Enhance a transition with a sound effect

You can apply a sound to one or more slides in a

presentation. PowerPoint 2007 comes with nearly

20 built-in sound effects that you can use with your

transitions. For example, you can apply the Drum

Roll sound effect before an announcement slide or

the Applause sound effect before a congratulatory

slide. If you have a custom animation that brings

the slide title on one letter at a time, you can run the

Typewriter sound effect during the transition. Other

built-in sounds include Bomb, Camera, Cash Register,

Explosion, and Wind.

If you have your own sound effect that you would

prefer to use, PowerPoint enables you to choose a

sound file, as long as that file uses the WAV sound

format.

When used appropriately, transition sounds highlight

important information during a slide show. As a rule of

thumb, using transition sounds sparingly means the

sounds will have greater impact, increasing audience

attention to the most important information. Having

the same sound for every slide has less impact.

1 Display the slide to which you

want to add the transition sound.

2 Click the Animations tab.

3 Click the Transition Sound menu.

* To use one of PowerPoint’s

built-in sounds, click a sound

effect in the list.

4 Click Other Sound.

5 Navigate to the folder

that contains the sound

file.

6 Click the sound file.

7 Click OK.

PowerPoint previews the sound.

* The name of the sound file appears in the

Transition Sound box.

More Options!

By default, PowerPoint plays the transition

sound file only once. That is usually fine

for longer sound effects, but it may not

allow a shorter sound to have much of an

impact. To have PowerPoint repeat the

sound, click the Transition Sound menu

and then click the Loop Until Next Sound

command to activate. To stop the sound

during the slide show, right-click the slide.

More Options!

If you activated the Loop Until Next Sound

option as described in the previous tip,

the sound will keep playing until the next

sound effect is played. If your next slide

does not have a sound effect, you can

still get PowerPoint to stop the previous

sound. Display the next slide, click the

Transition Sound menu, and then click

[Stop Previous Sound].