in power point, the pause before progressing to the next slide

PowerPoint does not provide a standard “advance exactly when audio ends” trigger; set each slide’s Advance Slide → After value after determining whether that slide’s timer begins at slide entry or after its final timed effect.

Calibrate one affected slide

1. Duplicate an affected slide so the original remains unchanged.
2. Select its audio icon, then open Playback and set Start to Automatically. This starts the audio when the slide appears.^1^
3. Open Animations → Animation Pane:
   • Check whether the audio appears as a timed animation.
   • Note any delayed animation that finishes after the audio.
4. Open Transitions and, under Advance Slide:
   • Select After.
   • Enter 00:02 as a test.
   • Temporarily clear On Mouse Click.
5. Run that slide in Slide Show mode several times—not by playing the audio from Normal view.

Microsoft documents that the After countdown starts when the final animation or other effect finishes.^2^ However, testing is important because an ordinary inserted audio clip and audio included in recorded/animation timings may not have the same timing baseline.

Use the observed result:

• It advances two seconds after the audio or final effect finishes: enter only the desired pause—for example, 2 seconds.
• It advances two seconds after the slide appears: enter audio duration + desired pause. For a 34-second clip and a 2-second pause, enter 36 seconds.
• Another animation finishes after the audio: the pause is being measured from that final effect. Remove its delay, reorder it, or include it when calculating the timing.

Repeat the verified method for the other slides. Do not use Apply to All unless every slide requires exactly the same total timing.

If these are recorded narrations

PowerPoint automatically saves the time spent on each slide while recording narration, so different pauses made during recording can produce different slide timings. Set the timing manually under Transitions → Advance Slide → After, or use Slide Show → Rehearse Timings and advance each slide at the intended point.^3^

If you retake one slide, stop recording after that retake and then start a new recording from the following slide. A community-reported case found that Retake → On Current Slide replaced that slide’s narration and timing, re-enabling After with a new value; that report used a Windows build, so treat it as a workflow to check rather than confirmed Mac-specific behavior.^4^

If the delay still varies on the test slide

If the same minimal test slide advances at noticeably different times across repeated runs:

1. Record the PowerPoint version from PowerPoint → About PowerPoint.
2. Install available PowerPoint and macOS updates.
3. Test a new presentation containing one short audio file and no animations.
4. If that also varies, contact Microsoft support and provide the sample presentation, PowerPoint build, macOS version, and measured delays.

Microsoft’s current PowerPoint for Mac known-issues page does not list this exact inconsistent post-audio delay, so a repeatable minimal file is important for escalation.^5^

References

1. Play music or other sounds automatically when a slide appears
2. Set the timing and speed of a transition | Microsoft Support
3. Create a self-running presentation | Microsoft Support
4. PPT automatically selects Transitions > Advance Slide > After - Microsoft Q&A
5. Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in PowerPoint for Mac