Import PowerPoint Slides

Import PowerPoint slides directly into Camtasia and quickly edit them to match audio narration.

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Import PowerPoint Slides

Import .ppt or .pptx slides directly into Camtasia and record voice narration for the slides.

  1. Select File > Import Media.
  2. Select a PowerPoint presentation file (.ppt or .pptx).

    Note: You can also drag a PowerPoint presentation file onto the Media Bin to import the slides.

  3. Click Open (Windows) or Import (Mac).
  4. On Mac, Microsoft PowerPoint opens.
    • Click the Grant Access button.
    • In the Slides dropdown, select All, Range, or Single.
    • Click Import.
  5. Camtasia imports the slides as images into the Media Bin. Drag the slides onto the timeline.
  6. The default duration for each slide is 5 seconds. Drag the end of the clip to extend the duration. See Change Default Slide Duration to change the duration before importing slides and other media.
  7. Record voice narration.

Tip: Create a Video Table of Contents.

Add markers to the timeline to create a video table of contents with the final video. See Add Markers & Video Table of Contents.

Change the Default Slide Duration

The default duration of slides and images added to the timeline is 5 seconds.

  1. Select Edit (Windows) or Camtasia 2023 (Mac) > Settings (macOS 13 or later) or Preferences (Windows and macOS 12 or earlier).
  2. Click the Timing (Windows) or Timeline (Mac) tab.
  3. Enter a default duration for the Images (Windows) or Default Image Duration (Mac).
    Image duration in seconds in the timing tab
  4. Click OK (Windows) or close the Preferences dialog (Mac) to save the changes.

Tip: Adjust the duration of a slide.

To adjust the duration of a single slide, select the desired clip on the timeline. Then drag the end of the clip in or out. You may need to insert space between slides before extending the duration (see below).

Insert Space Between Slides

Create space between slides to make room for longer narrations or to insert additional media.

Move Media on One Track:
Hold the Shift key and drag the media to a new location on the timeline. Media to the right of the clip moves with the selection.


Move Media on Multiple Tracks:

  1. Shift+click to select the first clip on each track.
  2. Hold the Shift key and drag the media to a new location on the timeline. Media to the right of the clip moves with the selection.

Note: For Mac, you must click and hold the mouse button on the last selected clip as you drag to move media to the right of the selection.