I am on a Mac laptop using Sonoma 14.2.1.I am running LibreOffice 7.5.4.2.
I have been given a powerpoint file with imbedded audio. I would like to play it, including the audio. If I select the file, it puts me in Impress. I do a Start From First Slide, I can see the slides perfectly. I can see the audio icon. What I can’t do is hear the slide. What do I have to hear the audio?
I seem to recall that the media player part of Impress used to require the presence of a Java JDK to work, so that might be a first point of call.
Secondly, and more generally even if the media player part now doesn’t require Java, it had quite a restrictive functionality, and could only play a limited number of media types/containers. If your PPT contains an audio container/format that is unsupported, then you will never hear anything despite getting the player controls to display.
So, there are a few questions we can ask first:
which version of Libre Office?
where did you get it from? Appstore or downloaded from the Libre Office download website?
Do you have a JDK installed on your system, and if so, which version?
Do you happen to know which type of audio container/format has been embedded in the ppt file?
Rereading through some old bug reports indicates that there was work done in a GSOC project to integrate support for VLC in 2013, so you might also try installing VLC media player if you haven’t got it already to see whether that changes anything for you when attempting to play the sound from within Impress.
Generally, media support in LibreOffice relies on what is already available in the OS on which it is running, meaning that if the audio container/format is not supported by the OS, then it won’t be readable in LibreOffice.
@iplaw67, the version numbers were in my OP. LibreOffice version 7.5.4.2. I downloaded it from the LibreOffice website. I don’t have Java. No, I have no idea what audio format it is. It’s from a class. I need to run these each week for class.
I have discovered the Powerpoint runs on Keynote. So clearly it can run in this OS. Yet it doesn’t run in LibreOffice.
The only version of VLC I can see wants to force me to install their search engine to get the download. Is there a VLC without that for mac somewhere?
@Hrbrgr, that is what I am doing. Using a powerpoint with embedded audio should be as easy as press the audio button. Yet it doesn’t work.
I should have been more specific when asking about the version: which architecture for your macOS, Arm or Intel?
If it plays in Keynote then that would imply that the container/audio format is supported by the OS, so the problem lies with LO.
Even so without knowing what that format is, I can’t attempt to reproduce it on my own system.
I would suggest filing a bug report in LibreOffice bugzilla, explaining the problem and either uploading a copy of the file (if you have the right to do so), or finding out the details of the type of audio file from Keynote (if that is even possible) and adding that information to the bug report so that someone can try and reproduce the issue.
I don’t recall being required to use a VLC search engine to get VLC installed, even through the VLC official website, perhaps this is a recent development? I remember an opt-out tick box in which you could choose to allow VLC to send metrics and connect to the Internet to correlate your media library with information available on the Internet, but refusing that option never prevented installation.
An alternative installation method might be via Homebrew, if you have it set up.