How to Record Narration for a PowerPoint Presentation For Dummies

Adding narration to PowerPoint presentations is easier than it sounds. You can record your voice to narrate your slide show and then link to or embed the sound file to your presentation. This video shows you the steps.

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Closed Caption:

if you want to create a presentation and
Microsoft PowerPoint that will run
online or includes audio throughout the
entire presentation you can record
narration to accompany the powerpoint
file first when you're in normal view
select the thumbnail in the slides pane
on the left for the slide in which you
want the narration to begin then click
the slideshow tab in the top navigation
and in the setup group click the button
to record narration PowerPoint will open
a dialog box where you can adjust the
levels and the quality of your recording
so first select the button to set the
microphone level and specify the volume
setting then click OK
next select the button to change quality
and in the first drop-down menu choose
the quality for the recording CD quality
is the highest quality and telephone
quality is the lowest of course the
higher the sound quality the larger the
file size when you've made your
selection
the attributes will change automatically
and you can click OK now down at the
bottom of the dialog box you can choose
whether to link the narration recording
to the presentation
just check the box to link and then
browse to select the folder in which you
want to save the file
if you don't like the narration it's
actually embedded into your presentation
so by linking it you can keep your
presentation file at a manageable size
you just need to remember to save the
link narration file to the same folder
as your presentation on your hard drive
or external media
now it's time to start recording as soon
as you click OK in the dialog box the
slide that you chose as the first slide
for your narration will open and slide
show view
just an FYI if you choose a slide other
than the first one in your presentation
to record your narration you'll get a
little pop-up box asking if you want to
start recording from that slide or from
the first slide you can just speak your
narration into the microphone and the
audio will be recorded with that slide
when you're done with the narration for
that slide click on the slide to advance
to the next one
wherever you start you can just keep
recording the narration and clicking on
the slide to advance to the next
slide at the appropriate time in your
presentation if you need to take a
breather at any point just right mouse
click on the slide that you're in and
select pause narration then when you're
ready to get rolling again just right
mouse click again and select resume
narration
once you've recorded your whole
presentation and you get to the black
screen that tells you you're at the end
of the slide show
click on that screen to save your
narration the dialog box will also ask
you whether you want to save the slide
timings with your narration
when you select save your presentation
will appear in slide sorter view with
the timing is displayed under each slide
if you choose don't save power . will
still save your recording narration but
not the timing and you'll just go back
to the first slide
you may want to turn off the timing if
it doesn't benefit the presentation for
example if you accidentally included
long pauses between slides turning off
the timing also gives the viewer the
option to control the pacing
now you can choose one of the buttons in
the top navigation to run your slideshow
from the beginning or to select the
slide and run it from that spot
so you can test the timings and the
recording narration if you decide that
you want to run the slideshow with the
narration but without the save timings
select the slide show tab from the top
navigation and in the setup group select
setup slideshow
you'll see here in the dialog box
there's an option to advance slides
manually instead of with the recorded
timings depending on your audience you
can also choose the show type and show
options here on the left and when you're
done making your selections click OK