Section 9.2. Modifying Drawings | PowerPoint 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual

9.2. Modifying Drawings

Just as you erase and redraw the sketches you make on paper, you can erase and redraw the drawings you add to your PowerPoint slides. This section shows you how to modify individual lines and shapes . The next section shows you how to layer, align, and group multiple lines and shapes.

9.2.1. Selecting Lines and Shapes

Before you can modify a shape or line, you first need to do one of the following:

Select a single shape or line, mouse over it until your cursor changes from a normal, single-headed arrow into a four-headed arrow; then click.
Select multiple shapes or lines, click the first shape or line to select it, and then hold down the Shift key as you click additional shapes and lines.

9.2.2. Applying Shape Styles

PowerPoint comes with a handful of Shape Style options that let you add professionally designed, theme-coordinated colors and effects (including glows and reflections) to your lines and shapes.

The great thing about Shape Styles is that they let you gussy up your drawings with one or two clicks. The downside is that you run the risk of producing a drawing that looks exactly like a million other drawings on a million other PowerPoint slides. (It's a modest risk because most folks use drawings infrequently and because you'll deliver such a compelling presentation that your audience won't notice.)

To format your drawings by applying a prebuilt Shape Style, first select the line or shape to which you'll apply your Shape Style. Go to Drawing Tools Format Shape Styles and choose a Shape Style, or click More to see the entire gallery of styles (Figure 9-5) and then choose a Shape Style from the gallery.

Figure 9-5. When you add a line to your slide, you see this style gallery. The style gallery varies depending on the shape you add to your slide, but the overall choicesa few different colors, a few different thicknesses, a few effects (like shadows and reflections)are always the same. To preview a style, simply mouse over it.

9.2.3. Modifying Lines, Connectors, and Shape Outlines

You can change the lines and connectors you add to your slide by modifying their color , their weight (thick to thin), their type (dashes, dots, or solid), or by adding arrows to one or both ends. And because the outline of every shape you create in PowerPoint is a line, you can change those the same way.

Select the line, connector, or shape that has an outline you want to modify. Then click Drawing Tools Format Shape Styles Shape Outline (Figure 9-6).

From the Shape Outline menu, choose one or more of the following:

Theme Colors . Lets you make your line a theme-coordinating color.
Standard Colors . Lets you turn your line one of several theme-breaking colors.
No Outline . Removes an existing line or outline.

More Outline Colors . Displays a palette of additional colors you can apply to your line.

Figure 9-6. Because the outlines PowerPoint gives your shapes are nothing more than regular lines, use the menu shown here to modify shape outlines as well as lines and connectors. (Section 9.2.3 shows you how to modify the connecting points of a connector.)

Weight . Displays a dialog box that lets you choose a thickness for your line, from skinny to fat.
Dashes . Displays a dialog box that lets you choose from a collection of dashed and dotted (as well as solid) lines.
Arrows . Displays a dialog box that lets you apply different kinds of arrowheads to one or both ends of your line.

Tip: To shorten or lengthen a straight line, mouse over one of the line's end points (your cursor turns into a double-headed arrow when you're in the right spot). Then drag to shorten or lengthen your line. (This trick also works for rotating lines, as described in Section 9.2.6.)

9.2.4. Modifying the Inside of a Shape

Every shape you add to your slides consists of an outline (a line ), and an inside (a fill ). You can fill in a shape by changing its color, or by adding a picture (including built-in repeating pictures called textures ) or a gradient.

Select the shape you want to modify. Then go to Drawing Tools Format Shape Styles Shape Fill. From the menu shown in Figure 9-7, choose one or more of the options described in the list that follows .

Figure 9-7. If none of the Shape Styles PowerPoint offers is exactly what you want, choose an option from this menu to customize your shapes by recoloring them or adding a picture or gradient effect.

Theme Colors . Makes your shape a theme-coordinating color.
Standard Colors . Turns your shape one of several theme-breaking colors.
No Fill . Deletes the fill altogether.
More Fill Colors . Displays a palette of additional colors you can apply to your line.
Picture . Lets you paint your shape using any picture stored on your computer (Figure 9-8).
Gradient . Lets you apply a light-to-dark pattern to your shape.
Texture . Lets you add one of Microsoft's built-in, repeating pictures to your shape (think wallpaper).

9.2.5. Applying Special Effects

New in PowerPoint 2007 is the ability to add special effects like glows, reflections, shadows, and beveling to your shapes and lines with just a couple of mouse clicks.

Figure 9-8. Here, you see an example of the same shape filled with a picture, a gradient effect, and a built-in texture. All the shapes you create in PowerPoint have fills you can customize, even those (such as arcs) that don't appear to have them.

Technically, you can apply any special effect you like to lines as well as to shapes. But because lines tend to be skinny, they usually don't benefit much from 3-D effects.

