|
PowerPoint includes a nifty feature that lets you record your own voice to use as a narration for the slide show. As you record your narration, PowerPoint stores the narration you record for each file separately so that when you play back your presentation with the narration, the slides are automatically synchronized with the narrations you recorded. PowerPoint can also store timings for each slide so that when you replay the presentation, PowerPoint automatically advances each slide along with the narration.
To record a narration, go to the first slide of your presentation and then follow these steps:
1. Open the Slide Show tab and then click the Record Narration button in the Set Up group.
The Record Narration dialog box appears. Notice that this dialog box helpfully informs you how much hard drive space you have available on your computer and calculates the maximum length of the narration that you can record, based on the amount of free hard drive space.
2. Set the microphone level.
To do so, click the Set Microphone Level button. This brings up the Microphone Check dialog box. Talk into the microphone, reading the text displayed in the dialog box. As you speak, PowerPoint adjusts your microphone sensitivity to an acceptable range. When you're finished, click OK.
The Microphone Check dialog box doesn't really care what you say, as long as you talk.
3. Click OK to begin the slide show.
The first slide of your presentation is displayed.
4. Speak your narration into the microphone, and press Enter when you're ready to advance to a new slide.
If you have set up builds or other animations, press Enter to advance through the builds and animations.
When you reach the end of the slide show, PowerPoint displays a dialog box that asks if you want to save the slide timings.
5. Click Save if you want PowerPoint to automatically advance your slides in sequence with your narration.
To advance slides manually, click Don't Save.
You're taken to PowerPoint's Slide Sorter View, where the timing for each slide is displayed along with the slides.
6. Press F5 or click the Slide Show button to begin the slide show so you can see whether your narration works.
The slide show begins. The narration will play through your computer's speakers, and the slides will advance automatically along with the narration if you clicked Save in Step 5.
Here are some additional things to keep in mind about narrations:
 | - As you record the narration, leave a little gap between each slide. PowerPoint records the narration for each slide as a separate sound file and then attaches the sound to the slide. Unfortunately, you get cut off if you talk right through the slide transitions.
|
- The narration cancels out any other sounds you placed on the slides.
- You can record or rerecord a narration for just one slide by calling up that slide in Normal View and then choosing Slide Show --> Set Up --> Record Narration. PowerPoint asks whether you want to begin recording at the current slide or the first slide: Click the Current Slide button. When you're finished recording the slide's narration, press Esc to stop the show.
- To delete a narration, click the speaker icon in the corner of the slide and press Delete. To delete the narration for an entire presentation, delete the speaker icon from every slide.
| 
