Section B.6. The Format Menu

B.6. The Format Menu

The Format menu contains commands for adjusting the appearance of various elements on your slide: text, tables, charts , and so on.

B.6.1. Font

When you choose Font, Keynote displays a submenu listing various commands that apply to font formatting. You can apply font formatting to one or more characters , from a single character to several text boxes. The Font submenu contains the following commands, which affect only selected text or selected text boxesor if no text is selected, whatever you type next at the blinking insertion point:

• Show Fonts . When you choose this command, the Font Panel appears: OS X's font control headquarters in which you can choose fonts, adjust their size , and view a sample of the lettering in a preview pane. Additional controls allow you to apply an underline, a strikethrough , or a drop shadow, or change the font color or the paragraph's background color . If the Font Panel's already onscreen, the menu reads Hide Fontschoosing it makes the Font Panel disappear. Keyboard equivalent: -T.

• Bold . Choose this command to turn your text boldbut only if the current font contains a bold typeface. Choosing this command a second time removes the bolding. Keyboard equivalent: -B.

• Italic . Use this command to italicize your text, as long as the current font contains an italic typeface. Choosing this command the second time removes the italics. Keyboard equivalent: -I.

• Underline . When you choose this command, Keynote adds a single underline to your text; choose it a second time to remove the underline. Keyboard equivalent: -U.

• Outline . Keynote changes your text's solid strokes into hollow characters with a fine outline. Since the outline style is created by Keynote, it may not appear correctly if you export your slideshow to PowerPoint, for example. For that reasonand because outline text is difficult to read onscreenthis is a good style to avoid.

• Bigger . Choose this command to make the text one point size larger. Keyboard equivalent: -+.

• Smaller . Choose this command to make the text one point size smaller. Keyboard equivalent: -.

• Tracking . Also known as kerning , tracking is the amount of space between two characters. Use this submenu to tighten or loosen that spacing, or select Use None to restore the font's standard spacing. Use the Text Inspector's Character slider for better control of tracking.

• Ligature . Ligatures are pairs of characters that are treated as onefi and fl, for example. Some fonts contain more than one set of ligatures. Use this submenu to select the common ligatures (default), all the ligature sets, or none at all.

• Baseline . This submenu allows you to raise or lower the text in relation to other text on the line. You can also create superscript (keyboard equivalent: -Control-+) or subscript text (keyboard equivalent: -Control-), raising or lowering the text and also reducing its font size. You'll find this useful when writing mathematical expressions or chemical formulae. Choose Use Default to restore the text to its standard baseline.

B.6.2. Text

The commands in the Text submenu affect paragraph alignment and indenting for the paragraph containing the insertion point or any selected text.

• Align Left . This command produces text aligned on the left margin (also known as ragged right ). Keyboard equivalent: -{.

• Center . Choose this command to create centered text alignment. Keyboard equivalent: -.

• Align Right . Keynote aligns the paragraph text with the right margin when you choose this command (also known as ragged left ). Keyboard equivalent: -}.

• Justify . This command produces paragraphs with text aligned to both margins, giving the column of text an especially tidy appearance. Also known as fully justified or force justified , you'll often see this style used in books and magazines. This is often not a good choice for Keynote, however, where large fonts, small text boxes, and short lines conspire to produce unsightly gaps between words. Keyboard equivalent: -Option-.

• Copy Ruler . Choose this command to copy the ruler settings for a paragraph: text alignment, indents, columns , and tabsin preparation for using the next command.

• Paste Ruler . After using the previous command, select some text or place the insertion point within a different paragraph and choose this command to apply the copied paragraph settings.

B.6.3. Table

When you choose Table, a submenu appears containing commands you can use to modify a table. (Use the Insert menu to add a table to your document.)

• Add Row Above . Use this command to add a row above a selected cell or row. If you select multiple rows, Keynote adds the same number of rows above. If you select multiple cells that aren't the entire row, then Keynote adds an equal number of cells above only the selected cells . You can't use this command if the selected cell is in the top row or if you've selected the entire table.

• Add Row Below . Use this command to add a row below the selected cell or row. If you select multiple rows, Keynote adds the same number of rows below. If you select multiple cells that aren't an entire row, then Keynote adds an equal number of cells below only the selected cells. If you select the entire table, Keynote adds a row to the bottom.

• Add Column Before . Use this command to add a column to the left of the selected cell or column. If you've selected multiple columns, Keynote adds the same number of columns to the left. If you select multiple cells, but not an entire column, then Keynote adds an equal number of cells to the left of the selected cells. If you select the entire table, Keynote adds a column to the left.

