We have been working on a large presentation for some time. Prior to starting we did some testing to make sure embedding a PowerPoint file on our website would tick off our requirements.

Our tests showed that audio in embedded presentations worked the same way as it does in the native app. But now when we embed the final presentation the audio controls have become much less usable.

Instead of the usual speaker icon, play button, and progress bar all the audio in our presentations now have an ugly grey oval with a non-functional button on the left and a three vertical dot menu button on the right.

The three dots opens a menu to Play, Download, Mute and adjust the Playback Speed of the audio, which is super clunky for users.

This new menu appears onscreen even for audio we deliberately hid off screen to automatically play in the background.

I’ve tried every possible option I can find within the app, I’ve tried different ways of hosting and embedding the file, I’ve created a new website and presentation from scratch but nothing has had an effect.

Here is a test page I created that reproduces the issue.

It’s gotten to the point where I’m starting to question if the embedded files always worked this way. But multiple people saw our initial tests and we are all sure it worked perfectly back then.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.