Select the shape or line you want to apply a special effect to. Then, click Drawing Tools Format Shape Styles Shape Effects. Mouse over an effect, like Preset (Figure 9-9) and then, from the gallery that appears, choose an option.

9.2.6. Rotating Drawings

You rotate lines and shapes the way you rotate and reposition every other type of object on your slides: by selecting them and then dragging the rotation handle.

9.2.6.1. Rotating lines

If you add a line to your slide and then decide you want to slant it a bit, no problem. PowerPoint gives you two different ways to rotate lines: dragging the end points, and using the Size and Position dialog box.

Figure 9-9. Mousing over an effect displays a gallery so that you can point-and-click your way to a good-looking shape.

On your slide, click to select the line you want to rotate. PowerPoint displays circular endpoints, one at each end of the line. Click one of the endpoints and drag to rotate the line. When you let go of your mouse, PowerPoint displays the rotated line (see Figure 9-10).

Figure 9-10. The easiest way to rotate a line is to click an endpoint and drag it in the direction you want your line to rotate, as shown here. For finer control, though, you'll want to use the Size and Position dialog box (Figure 9-11).

9.2.6.2. Rotating shapes

If you've got a steady hand, the quickest way to rotate a shape is to click the shape's rotation handle and drag. When you want to tell PowerPoint exactly how many degrees to rotate your shape, use the Size and Position dialog box shown in Figure 9-11 instead.

Figure 9-11. A holdover from PowerPoint 2003's Format AutoShapes dialog box, the Size and Position dialog box lets you rotate, resize (scale), reposition, and otherwise manipulate your lines and shapes by typing in specific numbers , such as the degrees of rotation you want to apply. To open it, go to Drawing Tools Format Size, and click the dialog box launcher. To rotate an object, go to the Size tab and then type a number of degrees in the Rotation box.

Tip: PowerPoint gives you a quick way to rotate a shape 90 degrees, as well as to flip shapes (rotate them vertically or horizontally). On the Drawing Tools Format tab, click Arrange

Rotate and then choose one of Rotate Right 90, Rotate Left 90, Flip Vertical, or Flip Horizontal.

Figure 9-12. When your cursor turns into a curved arrow as shown here, click to begin rotating your shape; then start dragging. PowerPoint shows you a ghosted preview of your rotated shape as you drag. When you let go of your mouse, PowerPoint redraws your shape based on its new rotation. To restrict the rotation to 15-degree increments , hold the Shift key down while you drag.

Tip: To display the Size and Position dialog box shown in Figure 9-11, right-click any shape and choose Size and Position.

9.2.7. Repositioning Lines and Shapes

Similar to the way you rotate lines and shapes, you reposition them on your slide in one of two ways: by dragging them, or by using the Size and Position dialog box shown in Figure 9-11.

To reposition a line or shape by dragging, first select the line or shape you want to reposition. PowerPoint displays endpoints (line) or a selection box (shape). Move your mouse over the highlighted line or selection box. When your mouse is in the right place, your cursor turns into a four-headed arrow, and you can drag to reposition the selection.

9.2.8. Resizing Drawings

You automatically choose a size for your shapes and lines as you draw them, by dragging. But if you change your mind, you can easily resize them. To do so:

On your slide, select the line or shape you want to resize .

PowerPoint displays endpoints (for the lines) and a selection box, complete with round and square resize handles (for the shapes).

Click an endpoint or a resize handle and drag .

Your cursor changes from an arrow to a + symbol. As you drag, PowerPoint displays a semitransparent ( ghosted ) version of your line or shape (see Figure 9-13).

Figure 9-13. Dragging a square resize handle lets you distort your shape by stretching or shrinking just one aspect of the shape. Dragging a circular resize handle lets you enlarge or shrink your shape. (To enlarge or shrink the shape while keeping it in perfect proportion, press Shift while you drag.)

When the ghosted line or shape is the size you want it, let go of the mouse button .

PowerPoint redraws your selection.

Note: Another way to resize your drawings is with the Shape Height and Shape Width options on the Drawing Tools Format tab. See Figure 9-14 for details.

Figure 9-14. If you know exactly how wide or tall you want your selected shape to appear on your slide, go to the Drawing Tools Format tab, head to the Size section, and then click the Shape Height (top) or Shape Width (bottom) box to specify the height or width, respectively, to which you want to resize your shape. You can also type in a height or width (or both) directly.

9.2.9. Changing the Type of a Shape or Connector

Suppose you add a plain rectangle to your slide, add some text, and then you decide a fancier callout would look better. You're in luck: PowerPoint lets you experiment by changing any type of shape to another type of shape, and any type of connector to another type of connectorwithout losing formatting you've already applied.

