How To: Multimedia files can greatly enhance a PDF's content, especially if you're making a presentation. Just be wary of your file size!PDFs are typically used to present static content, but did you know you can also embed movies (and other multimedia content) in them as well?
The movie tool in Acrobat 7 lets you define a clickable area that triggers a clip. For this tutorial, we'll embed a short movie clip of a skateboarding dog. Because hey, anthropomorphizing canines is funny.
We'll be using a PDF called "Playing Guitar: A Beginner's Guide," which we found through the Yummy PDF social bookmarking service.
Please note that you should obey copyright restrictions when embedding copyrighted files.
1. Open your PDF file and choose Tools > Advanced Editing > Movie Tool, or select the Movie Tool from the Advanced Editing toolbar. You can make the Advanced Editing toolbar visible by choosing View > Toolbars > Advanced Editing.
2. Draw a rectangle on your PDF where you want the movie to appear. When you release the mouse button, the Add Movie dialog box appears.
3. Click the Choose button next to the Location text box. The Select Movie File dialog box appears. Select your movie clip. You can also choose to select a sound clip, but for this tutorial we'll insert the movie of the skateboarding dog.
4. The Snap and Embed options will be checked automatically. The "Snap to content proportions" causes the movie to show in its original size and aspect ratio.
If you uncheck this box, the movie will be stretched to fit the size of the window you drew with the movie tool. You should keep the embed option checked so that the movie file will stay attached to the PDF.
5. Once you exit the dialog box, an outline will appear where your movie is embedded. Switch to the hand tool and click inside that box to make the movie play.
Click here for a tip on how to convert Word documents with embedded files.
Changing Movie Options
You'll notice that so far you don't have any control over how the movie plays. And if you leave the page you're on, the movie continues to play. That's no good!
Follow these steps to modify how your movie plays. For the purposes of this tutorial, we'll make the movie play when we enter the page, and make it stop when we leave the page.
1. With your movie already embedded, select the movie tool again and then right-click/CTRL-click on the movie area. Choose properties from the contextual menu.
2. In the Multimedia Properties dialog box, choose the Actions tab.
3. To make the movie play when you enter the page in which it's embedded, select Page Enter from the Select Trigger drop-down menu. Then select Play Media from the Select Action drop-down menu. Click the Add button.
4. To make the movie stop playing when you exit the page, select Page Exit from the Select Trigger drop-down menu. Then select Play Media from the Select Action drop-down menu. After you click the Add button, select the action underneath Page Exit, then click the Edit button.
5. A new dialog box will appear. In the drop-down box beside Operation to Perform, select Stop. Then click OK. You'll be returned to the Actions tab of the Multimedia Properties dialog. Click Close.
6. Save your PDF and close. When you open it, turn to the page where the movie is. The movie should play. If it doesn't, make sure you have the hand tool (not the movie tool) selected. When you leave the page, the movie should stop.
That's it! You should now have a movie playing in your PDF. To combine the power of movie-playing with a slideshow, see PDFzone's tutorial on turning your PDF into a slideshow.
