October 24, 2017 Update: Office Mix is moving out of Preview and will be part of PowerPoint by default. This will still be relevant until January 2018 but you should consider following these instructions to migrate.
Okay, Power Point isn’t sexy. But we know how to use PowerPoint and at last Microsoft has provided a good reason to utilize those skills: PowerPoint Office Mix. For those looking to create a training video, demonstration, or dynamic presentation, some common options include Camtasia, Adobe Captivate, and Jing. While dedicated products like Captivate provide an impressive set of features, for many people it requires learning a complex new tool. Since so many people already have at least PowerPoint 2013, I thought it would be good to take a look at a simple new way to create high-quality, interactive screencasts and presentations with PowerPoint.
Recently Microsoft released a free add-in for PowerPoint called Office Mix. Essentially, this means that you can install the add-in and it will show up as a tab titled “Mix” in PowerPoint. All you need is PowerPoint and you can add audio and video of yourself giving your presentation, write on slides as you talk through them, insert quizzes and practice exercises, and assess how users are viewing your presentations.
What you need to get started
- Computer
- PowerPoint 2013 or 2016
Optional accessories: USB microphone, headphones
By the end of this blog you will be able to
- Record audio or video of yourself over a presentation
- Write and draw directly in PowerPoint like you would on the whiteboard
- Add quizzes, online videos, and web pages to your presentation
- Gauge audience understanding with real-time analysis of your mix. See which users have viewed your mix and, and if you include quiz questions, assess how they did on your quizzes
- Share your dynamic presentation
How to Install Office Mix
- Go to https://mix.office.com/
- Click “Sign in” at the top right and select “Sign in with organizational account” if your organization already uses Office365 or sign in with your Google, Facebook, or Microsoft account
- Once you’ve logged in, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Download Office Mix” or just go here
- Now locate, launch and install the downloaded file, which will be named “OfficeMix.Setup.exe”
How to Create a PowerPoint Office Mix
- Now that you’ve installed Office Mix add-on for PowerPoint, you’re ready to create a mix. First, open PowerPoint 2013
- Notice that you now have a Mix tab? Click on that and check out your options:
a. Use this to record you voice over a slide b. Click on Quizzes Videos Apps to add a question/quiz to a slide (note quizzes have to be on their own slide) c. Select Screen Recording if you want to record your screen and voice (screencast) d. Use Screenshot to take a picture of your desktop or an application open on your desktop e. Click on Preview to see your presentation before uploading it f. Click on Upload to automatically upload your presentation to the Office Mix server. You can easily manage this later. g. Click on Export to Video to download your presentation as a videoNote: if you use quiz questions then you must use Upload and not Export to Video - Now create some slides and try them out
How to Share Your Mix, and View Analytics
So we’ve installed the Mix add-in to PowerPoint and we’ve created and uploaded a presentation. Now what?
- Go back to https://mix.office.com/
- Click on (a) Manage and then select (b) Share. Choose who you want to share your mix with – Private, Only users from your organization or group, Anyone with a Mix link, or Public.
You are given several options under the manage tab. You can edit your project’s title and description. You can share or download your mix as well as view usage reports and delete the project. - Now that you’ve shared your Mix with people, you can (c) see analytics for your Mix, which includes overview information on number of viewers per slide, average time spent on each slide, names of users viewing the slide and, if you included quiz/survey questions, assessment data for each user (e.g., responses to the questions).
So now you’ve created a PowerPoint Office Mix.
