Video: Add a sound effect to a transition

Add sound effects to transitions (visual effects when moving between slides) in your presentation. Set them to start and stop when you want them to, and more.

Add a transition to a slide

1. In the Thumbnail pane, click the slide that you want to apply a transition to. The transition setting dictates how that slide enters and the preceding slide exits.

2. On the TRANSITIONS tab, find the effect that you want in the Transition gallery. Click the More button to see the entire gallery. Click the effect that you want for that slide and see a preview.

3. Click TRANSITIONS > Effect Options to change how the transition occurs – for example, from which direction the slide enters.

4. Enter a time at Duration to set how fast the transition goes. Set the number higher to make the transition go slower.

5. Click Preview to see what the transition looks like with all the settings. If you want all slides in the presentation to transition the same way, click Apply To All in the Timing group.

Remove a transition

Remember that a transition applies to a slide’s entrance, not how it exits. So, if you want to remove the exit effects for Slide 2, remove the transition from Slide 3.

Click the slide that you want to have no transition. Then on the TRANSITIONS tab, click None.

Add a sound to each slide that has a transition

1. Press and hold the Ctrl key while you select the transition slides that you want to add a sound to.

2. Click TRANSITIONS > Sound.

3. Do one of the following:

   • Click one of the built-in sounds, such as Chime or Drum Roll.

   • Click Other Sound to add your own sound file.

4. Click TRANSITIONS > Preview to hear the sound while the transition plays.

Want more?

Add, change, or remove transitions between slides

Set the speed and timing of transitions

Add sound effects to an animation

A transition provides a visual effect when you move from one slide to the next.

For example, this transition uses a honeycomb pattern.

Another one has more of a glitter effect.

And others look like a page being flipped, or a cube rotating.

To enhance a transition, consider adding a sound to it. Like this.

To give the sound impact, use it selectively, such as, at the start of a new section in the slide show.

Let’s use sound this way. To begin, we click TRANSITIONS.

I want a transition and sound at the start of each section.

So, I’ll press Ctrl and select the first slide under each section heading: Agenda, Values, Impact, and Challenges.

Now, I'll click More to display the Transitions gallery and choose the transition effect called Honeycomb.

The slides with the transition effect have a little star icon next to the thumbnail.

The transition plays from the preceding slide. So, for the Agenda section, the transition starts on the Title slide.

I'll click Preview, so I can see it.

Now, we'll add a sound to each slide that has a transition. I'll press Ctrl while I select the slides.

And on the TRANSITIONS tab, I'll click the arrow next to Sound.

These are built-in sounds I could use, such as Breeze,Chime, and Drum Roll.

However, I have my own sound file. So, I'll click Other Sound.

That's the sound file, Space Bubbles.wav. I'll click it and click OK.

The sound immediately plays as a kind of preview.

Now, let's click Preview to hear the sound, while the transition plays.

For the audience, this combined effect signals a new section.

I'll switch to Slide Show view.

From the Title Slide, we transition to the Agenda, which is the first section.

Then, we move to the Values section, and we click through that -- let's imagine that it has more slides.

Our next transition is to the Impact section.

And finally, the Challenges section.

The transition and sound have a purpose, and play just enough to be effective.

If you want to remove the sound, select each slide it is applied to, and on the TRANSITIONS tab, click the Sound arrow, and No Sound.

For more information, see the course summary and experiment on your own.