Embedding an audio file in a Word document

[srnteach]

I want to create a Word document that can be e-mailed or downloaded
from a web site. I want this document to include an audio clip that
can be played by either Mac or PC users.

I can add an MP3 to the document using INSERT>MOVIE but I get a
compatibility alert saying that the QuickTime movie might not play on
Windows versions of Word.

Is there another way to add an audio file to a Word document that will
play for everybody?

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

You need to create the file as MP3 and add it using Insert>Object>from
file...

I think that by using Insert>Movie on the Mac you may have converted the
file to MP4 (Quick time movie) format, which most PCs can play, but the user
needs to know where and how to get the QuickTime player. Corporate users
won't be able to do this: their machines will not allow them to install
software.

Make sure it's really an MP3 and it will play for everyone.

However, make sure the audio is VERY short or you won't be able to email the
thing anywhere: it will be too big.

Hope this helps

I want to create a Word document that can be e-mailed or downloaded
from a web site. I want this document to include an audio clip that
can be played by either Mac or PC users.

I can add an MP3 to the document using INSERT>MOVIE but I get a
compatibility alert saying that the QuickTime movie might not play on
Windows versions of Word.

Is there another way to add an audio file to a Word document that will
play for everybody?

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[srnteach]

Thank you, John.

I have tried using INSERT>OBJECT>FROM FILE and then selecting the .mp3
file I want, but I get a popup saying "Server application, source,
file, or item cannot be found. Make sure the application is properly
installed, and that it has not been deleted, moved or renamed."

Is this because my file is not a "real" MP3? For the purposes of
trying to figure this task out I have just been dragging a song from my
iTunes playlist. Do I need to do something else to make the file
suitable for embedding in the Word document?

I appreciate your help--as you can tell, Word is alien territory for me
and I'm just trying to puzzle my way through this.

 

[Jim Gordon]

Hi,

The file type that is saved by iTunes when you drag from a playlist is
m4p (mpeg 4).

Word does not know how to play m4p format files. However, you can create
a link to the file from within Word, and that should work providing your
Windows users have either QuickTime, iTunes, or any other application on
their end that can play m4p files.

Here's what you can do:
1. Make a folder
2. Drag the iTunes song into the folder
3. Put the Word document into the folder
4. Select text, or a picture, or an autoshape and from the keyboard
press Apple+K. The Hyperlink dialog box will open. Click the Document
tab then click the Select button. Navigate to the music file then click OK.
5. Save the Word document (it must be in the folder at the same
directory level).
6. Control (or right)-click the folder and create an archive of the folder.

Send the archive to the Windows users. They can decompress it and then
the link in the Word document should work.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

 

[srnteach]

Jim, thank you for your help.

I have now figured out the difference between MP3 and m4p and how to
convert things in my iTunes playlist to MP3, WAV or AIFF. Which format
does Word know how to play?

Your instructions worked perfectly for attaching the m4p to the Word
document and I succeeded in emailing the document, opening it, and
playing the song. File size was huge, however, and as suggested this
is likely to make the task I had in mind prohibitive.

Perhaps if I explained the task I had in mind, someone might have a
suggestion on how to do it. I am a teacher and I want my students to
write a brief essay on a particular subject (to be submitted via email
as a Word document, preferably) and attach to the essay an historic
piece of music that they select and download from a particular web
site. Is there a way to do this with realistic file sizes?

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

 

[srnteach]

Okay, my brain finally kicks into gear and I realize that the solution,
duh, is to have the students simply create a hyperlink in the Word
document to the song on the website that I have assigned them to look
at. Why attach a file to the Word document when a hyperlink will do
just fine.

 

[Jim Gordon]

LOL!

Glad I could help. Office is a bit behind the times. It likes WAV sound
files. It also likes AVI. Everything else is linked.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP