Adding text overlays to videos in PowerPoint presentations can help emphasize key points, provide additional context, or enhance the overall visual appeal. While it may seem complicated at first, overlaying text on video in PowerPoint is actually quite simple with just a few steps.
Why Overlay Text on Videos?
Before jumping into the step-by-step instructions, let’s first go over some of the benefits of using text overlays:
- Draw attention to important information: Text overlays allow you to highlight key words, statistics, quotes, or other vital details in your video presentation.
- Provide clarity and context: Brief text callouts help clarify what is being shown in the video or provide additional context.
- Enhance visual appeal: Tasteful text overlays can make your video presentation more dynamic, modern, and visually engaging.
- Add style and branding: Use consistent fonts, colors, and graphic elements to incorporate your brand identity.
Step 1: Insert Video and Text Box
The first step is of course to insert a video onto your PowerPoint slide. You can insert a video from your computer or from an online source like YouTube.
Once your video is inserted, add a text box overlay by going to the Insert tab and selecting Text Box in the Text group. Click and drag to draw the text box directly on top of the video where you want your text to appear.
Insert text box over video
Then simply type your desired text into the box. You may need to adjust formatting like font size, color, etc. to make sure your text is clearly visible.
Step 2: Add Animations
Now we can spice things up by adding animations to make our text overlay fade in and out over the video playback.
Go to the Animations tab in PowerPoint and open the Animation Pane. Select your text box, click Add Animation, and choose a Fade In and Fade Out Entrance and Exit effect.
Add fade in out animation
Step 3: Set Triggers
Here comes the cool part — linking the animation timing to the video playback.
Select a fade animation for the text, go to the Triggers menu, and choose On Bookmark. Then pick a bookmark you’ve placed in the video timeline when you want that animation to occur.
Repeat this process for both the Fade In and Fade Out animations. The bookmarks act as triggers to start each animation.
Set triggers
Step 4: Preview and Adjust
Now preview your slideshow, play the video, and marvel at your perfectly timed fading text overlay!
Make final tweaks like changing bookmark times or text positioning as needed. Consider adding multiple text boxes for different video segments.
And that’s it — you’ve just overlaid text on video in PowerPoint!
Tips and Tricks
Here are some additional tips for taking your PowerPoint text overlays up a notch:
- Use high quality HD videos for best playback and visibility
- Experiment with fonts, sizes, colors for maximum contrast and style
- Time fades smoothly to match natural pauses and transitions in the video
- Animate individual lines of text for a dynamic, layered effect
- Use multiple text boxes for different video segments or messages
- Consistent branding elements promote professionalism
- Don’t overdo it! Text overlays should complement, not overwhelm
Overlay Text on Video — Made Easy!
Learning how to perform this popular PowerPoint video editing technique opens up new creative possibilities for enhancing your video presentations.
The ability to precisely time text fades to sync with videos is sure to impress any audience. So put these steps into practice in your next presentation!
Over to you — are there any special tricks or tips you use when overlaying text on videos in PowerPoint? Let us know in the comments below!