Play music or other sounds automatically when a slide appears

Applies To
PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 PowerPoint 2024 PowerPoint 2021 PowerPoint 2019 PowerPoint 2016

You can tell PowerPoint to play music or other audio automatically when a certain slide appears during a slide show.

There are different ways to play it automatically when you get to that slide in your presentation:

Start the audio in the click sequence or immediately

  1. In Normal view (where you edit your slides), click the audio icon on the slide.

  2. On the Playback tab, in the Audio Options group, select In Click Sequence or Automatically in the Start list.

    Screenshot showing the playback tab for audio files which has three options for when to start playing the audio.

  3. To test the sound, on the Slide Show tab, click From Beginning.

    Note

    To hear music or sounds, your computer must be equipped with a sound card and speakers.

Start the audio after a delay

  1. In Normal view (where you edit your slides), click the audio icon on the slide.

  2. On the Animations tab, click Add Animation.

  3. Under Media, select Play.

    Screenshot showing that you can start playing audio after a delay by using animation options.

  4. On the Animations tab, click Animation Pane.

    Screenshot showing the Animation Pane

  5. In the Animation Pane, make sure your audio clip is in first position at the top of the pane.

    Screenshot showing the sound clip should be in first position

  6. Click the down arrow to the right of the sound clip, and then click Effect Options.

    Screenshot showing the effect Options

  7. On the Effect tab under Start Playing, select From beginning.

  8. Under Stop Playing, select After current slide.

  9. On the Timing tab, in the Start list, select With Previous.

  10. To begin playing the sound after a brief delay, in the Delay box, press the up arrow to increase the delay in seconds, and then click OK.

    Screenshot showing how to delay the audio

  11. To test the sound, on the Slide Show tab, click From Beginning.

    Note

    To hear music or sounds, your computer must be equipped with a sound card and speakers.

See Also