Record your screen in PowerPoint

Applies to: PowerPoint for Office 365, PowerPoint 2019, PowerPoint 2016, PowerPoint 2013.

You can record your computer screen and related audio, and then integrate it into your PowerPoint slide—or you can save it as an individual file.

• To record and listen to audio related to your screen recording, you must have a sound card, microphone, and speakers.

• Ensure there’s sufficient disc space on your local drive to record and save your screen recording.

Record from your computer screen and embed the recording in PowerPoint

Newer versions

1. Go into the slide that you want to put the screen recording on.

2. On the Insert tab of the ribbon, choose Screen Recording.

3. On the Control Dock, press Select Area (Windows logo key+Shift+A), or, if you want to choose the whole screen for recording, press Windows logo key+Shift+F.

(The Windows logo key+Shift+F keyboard shortcut is only available if you have an Office 2016   Click-to-Run installation; MSI-based installations don’t have the shortcut. Additionally, the minimum required version of Office for the shortcut is 16.0.7571.2072.)

The smallest size area you can record is 64×64 pixels.

If you have chosen to pick an area, you see the cross-haired cursor  . Select and drag to choose the area of the screen you want to record. (If you have already done a screen recording during your current PowerPoint session, your prior area selection will appear on the screen. You can continue with recording if that selection area matches your requirements, or you can press Select Area to start over.)

Tip: PowerPoint automatically records the audio and the mouse pointer, so by default those options are selected on the control dock. To turn them off, deselect Audio (Windows logo key+Shift+U) and Record Pointer (Windows logo key+Shift+O).

4. Press Record (Windows logo key+Shift+R).

Tip: Unless you pin the Control Dock to the screen, it will slide up into the margin while you record. To make the unpinned Control Dock reappear, point the mouse cursor at the top of the screen.

5. To control your recording:

• Press Pause to temporarily stop the recording (Windows logo key+Shift+R).

• Select Record to resume recording (Windows logo key+Shift+R).

• Choose Stop to end your recording (Windows logo key+Shift+Q) (shown below).

After you’ve finished recording, save your presentation: File > Save. The recording is now stored on the slide you selected in step 2.

To save only the recording independently on your computer, right-click the picture on the slide that symbolises the recording, and click Save Media as. In the Save Media As dialogue box, state a file name and folder location, then press Save.

Save your screen recording as a separate file from PowerPoint

If you are using PowerPoint 2013, before you go to save your screen recording as a separate file, proof-check to ensure you have installed all the essential updates:

• Install version 15.0.4641.1001 or later for the Click-to-run version.

• Install both of these updates (KB2883051 and KB2883052) for all versions except Click-to-run.

After you’ve installed the correct updates, you can save the video file. Here’s how:

1. Right-click the video frame, and select Save Media as.

Tip: Ensure your disc has abundant space to save the video file. Otherwise, you must declutter your disc space and try again.

2. In the Save Media as box, click a folder, and in the File name box, state a name.

3. Press Save.

Set your video ‘Start’ settings

Right-click the video frame, choose Start, and select how you want your video to begin your presentation; instantly when a slide launches, or when you click the mouse.

Trim your video

1. Right-click the video frame, and press Trim.

2. To affect your preferred trimming area in your video footage, in the Trim Video box, press Play.

3. Once you reach your desired point to apply the cut, press Pause.

Tip:   Use the Next Frame and Previous Frame buttons to elaborate specific timing.

4. Do one or more of the following:

• To trim the start of the clip, select the start point (shown in the image below as a green marker). Once you notice the two-headed arrow, drag the arrow to the appropriate starting position for the video.

• To trim the end of the clip, press the end point (shown in the image above as a red marker). After you view the two-headed arrow, drag the arrow to the sought ending position for the video.

5. Press OK.

Apply a style to the video frame

Right-click the video frame, choose Style, and choose your preferred style.