How to insert Flash into PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint XP(2002) manually

This tutorial shows how to insert Flash movie into presentation directly though PowerPoint 2003 or PowerPoint XP. If you use PowerPoint 2007, click here.

To play Flash movie (file with .swf extension) in PowerPoint you add an ActiveX control and create a link to the Flash file. To access this control and play Flash movies, you should have Adobe Flash Player installed on your computer.

The more convenient way to insert Flash into PowerPoint is using iSpring Pro, handy PowerPoint add-in with "Insert Flash" feature. Download it, install on your PC and you will be able to insert Flash files as you usually insert video or audio in PowerPoint. iSpring allows you to convert PowerPoint presentations to Flash, publish them on web, send via email or host at SlideBoom online portal.

1. Open new or existing PowerPoint presentation and select the slide where you wish to insert Flash movie.

2. Click View on the main PowerPoint menu, select Toolbars and enable Control Toolbox option.

Click View, select Toolbars and enable Control Toolbox option

3. On the Control Toolbox opened, click the More Controls icon.

4. Select Shockwave Flash Object from the list of available controls and click on a slide to place the control. You can resize it with your mouse pointer to adjust the size of Flash animation.

5. Right click on the control you added and click Properties in the contextual menu.

6. Right click on the control you added and select Properties option in the contextual menu.

Specify link to the swf file in the Properties window.

7. On the Properties window opened, click Movie property and specify the full path to the Flash file. You can add Flash file located on your computer (e.g. C:\iSpring\tour.swf) or web resource (e.g. http://www.ispringsolutions/tour.swf).

8. You can set specific options to tune your Flash movie playback.

To start playing Flash movie automatically when the PowerPoint slide is displayed, set Playing property to True. You can add custom controls for Flash movie and set this property to False.
To embed Flash movie into your Presentation, set Embed Movie property to True. Embed means that external Flash movie will be stored in presentation and it can be viewed on any computer where Adobe Flash Player installed.
To loop Flash movie playback while the slide is displayed, set Loop property to True.

9. Now you can save your presentation or view it as slideshow: click SlideShow icon in the View tab or press F5. Press Esc to return to normal view.