Important Information for Anyone Recording Lessons With Powerpoint’s Built-In “Record Slide Show” Feature

IMPORTANT INFORMATION for anyone recording lessons with PowerPoint’s built-in “Record Slide Show” feature.

Prevent Your Recorded Narration from Being Lost

When using the “Record Slide Show” feature on an older PowerPoint file that uses the previous extension .ppt, be sure to save it as a .pptx instead. The old .ppt format does not allow embedded sound, so unfortunately it will not save the audio recordings you just put time and energy into creating. By default, the older PowerPoint file will continue saving as .ppt (unless you choose to save it as .pptx) and although the recorded audio appears to work fine in the file, it will be lost once the file is closed. The sound icon will simply be an image and have no audio attached to it. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a way to retrieve the audio once this has happened.

To ensure your audio narration remains part of your PowerPoint file, see the steps below:

  1. When using the “Record Slide Show” feature on a pre-existing PowerPoint file, go to File, then Save As and ensure the file type selected is .pptx. If it is not already a .pptx file, select this option from the drop-down list and click Save.
    Powerpoint Save As pptx

Export Your PowerPoint as a Video

To ensure all students can view and hear your recorded presentation properly, it is recommended that you export your PowerPoint recording as a video. There have been some issues with students not being able to hear recorded PowerPoint audio when the .pptx file is posted in DC Connect.
To export your PowerPoint recording as a video, see the steps below based on your operating system:

  • Windows: File > Export > Create a Video. Then click Create Video and Save.
  • Mac: File > Export. Select MP4 from the File Format drop-down list. Then click Export.

You will now have a video file of your PowerPoint recording saved to your computer.

Captions & Sharing

YouTube is a great way to share your video and ensure students will be able to access it properly. Remember, setting your video to unlisted will keep your video hidden from search engines, so only people you share the unique URL with, can view your video.

YouTube also creates auto captions, allows you to modify the captions, upload your own transcript, or you can send your YouTube link to ctl@durhamcollege.ca to have it professionally captioned.

NOTE: The subtitle/caption feature within PowerPoint is intended for live presentations. When using the “Record Slide Show” feature, these subtitles will not be captured. Captioning your recording will happen separately from PowerPoint – this is done once the video has been uploaded to YouTube.

Visit this resource for more information on sharing and captioning your videos.