Audio Support in Google Slides

Google announced via their GSuite Updates blog that users will now be able to embed / insert mp3 or WAV audio files directly into Google Slides presentations. This is a huge update for Google Slides and something teachers have been asking for a long time.

You should start seeing this feature with-in the next couple weeks. You will see a new option under the Insert menu. Click on Insert then clicking Audio will prompt you to select an audio file that is saved into your Google Drive. This means you need to make sure your mp3 / WAV file will need to be saved in your Google Drive prior to inserting it in a Slides presentation.

You will only see the audio files that are in your Drive. You can choose to use files from your Team Drive folders or even files that are found in Shared with me. Select the audio file you want to use and click the blue Select button.

When the audio file is selected a speaker icon is placed on the current slide you are on. Click to select the icon and click the Format Options button on the tool bar. This will open the Audio Playback options for your file.

• Your audio can be started "On click" when you click the icon, or you can have your audio start "Automatically" when the presentation starts or when that particular slides loads.
• You have the option to change the volume of the audio and not have it play at 100% with the "Volume when presenting" slider.
• You can hide the icon when presenting. This is only available when you have Start playing set to Automatically.
• You can have your audio loop. This will allow the audio to start over and play again until the presentation is stopped.
• You can have the audio stop on a slide change. If you want your audio to only play on one slide, check this box. If you uncheck this box, your audio will play across all slides until the presentation ends.

Here is a short video tutorial showing you the different format options and how it works in Slides.