• Add Column After . Use this command to add a column to the right of the selected cell or column. If you've selected multiple columns, Keynote adds the same number of columns to the right. If you select multiple cells, but not an entire column, then Keynote adds an equal number of cells to the right of the selected cells. If you select the entire table, Keynote adds a column to the right.

• Select Row . Use this command to select the entire row, or rows, containing selected cells.

• Select Column . Use this command to select the entire column, or columns, containing selected cells.

• Delete Row . This command deletes the entire row containing one or more selected cells.

• Delete Column . This command deletes the entire column containing one or more selected cells.

• Add/Delete Header Row . Use this command to add or remove the header row at the top of the table. If the table spans multiple pages, columns, or linked text boxes, Keynote adds or deletes the header row on each page, column, or text box.

• Add/Delete Header Column . This command adds or removes the header column to or from the left side of the table.

• Merge Cells . When you choose this command, two or more selected cells become one large cell. You can only merge a group of cells that form a rectangular outline.

• Split Into Rows . Use this command to split in half horizontally a selected cell, or each cell in a group of selected cells.

• Split Into Columns . Use this command to split in half vertically a selected cell, or each cell in a group of selected cells.

• Distribute Rows Evenly . Select the table or a group of rows and use this command to resize their row height equal to the tallest row.

• Distribute Columns Evenly . Select the table or a group of columns and use this command to equalize their column width, without changing the outer dimensions of the table.

B.6.4. Chart

The Chart menu and its submenus contain a variety of commands for formatting chartsafter you've added a chart to your slide (using the Insert menu). Select the chart before choosing the following commands:

• Chart Type . Use this submenu to change the chart to one of the other chart types: Column, Stacked Column, Bar, Stacked Bar, Line, Area, Stacked Area, or Pie.

• Format X-Axis . This submenu contains controls that turn on or off the various x-axis options: labels, label orientation, tick marks, and gridlines.

• Format Y-Axis . This submenu contains controls that turn on or off the various y-axis options: labels, the minimum value, tick marks, and gridlines.

• Axes & Borders . This submenu allows you to turn on or off the display of the x-and y-axes, or add a border all the way around the chart.

• Hide/Show Legend . This command removes or adds the chart legend to the document.

• Hide/Show Data Editor . Choose this command to remove or display the Chart Data Editor window. Keyboard equivalent: -Shift-D.

B.6.5. Copy Style

Choose this command to copy the style for a selected character, paragraph, graphic, chart, or table to apply it to another object using the next command. Keyboard equivalent: -Option-C.

B.6.6. Paste Style

After using the previous command to copy a style, select text or an object in another part of the document or a different document, and then choose this command. Keynote applies the copied style to your selected text or object. Keyboard equivalent: -Option-V.

B.6.7. Mask

Select a photo or other image in your slide and choose this command to crop it. Keynote superimposes a semi-transparent mask over the image. Use the selection handles to resize the transparent window, -drag a selection handle to rotate it, or drag inside the window to reposition it. When you're happy with the cropping, click outside the image or press Return to hide the masked portion of the image. Double-click a masked picture to adjust your masking job.

If you click a masked image to select it, Keynote changes this command to Unmask. Select it to remove the mask, restoring the picture to its un-cropped condition. Keyboard equivalent: -Shift-M.

B.6.8. Reapply Master to Slide (or Selection)

If you make changes to a slide's style and formattingchanging text styles or moving text boxes, for exampleyou can use this command to restore the master slide's style and object position. Select a text box or other object you've modified that was part of the master slide, and choose Reapply Master to Selection to reset the selected text box or object to the master slide's style.

Select the slide in the organizer, and choose Reapply Master to Slide to reset the entire slide to the master slide's style. Keynote won't alter objects you've inserted that aren't part of the master slide.

B.6.9. Advanced

When you choose Advanced, Keynote displays a submenu holding a group of less-commonly used formatting commands that are most useful when you're creating your own themes.

• Define (object) for Current Master, Define (object) for All Masters . Keynote changes the name of this menu command depending on the kind of object you select. Select an object and modify it to create a standard style you'd like to see whenever you insert that type of object. Choose Define (object) for Current Master to apply this standard object style to only the current master slide. Choose Define (object) for All Masters to apply this standard object style to the entire theme.

• Set Chart and Legend Geometry for All Masters . Arrange the relative position of a chart and its legend, select the chart, and then choose this command to create the same legend placement for all new charts you insert.

• Set as Default for Current Theme . Select a chart and use the Chart Inspector's chart type pop-up menu to choose which kind of chart you'd like to see when you insert a new chart. Then choose this command to save that preference for the theme.