PowerPoint: playing YouTube video from within presentation
Note: these directions are written specifically for PowerPoint 2007. Please ask if you need info on a different version.
Would you like to play a YouTube video from within a PowerPoint slide? These directions look long, but the process isn't too complicated (well, maybe a little). Note that this method only works when you have a live connection to the internet during playback.
- Find the YouTube video you want to use and leave your browser window open to that page
- Also, open your presentation in PowerPoint 2007 and select or create the slide where you want the YouTube video to appear--obviously you need a large space on the slide!
- You need the Developer tab showing along the top of your PP screen (along the line with Home, Insert, Design, etc.); if it isn't:
- from the Office button (top left), click the PowerPoint Options button (at the bottom of the menu)
- in the PowerPoint options box, select "Popular" on the left and check the "Show Developer Tab in the ribbon" option; click ok
- now you will see a new tab labeled "Developer" at the top of your PowerPoint workspace
- from the Office button (top left), click the PowerPoint Options button (at the bottom of the menu)
- From the Developer tab, in the Controls section, click the More Controls button
- Scroll down and double-click "Shockwave Flash Object"
- Your cursor will change into a crosshairs, so you can click in the slide and drag to create the box where the video will appear (you can adjust the size later by clicking on the box, then dragging the small circles--or "handles"--at the corners)
- Now return to your YouTube page to copy the URL (see image below). Click once in the URL box, then right-click and choose "Copy"
- Return to PowerPoint and right-click on your Shockwave object (the rectangle you created); choose Properties
- In the Shockwave Properties box, find the field called "Movie," click in the box to the right of that, then right-click and select "Paste"--the URL from YouTube should now appear as the "value" for the Movie "field"
- Unfortunately, you must now edit that URL... might be easier if you can pull the right side of the Shockwave Properties box out to the right for more space
- Your original URL, as pasted, will look similar to this:
h ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDS4vwdu3fQ
but you must remove the "watch?" and replace the equals sign (=) with a forward slash (/) so your new URL will look like this:
http://www.youtube.com/v/NDS4vwdu3fQ - If you do not want the video to play in a continuous loop, set the Loop variable to False
- If you do not want the video to start automatically when you get to this slide in PowerPoint, set the Playing variable to False
- Now close the Properties box by clicking the X in the top-right corner
- Just run your slideshow to confirm the YouTube video is playing as expected!
- You may download this PowerPoint 2007 presentation if you'd like to see how it works.
