Videos can make your Google Slide presentation much more engaging. You can add a video to a Google Slide from your computer or you can embed a YouTube video to a Google Slide.
The Google Slides app has the built-in capability to play a video from a slide. This tutorial focuses on how to add a video to a Google Slide from your computer. This link explains How to Embed a YouTube Video in a Google Slide.
5 Steps to adding a video from the computer to a Google Slide
In this tutorial, we take you through the process of adding a video from your computer to a Google Slide using the following steps:
- Upload the video to the Google Drive
- Insert the video from Google Drive to Google Slide
- Reposition and resize the video
- Adjust the format options of the video
Let’s begin.
Step #1: Upload the Video to the Google Drive
To add a video from your computer to a Google Slide you must first upload it to Google Drive.
In your Google account, click the Google apps button to open the Google apps list. Then click the Drive app button to open Google Drive.
Click the + New button in the top left of the Google Drive page.
Click File upload on the menu that pops up.
In the Open dialog box that appears, navigate to the folder on your computer where the video file is located.
Select the video file by clicking on it.
Click the Open button.
Your video file is uploaded to Google Drive as shown in the example below. A confirmation message will show in the bottom right corner when it is finished.
Step #2: Select the Presentation
Now you need to open the Google Slide Presentation where the video must be displayed.
Click the Google apps button in your Google account.
Click the Slides app button from the apps list to open the Google Slides home screen.
Click the colorful cross on the Google Slides home screen. This creates and opens a new blank presentation.
Or
Click on a template from the template gallery to create and open a template.
Or
If you already have an existing presentation, open it.
In the left pane, navigate to the slide where you want to add the video.
Click on the slide.
Step #3: Insert the Video
In the main menu, click on the Insert tab.
From the drop-down menu that appears, click on Video.
The Insert Video dialogue box will open.
Click on the Google Drive tab.
The options that will appear is:
My Drive – This shows all the files that are on your Google Drive.
Shared drives – Any drives that are accessible to anyone in your company or department.
Shared with me – Folders and drives specifically shared with you.
Recent – Any file or document you recently accessed.
Select the video file you uploaded onto Google Drive.
Click the blue Select button to add the video to the Google Slide.
Note: Use the search box to look for a video among many. Enter the title of the video or relevant keywords in the search box and click the title of the video when it comes up. The video is immediately added to the Google Slide without the need to click the blue Select button.
The video is added to the Google Slide as in the example below:
Step #4: Position and Resize the Video
You can resize the video and move it to a different location on the slide to suit your preference.
To position the video:
Hover with your cursor over the video. It turns into a four-headed arrow.
Click on the video, and while holding the mouse button in, drag the video to the desired position.
Red guidelines appear as you drag the video to assist you in centering the video within the slide.
To resize the video:
Click on one of the blue boxes along the border of the video.
While holding your mouse button in, drag the cursor diagonally to resize the video.
Tip: Only use the corner boxes when resizing the video to maintain the proportions of the video.
Step #5: Adjust the Format Options of the Video
You can customize the behavior of the video by adjusting its format options.
There are four options on the Format options pane on the right side of the slide:
Option #1: Video playback
Click on the arrow pointing to the Video playback option to open the settings:
Click the down arrow in the Play drop-down control to see the options that control video playback:
Play (on click). This is the default setting. The video plays when you advance the slide by clicking, using a remote clicker, or pressing a key on the keyboard.
Play (automatically). The video plays when the presentation moves to the slide with the video.
Play (manual). The video only plays when you click on the play button on the embedded video.
If you want to play only a segment of the video, set the time when the video starts in the Start at box. Set the time when the video ends in the End at box:
Check the Mute audio checkbox if you want the video to play without audio.
Close the Video playback option by clicking the down arrow next to it:
Option #2: Size and rotation
Click the arrow next to the Size and rotation option to open its settings:
Adjust the size of the video by keying in dimension figures in the Width and Height spin boxes. You can also click the arrow buttons to change the dimension values:
Click the arrow buttons in the Width scale and Height scale spin boxes to set the scale proportions. You can also key in dimensions if you prefer using the keyboard:
The rotate settings are grayed out because you cannot rotate or flip an uploaded video:
Check the Lock aspect ratio checkbox. This ensures that the shape of your video is not distorted as you adjust the settings.
Close the option by clicking the down arrow next to it:
Option #3: Position
Click the arrow pointing to the Position option to open the settings:
If you prefer, you can change the vertical (x) position and/or the horizontal (y) position of the video on the slide. Top left, or Centre of the video as the starting point or origin.
Click the down arrow next to the Close option to close it.
Option #4: Drop shadow
Click the arrow next to the Drop shadow option to open the settings.
Tick the checkbox next to Drop shadow to enable it.
Drop shadow adds a floating effect to the video.
You can adjust these settings to add a shadow effect to the frame of the video.
The color, transparency, angle, distance, and blur radius can be changed by dragging the blue dots left or right.
Conclusion
Videos can make your Google Slide presentation more interesting and engaging. In this tutorial, we have shown you step-by-step how to add a video to a Google Slide, and how to change the settings. We focussed on adding a video uploaded to Google Drive.