PowerPoint as a video: keep animations and transitions

Still images or a video?

When you add a PowerPoint file (.pptx) to a screen, InfoBox turns every page into a still image. That's quick, and you can reorder or remove pages afterwards, but animations, transitions, embedded videos and sound don't play. If your presentation relies on them, export it as a video in PowerPoint and add the video instead.

• PowerPoint file: still images, one per page. Pages can be reordered and removed in InfoBox, and one duration applies to every page.
• Video: animations, transitions and embedded videos play as they do in a slide show. To change anything, edit the presentation and export it again.

Export on Windows

In the PowerPoint desktop app:

• Open the presentation in the PowerPoint desktop app. PowerPoint for the web can't export videos.
• Choose File → Export → Create a Video.
• Pick Full HD (1080p). Ultra HD (4K) files are several times larger and take much longer to download to the screens.
• Choose Don't Use Recorded Timings and Narrations and set Seconds spent on each slide (5 seconds by default). If you have rehearsed timings in PowerPoint, you can use those instead.
• Click Create Video and save the file as MPEG-4 Video (.mp4). A long presentation can take a while to export.

Export on a Mac

In PowerPoint for Mac:

• Choose File → Export.
• Set File Format to MP4 and the quality to Full HD (1080p).
• Set how many seconds each page shows, or use recorded timings.
• Click Export.

Portrait screens

A video plays in the shape it was made in. For a portrait screen, switch the presentation to portrait before you export it: Design → Slide Size → Custom Slide Size → Portrait. Otherwise the video shows small, with black bars above and below.

Add the video to a screen

The video plays its full length, then the screen moves on to the next content. Video is available on Pro screens.

• Open the screen's content and click Add to screen.
• Pick Media → Video.
• Upload the MP4 file, or pick it from the Media Library if you have already uploaded it.
• Click Publish to show it on the screen.

Good to know

A few details:

• Updating: edit the presentation, export it again and swap the file with Change on the video.
• File size: keep the video under 200 MB where you can; see Supported file types.

Summary

Need animations or embedded videos? Export the presentation as a Full HD video in PowerPoint (on Windows: File → Export → Create a Video) and add it to the screen as a video. For still pages, add the PowerPoint file as it is.