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Add and use video and audio files in your project

You can import and use audio clips and video files in your projects to transform them into a rich multimedia experience for your audience. With Explain Everything you will be able to add existing media as well as record new material to your projects, giving them the oomph they need to keep your viewers engaged. You can precisely control your media in a live setting or while recording to ensure your message sticks in the mind of your audience.

How audio and video files work in Explain Everything

  • You can add audio and video files to your project and move them around on the canvas with the  Hand Tool.
  • They have their own recordings that are separate from the project recording. This means that if you add them to a slide and you want them to be present in your project recording, you'll need to record your interactions with them by pressing the main  Record button.
  • Playing, pausing, scrubbing, and changing the volume of the video and audio objects will be recorded in the project recording.

Note: Playing audio and video objects while recording will result in an echo effect if you don't use headphones. Alternately, on the iOS version of Explain Everything, you can select the Mute microphone while playing imported video setting under Settings > Record > Microphone. This will get rid of the echo but will also disable your microphone while imported audio or video are playing.

Add videos

Add an existing video file

  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the menu, select  File (or  Existing Image/Video if you want to quickly pick a video from your Photos).
  3. Select the location where your video is stored.
  4. Select a video (or videos) and select Import to add it to the current slide of your project.
  5. When adding multiple videos, you can choose to add them to the Current Slide or as Separate Slides.

Tip: Check which file types are supported by Explain Everything.

  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the menu, select  Photo, Video, or File.
  3. Select the location where your video is stored.
  4. Select and choose the video (or videos) to add it to the current slide of your project.

Tip: Check which file types are supported by Explain Everything.

  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the menu, select  Existing Image/Video.
  3. Select and pick a video file (or files) to add it to the current slide of your project.

Tip: Check which file types are supported by Explain Everything.

Create a new video

You can add an "empty" video frame to your project and record the video as you go. This way, you are able to add the video for immediate presentations or feature a video of yourself to personalize your project.

Record a video to use it later

  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the Insert New menu, select  Video.
  3. Switch between the front-facing and rear cameras with the  Toggle Camera button.
  4. Select  Record on the control bar of the video to start recording it.
  5. When done, select   Pause to stop recording your video.
  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the menu, select  New Video.
  3. Switch between the front-facing and rear cameras with the  Toggle Camera button.
  4. Select  Record on the control bar of the video to start recording it.
  5. When done, select   Pause to stop recording your video.

This feature is currently not available in the web version of Explain Everything.

Add a live video of yourself to personalize your project

  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the Insert New menu, select  Video.
  3. Select the main  Record button of the project.
  4. Your video will start recording alongside your project recording.
  5. Select the main  Stop button to stop the recording of both the project and the video.

The Center Stage option

If you’re an iOS user with iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation), iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation), iPad 10.2-inch (9th generation), or iPad mini 8.3-inch (6th generation), you can make the most of creating a new, live-camera video of yourself by picking the Center Stage option that adjusts the front-facing camera while recording to help keep you and anyone else with you in the frame. Once you add  Video, select the Center Stage button under the video frame on the very left to turn the Center Stage feature on. To turn it off, select it again.

Note: Once stopped, the new video object will become finished. This means that if you want to redo it, it is necessary to rewind back to the point that you want to change and delete the video object, add a new one, and start recording from that point again. Alternately, you can remove the unwanted part of the recording from the Timeline, add a new video there, and remove the new video when the old one appears. It can be tricky to time this correctly though, so we recommend using the first method.

  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the menu, select  New Video.
  3. Select the main  Record button of the project.
  4. Your video will start recording alongside your project recording.
  5. Select the main  Stop button to stop the recording of both the project and the video.

Note: Once stopped, the new video object will become finished. This means that if you want to redo it, it is necessary to rewind back to the point that you want to change and delete the video object, add a new one, and start recording from that point again. Alternately, you can remove the unwanted part of the recording from the Timeline, add a new video there, and remove the new video when the old one appears. It can be tricky to time this correctly though, so we recommend using the first method.

This feature is currently not available in the web version of Explain Everything.

However, if you’d like that others can see your face when working collaboratively, you can use a video conferencing app to share your project. Learn how to broadcast and share your Explain Everything screen in a video conferencing app.

Add audio

Add an existing audio file

  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the menu, select  File (or  Existing Audio if you want to quickly pick an audio file from your Music library).
  3. Select the location where your audio file is stored.
  4. Select an audio file (or files) and select Import to add it to the current slide of your project.
  5. When adding multiple audio files you can choose to add them to the Current Slide or Separate Slides.
  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the menu, select  Photo, Video, or File.
  3. Select the location where your audio file is stored.
  4. Select an audio file to add it to the current slide of your project.
  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the menu, select  Existing Audio.
  3. Select and pick an audio file (or files) to add them to the current slide of your project.

Create a new audio

You can create an "empty" audio object to pre-record audio directly in the project and use it later as a reference.

Create an audio recording to use it later

  1. Select  Add Media from the toolbar.
  2. From the Insert New menu, select  Audio.
  3. Select  Record on the control bar of the audio to start recording it.
  4. When done, select   Pause to stop recording your audio.

The Android version of Explain Everything doesn't feature the New Audio option yet.

The web version of Explain Everything doesn't feature the New Audio option yet.

Control audio and video objects

Audio and video objects in the project have their own control bars to let you handle them with ease.

Activate the controls

Select an audio or video object with the  Hand Tool to activate its controls. Select the object again to hide them.

Tip The  Play button is always visible on audio and video objects. You can select it with any tool.

Control playback

Select  Play to start and   Pause to stop the playback.

Drag the Scrubber to dynamically seek any time position.

Toggle  Looping to keep the audio/video playing indefinitely, until stopped manually.

Adjust volume

Select the  Volume button, and move the control to the desired level.