How to play media clips in PowerPoint by using Windows Media Player

This article describes how to play media clips in Microsoft PowerPoint by using Windows Media Player.

Some media clips that were created after PowerPoint was released may not play properly when they are inserted into PowerPoint. If you have Windows Media Player 6.0 or a later version of Windows Media Player installed, you can play these clips with the Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player can frequently play media clips that PowerPoint cannot.

Note Windows Media Player does not work with the Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer.

How to play media clips by using Windows Media Player

To play media clips in PowerPoint by using Windows Media Player, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of PowerPoint that you are running.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003

1. Start PowerPoint, and then open the presentation that you want.
2. On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Control Toolbox if it is not already selected.
3. In the Control Toolbox, click More Controls.
4. In the list of controls, click Windows Media Player.
5. Click anywhere in your slide, and then draw a box by using your mouse pointer to create a Windows Media Player control.
6. In the Control Toolbox, click the Properties button.
7. In the File Name box of the Properties dialog box, type the path and name of the file that you want to play, and then press ENTER.
   
   For example, type the following line to play the movie file Mymovie.avi from the desktop:
   c:\windows\desktop\mymovie.avi
8. Close the Properties dialog box.

The media clip now plays automatically when you view the slide. You can also change other properties of the clip, such as looping and size, in the Properties dialog box.

Note To add a movie by using Windows Media Player version 9.0 and later versions of Windows Media Player, click the Custom property in the Properties dialog box, and then click the ellipsis button (...). Locate the movie file that you want to play. Select the movie, click Open, and then click OK.

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007

1. In Normal view in PowerPoint, display the slide on which you want to play the animation.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click PowerPoint Options.
3. Click Popular, click to select the Show Developer tab in the Ribbon check box under Top options for working with PowerPoint, and then click OK.
4. On the Developer tab, click More Controls in the Controls group.
5. In the list of controls, click Windows Media Player, click OK, and then drag on the slide to draw the control.
6. Resize the control by dragging the sizing handles.
7. Right-click the Windows Media Player object, and then click Properties.
8. On the Alphabetic tab, click the URL property.
9. In the value column, type the full drive path. Make sure that you include the file name or the URL that links to the movie file that you want to play.
   
   An example of a file name is as follows:
   C\:MyFile.avi
   Note The value column is the blank cell next to Movie.

For more information about how to add a Shockwave Flash control to a slide, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: