorial shows you some ways to add a video to your PowerPoint presentation design. If you need help following the procedure, feel free to learn more through a PowerPoint expert.