To change a shape to a different type of shape, select it and then click Drawing Tools Format Insert Shapes Edit Shape (Figure 9-15). On the menu that appears, mouse over the Change Shape menu option, and the Shape gallery appears. Click the shape you want to change your existing shape to.

Figure 9-15. Because changing a shape into a line would automatically delete both the shape's fill and any text you'd added to the shape (lines don't have built-in text boxes), PowerPoint doesn't let you change a line into a shape or vice versa.

Changing a connector's type works a little differently: On your slide, right-click the connector you want to change. From the context menu that appears, choose Connector Types and then one of the following (unchecked) options: Straight Connector, Elbow Connector, or Curved Connector.

9.2.10. Adding Text to Shapes

A rectangle or star isn't particularly compelling all by itself. But adding some text can send a powerful message. For example, say you've got a slide that shows a sales chart. On the chart you've drawn an arrow shape to point out a spike in company earnings. Adding a quickie text explanation to the arrow ( One-time State Contract ) provides your audience with instant clarity.

PowerPoint's shapes come with text boxes built in, so all you have to do to add text is select the shape and start typing. If you've just added the shape to your slide, chances are it's already selected. Just click in the text box and type away (Figure 9-16).

Figure 9-16. When you tilt a shape, the text you've added to it tilts, too. If that's not what you want, add an independent text box by heading to the Insert Shapes section of the Drawing Tools Format tab, clicking the Text Box icon, and positioning your new text box how and where you like. (For details on inserting and positioning text boxes, check out Section 1.3.2.)

You can format the text you just added by heading to the WordArt Quick Styles section of the Drawing Tools Format tab and selecting one or more of the Text Fill, Text Outline, or Text Effects options. Chapter 3 walks you through the process of formatting text.

9.2.11. Reshaping and Distorting Shapes

PowerPoint displays little yellow diamond-shaped distortion points on some shapes (but not all). By clicking one or more distortion points and dragging, you can push, pull, and otherwise distort the basic shape into custom shapes (see Figure 9-17). Customizing a basic shape this way is usually easier than drawing your own custom shape.

Figure 9-17. On the left, you see a basic shape; on the right, the same shape after dragging a distortion point (one of the little yellow diamonds).

For some shapes, PowerPoint strictly controls how much distortion you can apply. You can make the happy face into a frowny face, for example, but nothing in between.

9.2.12. Aligning Shapes and Lines

To help you lay out the different shapes and lines you add to your slides, PowerPoint lets you display helpful rulers and gridlines. It also lets you align multiple objects quickly. For example, you can line up a bunch of shapes on the left or right side of your slide simply by clicking a button.

To help you get the alignment right, you can have PowerPoint display rulers or gridlines (Figure 9-18). Choose View Show/Hide Ruler or View Show/Hide Gridlines. Another way to show these helpful tools: right-click a blank spot on a slide and choose Ruler or "Grids and Guides from the shortcut menu.

Figure 9-18. Displaying horizontal and vertical rulers and gridlines, as shown here, lets you layout your shapes exactly. Rulers and gridlines don't appear when you run your slideshow. Pressing Shift+F9 toggles grids on and off; to find out how to customize how far apart PowerPoint places the gridlines, turn to Section 9.2.11.

Note: You can create additional guides by turning guides on (Section 4.2), and then Ctrl-clicking a guide and dragging to create a new guide.

First select the lines or shapes you want to align. Then go to Home Drawing Arrange Align to display the alignment menu shown in Figure 9-19.

Choose one or more of the following:

Align Left, Center, Right, Top, Middle, or Bottom . Tells PowerPoint to line up your selected objects with respect to the slide (see Align to Slide below), or with respect the selected objects themselves (see Align to Selected Objects below). For example, choosing Align Left repositions your objects so that they're lined up on the left side of the slide ( assuming you've also selected Align to Slide; see next).
Distribute Horizontally, Vertically . Tells PowerPoint to spread out multiple objects so that they're equally distant from the sides and top-and-bottom of a slide, respectively.

Figure 9-19. The number of options that PowerPoint activates (as opposed to grays out) depends on how many objects you've selected.
Align to Slide . Tells PowerPoint to align left, center, right, top, middle, or bottom (see above) with respect to the edges of the slide.
Align Selected Objects . Tells PowerPoint to align left, center, right, top, middle, or bottom (see above) with respect to the other objects you've selected.
Show Gridlines . Tells PowerPoint to show gridlines.
Grid Settings . Displays the Grid and Guides dialog box (Figure 9-20), which lets you customize the gridlines that appear (if you've told PowerPoint to show them as described above). The Grid and Guides dialog box also lets you tell PowerPoint to help you position objects so that they touch ( snap to ) gridlines or other objects on your slide.

Note: You can display the Grid and Guides dialog box shown in Figure 9-20 by right-clicking a slide and choosing Grid and Guides.