Random inability to start music when using combined Zoom and PowerPoint for a meeting

[dechairrs]

The meetings concerned involve screen-sharing of PP 'slides', a proportion of which embody a music element.  Habitually, in those instances that occur early in the sequence during the meetings, the music starts with no problem (via the 'Advanced' tab, 'Portion of Screen' , 'Share Sound' and 'Share', buttons, followed by loudspeaker image and clicking on the black triangle on the 'slide').  However, in subsequent instances during the meetings, and for no reason that has so far been determined, clicking on the black triangle fails to start the music.   On all slides, the functioning of the music-start function will have been tested in advance, and found to operate as intended.

Testing, after meetings, of the music-starts for those. slides where the problem occurred, finds no evidence of the problem - the music then starts fine in each case.  Has this problem been encountered by others, and can a way of avoiding it be suggested?

Host's Device:  MacBook Pro (2021) Monterey 12.6.3.  Sign-in by using login details of an associated Zoom user, by whom the meeting will have been scheduled and link etc. promulgated.

[dechairrs · Accepted solution]

Since the foregoing thread was posted, the music-starting problem has been resolved, and the originator is therefore posting the present supplementary explanation.

The meetings concerned will all have been scheduled, and the invitations promulgated (incorporating the link to enable participants to join by computer or mobile device), by the associated Zoom-user, prior to the host's signing-in by using the login details of that other user, by whom the PowerPoint slide sequence will have been prepared.  The difficulty that has been experienced has proved to be a functlon of the means used to convey the prepared PowerPoint material subsequently to the host, in preparation for the meetings.

Hitherto, the method employed has been for a download link to be created by the originating associated Zoom-user, and that link emailed to the host, who was then able, via that link, to access the PowerPoint slide-sequence to be used for the purposes of the meetings.  There had been no indication that this method of transferring the PowerPoint data would give rise to problems in using the data.

However, in the latest instance (as the host also had PowerPoint installed) the PowerPoint data was instead transferred (using 'Wetransfer’ in view of the fairly large file-size) as a pptx-suffix file.

The PowerPoint data being received by the host in the form of the actual digital file itself, has made all the difference.  Provided that the pptx-suffix PowerPoiint file is opened in the usual way in the Power Point application, and provided the correct procedure is followed in the Zoom application, the music now starts with no problem every time it is encountered in the slide-sequence.

Irrespective of whichever transfer method was used there was little difference in the appearance of the PowerPoint data, though the ‘link’ method should definitely NOT be employed, because employing it affects adversely the stability of the PowerPoint application’s operation, and, though almost imperceptible, there is the odd minor difference in screen appearance observable during attempted operation.  The ‘wrong’ data-transfer method has been in use unknowingly for several meetings over a couple of months, causing repeated failures to be encountered by this particular host, and there is much gratitude that it is now known how the previous difficulty is to be avoided.

dechairrs