Place Text Over Video to Zest up Your PowerPoint Slides

When you add a text box in front of a movie clip in PowerPoint, does the movie clip jump to the front and hide the text? Learn how to make sure the video is ordered to play behind the text box and leave some blank space on the slide to act as a border around the video.

How to Keep the Text Box on Top of the Video

When you have text that you want to appear on top of a video while the video plays, make sure the two objects are arranged correctly.

1. Insert the video into the presentation. Make sure that there is some blank area of the slide where the video does not touch. If there is no blank area on the slide, you cannot get the text box to show up during the playback of the video.

2. Go to Insert and select Text Box in the Text group.

3. Draw a text box on the video and enter your text.

4. Select the text box.

5. Go to Drawing Tools Format, select Shape Fill, and choose a color that shows well over the video.

6. Go to Home and choose a font, font size, and font color that is easy to read.

7. Select the video.

8. Go to Home, select Arrange, and choose Send Backward. The video is ordered behind the text box.

9. Now you are ready to test out the slideshow.

Test to Make Sure the Text Box Plays on Top of the Video

PowerPoint is very particular about the sequence of how to play this video during a slide show so that the text box remains on top.

1. Go to the slide containing the video.

2. Press the keyboard shortcut Shift+F5 to start the slideshow from the current slide.

3. Click on a blank area of the slide, making sure to avoid the video. The text box appears on top of the video.

4. Hover the mouse over the video.

5. Press the Play button that appears in the bottom left corner of the video or simply click on the video itself. The video begins to play and the text box remains on top.