How to Insert a Screen Recording in Microsoft PowerPoint

When presenting a complex software tutorial or walking your team through a new website design, static screenshots are often insufficient. Instead of exiting your presentation to open a separate video player, you can record your computer screen directly within Microsoft PowerPoint and embed the resulting video seamlessly onto your slide. PowerPoint includes a powerful, built-in screen recording utility that captures both your screen activity and your microphone audio.

How to Record Your Screen in PowerPoint

You do not need to install third-party software like OBS or Snagit to record your screen; the tool is built directly into the Office ribbon.

1. Open your Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and click on the specific slide where you want the video to appear.
2. Look at the main ribbon menu at the top of the screen and click on the Insert tab.
3. Look all the way to the far right side of the Insert ribbon to find the “Media” group.
4. Click on the Screen Recording button.
5. PowerPoint will instantly minimize itself, revealing your computer desktop (or whatever application you had open immediately behind PowerPoint). A small control dock will appear at the top-center of your screen.

Selecting the Recording Area

Before you begin recording, you must define exactly which part of your screen you want to capture.

1. On the control dock, click the Select Area button (your cursor will turn into a crosshair).
2. Click and drag your mouse to draw a red dashed box over the specific area of your screen you want to record. If you want to record your entire monitor, drag the box from the absolute top-left corner to the bottom-right corner.
3. By default, PowerPoint will record your microphone and your mouse pointer. If you want to disable either of these, click the Audio or Record Pointer buttons on the dock to toggle them off.

Recording and Inserting the Video

Once your area is selected, you are ready to capture the footage.

1. Click the red Record button on the control dock. A three-second countdown will appear on your screen.
2. Perform the actions you want to demonstrate (clicking through a website, opening a file, etc.).
3. When you are finished, move your mouse to the absolute top-center of your monitor to make the control dock reappear.
4. Click the square, blue Stop button (or press the Windows Key + Shift + Q shortcut on your keyboard).

The screen recording will immediately end, and PowerPoint will maximize itself again. Your newly recorded video will automatically be embedded onto the slide you selected in step 1. You can now resize the video by dragging its corners, or apply video borders and shadows using the Video Format ribbon tab.