Inserting Video Objects in PowerPoint

You can no longer insert media objects in PowerPoint due to the changes that Microsoft made to Windows XP after its SP2 release - more details can be found on the Microsoft site...

A workaround not mentioned on the Microsoft site is to now use Windows Media Player as an object. Follow these steps to insert a video object in PowerPoint 2000, 2002, and 2003:

1. Navigate to the slide where you want your video inserted in a new or existing presentation.
   
   
2. Choose Insert | Object.
   
   This summons the Insert Object dialog box, shown in Figure 1.
   
   
   Figure 1: Inserting video as a Windows Media Player object.
   
   
3. In the Insert Object dialog box, make sure that the Create New radio button is selected and choose the Windows Media Player option.
   
   
4. You'll find a Windows Media Player instance right in the center of your slide, as shown in Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: A Windows Media Player object on a PowerPoint slide.
   
   
5. Right-click the object on the slide and choose Properties - this brings up the Properties window that you can see in Figure 3.
   
   
   Figure 3: The Properties window
   
   
6. In the URL area, type in the full path and name of the video you want to play - for my example, I typed in c:/FinancialMovingup.wmv as you can see in Figure 4 - incidentally, this is one of the free videos on the CD attached to the book!
   
   
   Figure 4: The Properties window with the full path and file name of the video
   
   
7. You can now close the Properties window and save your presentation. Play your presentation and the video will now have all the functionality of Windows Media Player! To see for yourself, just right-click the video area and you'll see a menu with all the Windows Media Player options, as shown in Figure 5.
   
   
   Figure 5: It's the full Windows Media Player inside PowerPoint!
   

Tip: You can also reposition and resize the video object as required.

Remember: Video objects will only work in the full version of PowerPoint - they are disabled in the free PowerPoint Viewer - so they won't work in Package for CD presentations that include the Viewer.

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