How to Embed a SWF Into Excel 2007

One very effective way to help employees learn how to use an Excel template is to embed a training or instructional video into the spreadsheet itself.

Step 1

Start Microsoft Excel and open the workbook file in which you want to embed a SWF video. Click “File” on the ribbon, then “Options.” Once the Excel Option window opens, click “Customize Ribbon.”

Step 2

Click and enable the check box next to the “Developer” ribbon option under the Main Tabs label. Click the “OK” button. Excel returns you to the main spreadsheet window and displays the Developer tab on the ribbon bar.

Step 3

Click the “Developer” tab, then the “Insert” button in the “Controls” area. Click the “More Controls” button underneath the ActiveX Controls header to open the More Controls window.

Step 4

Scroll down to and highlight the “Shockwave Flash Object” value, and then click “OK.” Click an area on the spreadsheet where you want to display the SWF video. A large blank video control box appears in the area you selected.

Step 5

Click the blank video-control box and hold the mouse button. Drag the control box to the exact position on the spreadsheet where you want it to display.

Step 6

Click the control and use your mouse to drag the dots in the corners and along the edges to resize the screen to your liking. Do not make the control too large as your user can expand the control while watching the video by clicking the “Full-Screen” button on the player bar.

Step 7

Right-click the video-control box, and then click “Properties” on the pop-up list. A new Properties window appears.

Step 8

Scroll down to the “Movie” value and click inside the field box to the right. Enter the complete file path to the SWF movie file. You can display a movie clip from the local computer or one connected to the network. Enter the path in the “C:\Documents\Movies\traning_video.swf” format. Additionally, you can enter the full URL of a video on the Web to display videos from the Internet. Enter a Web URL in the “http://www.mywebsite.com/video_name.swf” format.

Step 9

Click the “X” in the top-right corner of the Properties window to close it. Save the Excel workbook file. Close the workbook file in Excel and reopen it. Once you reopen the Excel workbook, the video player control appears on the spreadsheet. Click the “Play” button on the player bar to view the video in the Excel spreadsheet.

Tips

• If you want to embed a YouTube video in an Excel spreadsheet, append the URL for the video with “?fs=1&hl=en_US.” For instance, if the YouTube URL for the video were “http://www.youtube.com/v/D8cV31nVh7J,” the value to use in the “Movie” field would be “http://www.youtube.com/v/D8cV31nVh7J?fs=1&hl=en_US.”
• Besides SWF movies, you can also embed other video types as long the computer has a supported video codec installed. On many computers, you can embed and display QuickTime movies, FLV Flash videos, AVI clips and Windows Media Player video files in Excel without installing additional video codecs.

Warning

• When saving your Excel workbook after embedding the SWF video, ensure that you select the “XLSX” file format and not “Compatibility Mode.” If you save the spreadsheet in the older file format, the video will not display after you reopen the workbook.

This document is coutercy of http://smallbusiness.chron.com/embed-swf-excel-2007-40873.html