Recording Studio lets you make a video of your entire PowerPoint presentation. Not just the slides but hear the presenter talking and even seeing the presenter/s on screen, pointing or drawing on slides.
The video you make can be shared and streamed just like any other video. gives users the ability to easily share their presentations including a recorded video of themselves embedded within it, to simply get their message across.
Recording in PowerPoint might not work the way you expect and Microsoft’s description is very simplistic and incomplete.
To hear Microsoft tell it, you click the Record button, do your presentation then export it to a video file for distribution. All that’s true but only a fraction of what’s happening.
What Recording Presentation really does
Recording is adding new elements for each slide; video, audio, digital ink etc. Those elements are added to each slide and appear in the saved presentation.
That’s important because you might not want your original deck adorned with drawings, highlights or video like this:
The first lesson of Presentation Recording is always record from a COPY of your presentation, not the original slides.
When you record a presentation, PowerPoint is recording a separate video/audio track that plays with each presentation slide.
Recording per slide
Since all recording is done on a ‘per slide’ basis, you can re-record just a single slide of the presentation instead of having to recreate the whole speech.
It also means you can customise a presentation for different purposes by just redoing some slides (like the same presentation for different clients or conference).
How it works
Record by clicking the button in the top right-hand corner on the app bar.
Trip around the Record screen
Once you’ve selected either button it’ll bring up the Recording studio window. The default view will automatically be on Teleprompter which looks like this:
If there’s a second screen, the full slide will appear on other display.
The rectangle in the lower half of the screen is video that will be recorded. The slide takes up most of the video with the camera view of the presenter at bottom right.
Let’s have a look around that screen before we go into detail, starting with the top row:
Edit – return to PowerPoint slide editing
Record button – tap this to start recording. Current time mark and total
Camera – on/off
Microphone on/off
More … choose which camera/microphone to use and clear recording for this slide or all.
Export – when finished recording, click this to save a video file
On the bottom of the view:
Slide navigation – forward or back. There’s no jump to slide number option
Pointer/Pen choices:
Laser pointer – Ctrl + L
Eraser – Ctrl + E
Pen – Ctrl + P
Highlighter – Ctrl + I
Choose a color for Pen or Highligher
Video – show background and blur background (if available)
View selection: Teleprompter, Presenter or Slide.
Views
In the bottom right-hand, click on the view tab to switch between different view options.
You can choose between different views while recording.
Teleprompter
Teleprompter is the default view. It shows your slide notes and slide simultaneously so you can look at the computer camera while reading. Increase the font size to make notes more readable.
Alas, it’s not a true TelePrompter because the notes don’t scroll as you speak.
Presenter View
Presenter View is already in PowerPoint.
Slide View
Purely slide view only, no notes on screen – only really for those confident in speaking without referring to speech notes.
The best choice if you’ll be annotating or drawing on the slide while speaking.
Manage Recordings
Use the recording toolbar at the top to start, pause, stop or retake recording.
To Start the Recording, press the big red button in the middle or press the R key.
To Pause the Recording, press the pause button to the right, or press the I key, if you need to Resume back where you’ve left off, press the play button to the right or the I key again.
To Stop the Recording, press the big red Stop button in the middle, or press the S key.
Retake Recording
If you’re unhappy with the recording and it needs a redo, just select the Retake Video menu to the left of the Record button. Choose between recording again just the current slide or all slides.
Camera and Microphone controls
If you prefer not to show your camera, there is an option to turn off the camera (or use the shortcut Ctrl + K).
Likewise, if you needed to mute your microphone for whatever reason, you can press the microphone button to turn it off or use Ctrl + M.
Markup tools
At the bottom of your presentation are several tools and colors to choose from to add some extra flair to your recording. The tools are available to use within each view option.
Laser Pointer
A handy feature to have to refer to different parts of your slides as you present. Simply click the laser point tool or use the shortcut Ctrl + L to begin.
Pen & Eraser
The pen tool is available to choose between the different color options, but you can’t change the thickness or style.
Simply click on the pen tool and start drawing on your presentation, or use the shortcut Ctrl + P.
Highlighter
Use the highlighter tool or Ctrl + I on your keyboard to highlight certain parts of the presentation that you want to draw emphasis to.
Edit your Presentation
Once you’ve made a recording, you might find that you’re not happy with the default positioning of your camera video. PowerPoint does give you the option to move the positioning and size as well.
Once you finish recording, click the Edit button on the top right to go back to the PowerPoint editor.
From here, you can click on the webcam and drag the mouse to position it elsewhere, or edit the video through Playback and Video Format.
Additionally, you can use your mouse to the corner to resize the webcam.
Record Tab Toolbar
You’ll also find a shortcut to a few different recording features within the Record Tab.
Preview
This will play a preview of your recording.
From Beginning
Record from the beginning of your PowerPoint slides
From Current Slide
Record from the current PowerPoint slide.
Export / Share your recording
Once you’ve completed your recording, click on the Export button on the top right to Export the video.
Enter your preferred filename in the Export Window, then click on the Export Video button to export, view and then share your video. By default, this will be in 1080p.
If you want to change this, click on Customize Export.
This will bring you to the Export Settings where you can choose between File Size and Quality, as well as the Seconds spent on each slide.
File Size Options
- Ultra HD (4K) – the largest file size with ultra-high quality.
- Full HD (1080p) – a large file size with full high quality.
- HD (720p) – a medium file size with medium quality.
- Standard (480p) – a small file size with lowest quality.
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