Insert Flash or YouTube into PowerPoint

Friday, October 13, 2006 Filed in: Microsoft

I'm hard at work on a new book on PowerPoint 2007. It’s called How to Wow with PowerPoint and I am writing it with my friend Scott Rekdal. We're focussing on all of the coolest features and the essential skills you need to make great-looking presentations.

Here’s a preview of a useful tip on how to insert a Flash file or YouTube video into a PowerPoint slide.

Put Flash in a Presentation
Inserting Flash animations into a slideshow can significantly extend the animation abilities of PowerPoint. However, the task is NOT easy. In order to unlock this feature, you literally need to unlock the software. This feature is tricky, and if you are of the faint of heart.

1. Enable Flash Technology
There are several preferences you must modify to enable Flash files. You may need to adjust your security settings to allow ActiveX to run (this is the portal for Flash). To activate ActiveX, it is best to view the PowerPoint help file, enter the text “Enable ActiveX.”

Next, make sure that the Shockwave Flash plug-in has been loaded on your system. For maximum compatibility you should download the latest version from www.adobe.com. You should also install the latest version of Flash Player on your system.

2. Enable the Developer’s tab
The Developer’s tab contains several advanced elements that let you customize a presentation. Most of these are for developers, that is those individuals who are actually using PowerPoint as a programming environment to create interactive programs.

To enable these tools, click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click PowerPoint Options button. Next, click Popular, and then under Top options for working with PowerPoint, select the Show Developer tab in the Ribbon check box B. To apply the change, click OK.

3. Add the Flash Control

On the Developer tab, go to the Controls group, and click More Controls. In the new dialog box, select Shockwave Flash Object from the list of controls B and click OK. Draw on the slide to insert the control. Drag from the top corner to the bottom corner (covering the entire slide). A white box with an X should now cover the entire slide.

4. Locate the Movie
Unfortunately, the Flash control does not have a browse function to locate the movie. You have to know the actual file path (this is a long string of text such as C:\Documents and Settings\RHED Pixel\Desktop\Chapter 4\Sources\Video\Flash_Title.swf). Be sure to figure out the location of your file.

5. Modify the Control Container
Now that you know the location of the file, right-click the Shockwave Flash Object on the slide and choose Properties A. On the Alphabetic tab, click the Movie property (this specified the file). In the value column (the blank cell next to Movie), type or paste the full drive path B, including the file name or URL to the Flash file that you want to play.
You can also set options such as looping by modifying settings in the Properties dialog box.

6. Test it Out
Lets see if it works? Press Shift+F5 to Preview the current slide. Did it work? Flash animations are a quickly evolving feature inside of PowerPoint, so keep an eye on the built-in help menu to see if future updates streamline embedding a Flash file. If the above steps seem too in-depth, then be sure to check out PFCMedia, which makes this process a few clicks.

7. Want YouTube?
If you’re clever, you can get a YouTube video to work in PowerPoint. It’s not easy (but its pretty cool!) The trick is to harness the power of Flash (see Put Flash in a Presentation). The only difference is you’ll insert a web URL for the movie you want. For example if you found a movie like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RysNrUP5MqA you would view it on the page. What you need to do is modify the web link. Instead, use http://www.youtube.com/v/RysNrUP5MqA to create a direct link to just the media file and none of the web page navigation. When you launch your presentation, click once to start the clip. If you click the screen again it takes you to the YouTube website. Instead, click the space bar to advance the slide.