How to loop a video or PowerPoint slideshow for continuous play [with video]

The question of how to make a video loop for continuous play, rather than have it stop at the end, has surfaced several times in the last couple of months. This feature is referred to as “looping“. This is particularly useful for trade shows, where a laptop is displayed and set to endlessly play a marketing video to be viewed by those visiting the display table.

There are two ways this can be done.

For a Camtasia video using the Camtasia player

The loop settings are done at the production stage. When you’re ready to produce your Camtasia video, follow these steps:

Camtasia 8

• Go to “Produce and Share”
• Choose “Custom production settings”
• Click Next to get to the “File format screen”  and choose “MP4–Flash/HTML5 player”
• Click Next to get to “Player Options”
• Under the “Controller” tab
  • Go down to “After Video”
  • In the dropdown choose “Loop Playback”

Camtasia 7

• Go to “Produce and Share”
• Choose “Custom production settings”
• Click Next and choose “MP4/FLV/SWF– Flash outputs”
• Click Next to get to the “Flash Controllers” window
• Click on the “Flash Options” button
• On the “Flash Options” dialog box choose the “Controls” tab
• Under “End Actions” at the bottom of the window click on “Loop Playback”  (note that this does not work for the ‘Classic’ controller)

Setting the player on your computer or laptop to loop a video

If you already have a video and plan to play it on your laptop, the looping can be set on the Player itself. Most computers and laptops have Quicktime and/or Windows Media Player that automatically open to play a video file when it’s clicked.

To set looping in the Quicktime Player:

• Select “View” in the toolbar
• Choose “Loop”

To set the looping in the Windows Media Player:

• There is a “Repeat” button next to “Stop” on the bottom of the controller, that has a symbol of a circular arrow on it
• Click it to “Turn Repeat On” or off

Looping PowerPoint slideshows

There have also been recent questions about looping PowerPoint slideshows. To set this, be sure to have your presentation open in PowerPoint:

• Go to: “SlideShow”
• Choose “Set Up Slide Show”
• Under the “Show Options” section – check off “Loop continuously until ‘Esc’

Have these tips helped answer your questions on how to loop videos and presentations? Do you have more tips to share about looping? Please feel free to leave a comment below, we’d love to hear from you.

Happy looping!