Edit the Control Properties

Now that you have inserted the control, it's time to bring in the Flash movie within the control. You need two things:

1. A PowerPoint slide with the Shockwave Flash control inserted.
2. A Flash movie placed in the same folder as your PowerPoint presentation.

And of course, if you don't have a sample Flash movie, get it here...

Get started with editing the control properties:

1. Right-click the control and choose Properties (see Figure 1).
   
   
   Figure 1: Access the properties
   
   
2. This will bring up the Properties window that you can see in Figure 2. Select the (Custom) option so that you can see the three ellipses (...) towards the right -- click on these ellipses. If you don't find the (Custom) option, ignore these steps, and proceed to Step 6.
   
   
   Figure 2: Properties window
   
   
3. This will bring up the Property Pages dialog box that you can see in Figure 3. If this dialog box covers your Flash control or the slide, you can move it away a little.
   
   
   Figure 3: Property Pages dialog box
   
   
4. In the Movie URL text box, type the name of the Flash SWF file that you placed in the same folder as the presentation. You can also type an entire web URL within this text box if you want to access a SWF live from the Internet. Check the Play option, and do check the Embed option too (unless you typed in a web URL in the Movie URL text box). There are several other options in this dialog box that you can tweak as required, but do remember that the Background Color option makes no difference!
   
   
5. Click OK to get back to the slide and play the presentation. Once you play the presentation you may want to resize and reposition the inserted control.
   
   
6. Not applicable for everybody: If you branched out from Step 2, select the Movie option in the Properties dialog box, and type the name of your Flash SWF (see Figure 4) -- no path is required since we already placed everything (the presentation and the SWF) in the same folder. Also change the EmbedMovie option to True.
   
   
   Figure 4: Properties window
   
   
7. Save the presentation.

Maybe you don't want to make any more changes, or you might want your Flash movies rewound after playing. Or maybe you don't want to follow so many steps, and prefer an automated one-click process. I'll cover all these issues soon.

Labels: flash, insert, powerpoint