If you’re like most people, you probably use PowerPoint to present slides and videos. But what if you want to embed a YouTube video in your presentation? There are a few ways to do this, but the easiest way is to use the Insert YouTube Video Wizard. This wizard will help you insert a YouTube video into your presentation in just a few steps.
- Choose the video you want to embed. You can find videos by searching for them on YouTube or by using the search bar at the top of your PowerPoint window.
- Click on the “Add” button at the bottom of the wizard. This will add the video to your slide and make it available for viewing on your computer screen.
- Click on “Next.” The wizard will ask you some questions about how you want to format your slide and how you want to display the video. You can choose either an image or a text-based presentation.
- Click on “Finish.” Your slide will be updated with the new embedded YouTube video and it will be available for viewing in your PowerPoint window
During a presentation, a mix of media always performs best. Using images, graphs, charts, and videos not only makes your presentation more informative but also more engaging for the audience. If you have a YouTube video you’d like to use during your presentation, it’s as simple as embedding it in a slide. Here’s how.
Finding a YouTube Video’s Embed Code
Rather than linking to a YouTube video in your presentation, embedding it in the slide is usually the better option. It gives your presentation a more professional look because you won’t be leaving your slide to pop open the YouTube website. Keep in mind, though, that even with the video embedded in your presentation, you’ll still need to be connected to the internet to play the video.
First, head over to YouTube and find the video you want to embed. Once you’re there, select the “Share” option, which you’ll find in the video description.
A window will appear, giving you a few different vehicles for sharing the video. Go ahead and click the “Embed” option in the “Share a link” section.
Another window will appear, providing the embed code along with a few other options. If you wanting to start the video at a particular time, select the “Start at” box and enter the time when you’d like the video to start. Additionally, you can select whether you’d like to player controls to appear and if you want to enable privacy-enhanced mode.
Note: Privacy-enhanced mode keeps YouTube from storing information about visitors that visit your website that the video is embedded on unless they play the video. Since we will be using the embed code in a PowerPoint presentation, this option is not necessary.
Select “Copy” at the bottom right of the window to copy the embed code to your clipboard. Alternatively, select the code and use the Ctrl+C shortcut.
We’re finished with YouTube, for now, so head on over to PowerPoint and open your presentation.
Embedding a YouTube Video in PowerPoint
Select the slide where you want to embed the YouTube video. On the “Insert” tab, click the “Video” button.
On the drop-down menu, select the “Online Video” option.
The Insert Video window that appears lets you search YouTube for a video or paste in that embed code you copied from the YouTube website. Paste the embed code and click the arrow to complete the action.
Your video will now appear in the presentation. To resize the video, click and drag the corners.
Note that at first, the video will appear as a black rectangle. Don’t worry—this is normal. Simply right-click the video and then select “Preview.”
This will give you a quick preview of how the video will look during your presentation.
Searching the YouTube Video in PowerPoint
You can also search for a YouTube video from that Insert Video window in PowerPoint. Type in your search terms and then click the search icon.
Several options will appear—888,341 in the case of the Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up video for which we searched. Select the one you want to use.
Then select “Insert” at the bottom-right of the window.
That’s all there is to it. Generally, we recommend searching the actual YouTube website and using the embed code the way we described earlier—mostly because the site is much easier to search and you can watch the videos before selecting the one you want. Still, if you know exactly what you’re after, this method might work fine for you.
