How to Trim a video, music clip, or sound clip in PowerPoint – Microsoft M365

One of the secrets to making presentations impressive is to add a video. You may have video or audio to a PowerPoint slide but later want to trim off unnecessary content either at the start or end of the clip, or both. What to do about that? The following methods below help you trim video, sound clips, or music clips in PowerPoint.

Note: You can only trim the videos you inserted from your computer. This functionality isn’t supported for videos inserted from the web.

Table of Contents

For Windows:

Steps to trim a video:

Step-1: In the Normal view, select the video border on the PowerPoint slide.
Step-2: After selecting the video, you will see a “Video Tools” section on the toolbar ribbon. It contains two tabs: “Playback” and “Format.” On the “Playback” tab, click on “Trim Video.”
Step-3: To decide where you need to trim the video footage, press the “Play” button in the “Trim Video” dialog box.
Step-4: Press the “Pause” button when you reach the point where you wish to trim. (You can adjust the location for a marker by using the Previous Frame and Next Frame buttons).

From the Trim Video dialog box, you have to follow any one of the following options:

To trim the clip’s start, click the start point (shown as a green marker at the left). After you notice the two-headed arrow, you must drag it to a new starting point for the video.

To trim the end of the clip, click the end point (shown as a red marker at the right). After you notice the two-headed arrow, you must drag it to a new ending point for the video.

Steps to trim a YouTube video in PowerPoint:

You can directly trim a YouTube video in PowerPoint by following these steps:

Step-1: Open the latest version of PowerPoint (Microsoft PowerPoint 2019),

(You will see that the Trim Video is not available in PowerPoint even after inserting a video from YouTube. It suggests that you can’t trim the YouTube video in PowerPoint or other online videos currently inserted from the web.)

Step-2: Download that video from YouTube or other supported sites.
Step-3: Now follow the steps listed in the previous section.

Steps to trim a sound clip or music clip:

Step-1: Select the audio clip on the PowerPoint slide.
Step-2: The “Audio Tools” section will appear on the toolbar ribbon. This ribbon has two tabs: “Playback” and “Format.”
Step-3: On the “Playback” tab, click “Trim Audio.”
Step-4: To decide the position of trimming the audio clip, click the “Play” button in the “Trim Audio” box.
Step-5: Click the “Pause” button when you reach the point where you wish to cut.
Step-6: You can adjust the marker’s location using the Previous Frame and Next Frame buttons.

From the Trim Audio dialog box, you have to do any one of the following:

To trim the clip’s start, click the start point (shown as a green marker at the left). After you notice the two-headed arrow, you must drag it to a new starting point for the audio clip.

To trim the clip’s start, click the endpoint (shown as a red marker at the left). After you notice the two-headed arrow, you must drag it to a new ending point for the audio clip.

How to save a copy of a trimmed media file?

Saving a copy of a trimmed media file helps you use it outside of PowerPoint. You should compress the media and use Save Media as a command. Follow these steps:

Step-1: Select “File” and click on “Info.”
Step-2: Select “Compress Media” and select a suitable compression level.
Step-3: The “Compress Media” dialog box opens, and the compression process starts.
Step-4: After compression is completed, you must select the on-slide media you had trimmed.
Step-5: Right-click on it and select “Save Media as.”
Step-6: Enter the file’s name and storage location, and select “Save.”
Step-7: The media file is now saved in your chosen folder.

For macOS:

Trimming of a video, music clip, or sound clip is only available for Microsoft 365 subscribers. So, if you are a Microsoft 365 subscriber, check that you use the latest version of Office. An alternate option is to use an app called GarageBand that helps you to trim an audio file before including it in a presentation.

lSteps to trim a video:

Step-1: Select the video frame on Presentation Slide in Normal view.
Step-2: Selecting the video will show two tabs on the toolbar ribbon. They are “Playback” and “Video Format.”
Step-3: Now select the “Playback” tab and “Trim Video”.
Step-4: Press the “Play” button in the Trim Video dialog box to decide the position to trim the video footage.
Step-5: Press the “Pause” button once you reach the point you wish to cut.
Step-6: You can adjust the marker’s location using the Nudge Forward and Nudge Backward buttons.

Do any of these in the Trim Video dialog box:

Click on the start point (shows as a vertical yellow handle on the left). Now drag it to the right side for your video’s new beginning position.

If you want to trim the end of the clip, click on the vertical yellow handle that shows the endpoint. Now drag it to the left side to a new ending position for your video.

Steps to trim a sound clip or music clip:

Step-1: Select a particular audio clip on a PowerPoint slide.
Step-2: The “Audio Tools” section is shown on the toolbar ribbon. It features two tabs: “Format” and “Playback.”
Step-3: Under the “Playback” tab, click on “Trim Audio.”
Step-4: Click on the “Play” button to decide where you wish to trim the audio clip in the “Trim Audio” box.
Step-5: Click the “Pause” button when you reach the point where you want to cut.
Step-6: You can adjust the marker’s location using the Nudge Forward and Nudge Backward buttons.

Perform any of these tasks:

If you want to trim the clip’s start, click the start point (shown as a vertical yellow handle at the left). Now drag it towards the right to a new beginning position for your video.

If you want to trim the end of the clip, click the end point (shown as a vertical yellow handle). Now drag it towards the left to a new ending position for your video.

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