Adding sound files to presentation

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bob19784
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2009 3:32 pm

Adding sound files to presentation

Post by bob19784 »

Win7 Home Premium, AMD Athlon II X4 630 processor, 2.80 ghz, 4 gigs of memory. Aoo 4.1.0.

I have built a large presentation (about 130 slides) using Impress. I originally tried to do the job under Aoo 4.4.1 but, as many reported, had continuing crashes. I reverted to Aoo 4.1.0 and have not had any crashes since.

At this point the visual part of the presentation is essentially complete.

Now I need to add voice narration. I am using Audacity 2.1.0 to create the sound files -- one file per slide that requires narration. These are saved as .wav files.

I have read everything I can find regarding how to add the sound files to each slide. Per the manual, I have tried clicking in open space within a given slide, then Insert|Movie and Sound. The sound file loads nicely! The only problem is that it loads over any one of the images that the slide might contain. I have also tried using the Insert|Object|OLE object procedure. Very clumsy and no better results. I can Undo and get rid of the overwrite and have my image back but that doesn't get me anywhere. I have also tried reducing the size of the Sound File icon to perhaps .5 x .5 inches and moved it to the edge of the slide. Then I went back and reloaded the image. The playback worked nicely both in editing mode and in run mode but having to reload one image per slide is hardly an efficient use of time. I have read and re-read everything I can find in the Help manuals and on the Forum but nothing provides anything that gets me anywhere.

What I am trying to do would seem to be a fairly common use of Impress for kiosks and/or sales presentations. I "know" there must be a way!

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Bob
Aoo 4.1.0 with Win 7 Home Premium
bob19784
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2009 3:32 pm

Re: Adding sound files to presentation

Post by bob19784 »

I have learned a few more things regarding adding sound files to a presentation and I now have a work-around. It is a bit time consuming but it is at least workable.

First, no matter where on a slide you click prior to "Insert|Movie & Sound" the sound file will load at the center of the slide. If an image already covers the center of the slide, the sound file will overwrite it. There may be one exception: I added sound files over two different graphics and they did not overwrite. The file icon could be moved to the corner of the slide and reduced in size without mucking up the graphic.

The work-around is to move whatever image already exists in the center of the slide and move it off to the side/top/bottom of the slide. When the file is added it lands in the center of the slide but doesn't overwrite anything. I then move the icon to the corner and reduce it to .5 x .5 inches to be unobtrusive. At that point is is relatively easy to reposition the moved image back to where it belongs. I have thus been able to added narration to about 25 slides without too much trauma.

Is this a "Solution?" I don't think so because it doesn't work the way the Manual says it should. I assume the designers meant for it to work in accordance with the Manual but it does not behave accordingly.

Another issue is that I can not playback the sound file in the Edit Mode to confirm that I have really selected the correct file -- ie, the right file attached to the right slide. It would be nice if clicking on the icon would play the narrative for the slide or right clicking for a context menu that includes "Play" as a option. For the moment it is not too hard to do an F5 to start playing the presentation at the desired slide and listening to the file in Viewing mode.
Aoo 4.1.0 with Win 7 Home Premium
jwilliewms@gmail.com
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:57 pm

Re: Adding sound files to presentation

Post by jwilliewms@gmail.com »

I had the same problem with the sound emblem eliminating my other text or graphic. I found that you could prevent this by 'locking' the box's position.
My problem now is getting a sound file to play across slide changes WITHOUT LOOPING (i.e.: going back to beginning of the sound file) when you change slides. It does not work following the procedures of not checking the Loop or not clicking the apply to all slides. I am trying to get it to play just for a selected number of slides, not the whole show. Any ideas?
OpenOffice 4.00 on Windows 8.1
jwilliewms@gmail.com
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:57 pm

Re: Adding sound files to presentation

Post by jwilliewms@gmail.com »

I just tried my technique of protecting position (in Properties) for preventing the sound file insert from overwriting existing text/photos and it did NOT work. A better solution is to remove the existing text/graphics from the slide area and then do the sound/movie insert. You can then restore your existing text to its position.
I am still looking for an answer to getting a sound file to play across slides without looping.
OpenOffice 4.00 on Windows 8.1
jwilliewms@gmail.com
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:57 pm

Re: Adding sound files to presentation

Post by jwilliewms@gmail.com »

I have found that if the length of your sound file matches the length of time you will be showing a series of slides you can do exactly what the manual says to get a sound file to run continously while changing slides. On the first slide where I wanted the song to begin I:
1. opened Slide Transition; 2. identified a sound (song in my case) via 'other sound' ; DID NOT check 'loop' or 'apply to all slides'. Slides were advanced via 'mouse click' but it may not matter. Apparently what you can't do is run only part of your sound file over a series of slides or have the sound file restart when it is done if your slides aren't finished. But I haven't tried the latter - perhaps others could comment.
OpenOffice 4.00 on Windows 8.1
eedesq
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 5:05 am

Re: Adding sound files to presentation

Post by eedesq »

I am unable to assist in adding sound files but I do want to share an observation for whatever benefit it may be.

Several years ago I created a number of audio/visual presentations utilizing the then current version of Open Office on a laptop running Windows XP. Although I had a bit of trouble figuring exactly how to do so I ultimately added sound files very successfully to several of the programs.

When I upgraded to a new laptop which ran Windows 8.1 the slide shows still worked but nothing I ever did succeeded in allowing sound to be played with them.

Today (01/02/2017) I have downloaded my presentations to my spouse's new laptop which runs Windows 10. The sounds again play perfectly without my making any modifications.

I hope this observation may help someone figure out why Impress doesn't seem ever to have worked very well, at least so far as the use of sounds in presentations, with Windows 8.1.
OpenOffice 4.1.3
Windows 10
jwilliewms@gmail.com
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:57 pm

Re: Adding sound files to presentation

Post by jwilliewms@gmail.com »

Thank you,
I have experienced the death of my HDMI function by using Win 10 so I can't benefit from your advice but it is appreciated!
OpenOffice 4.00 on Windows 8.1
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