Aligning and Connecting Shapes


Aligning and Connecting Shapes

 Microsoft Office Specialist     After drawing shapes in rough locations on a slide, you can fine-tune their position in two ways:

  • You can align shapes relative to each other by selecting them and using the Align or Distribute command. You can choose whether to align shapes vertically to the left, center, or right, or horizontally to the top, middle, or bottom.

  • You can align shapes relative to a position on the slide by displaying a fixed grid across the entire slide or by displaying adjustable horizontal and vertical guidelines. You turn these on in the Grid and Guides dialog box, where you can also specify whether shapes should snap to the grid or to other shapes.

In addition to being able to position shapes precisely, you can also connect them with lines, making it easy to create flow charts and diagrams in which connected shapes indicate a hierarchy or sequence of events. When you select a connected shape, small blue handles, called connection points , appear. You can drag one connection point to another to change the line, or you can drag an adjustment handle to change the line s shape. After two shapes are connected, moving either shape also moves the line.

In this exercise, you will align shapes to one another and then align them to the grid and guides. You will also connect the shapes and change and format a connector line.

USE the AlignShape presentation in the practice file folder for this topic. This practice file is located in the My Documents\Microsoft Press\PowerPoint 2003 SBS\CreatingShape\AligningShape folder and can also be accessed by clicking Start/All Programs/Microsoft Press/PowerPoint 2003 Step by Step .

OPEN the AlignShape presentation.

  1. If the Drawing toolbar is not displayed, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Drawing .

  2. Move to Slide 4, and select all three rectangles.

  3. On the Drawing toolbar, click the Draw button, point to Align or Distribute , and then click Align Center .

    The shapes align vertically relative to their respective centers.

    click to expand
  4. On the View menu, click Grid and Guides .

    The Grid and Guides dialog box appears.

  5. Select both the Display grid on screen check box and the Display drawing guides on screen check box.

  6. Click OK to close the Grid and Guides dialog box.

    A dotted-line grid appears across the slide, and two heavier dotted lines intersect in the center of the slide.

  7. Point to the dotted selection box around the three shapes, hold down the [SHIFT] key, and drag the selected shapes to the left until their left edges touch the leftmost gridline in the white area of the slide.

    Holding down the [SHIFT] key while you drag makes it easier to drag horizontally without nudging the selected shapes up or down.

  8. Point to the vertical guide, and drag it to the left until it is aligned with the P in Preparing .

    As you drag, a guide indicator shows in inches how far you are from the center of the slide.

    Tip  

    If the Guide indicator skips numbers as you drag the guides across the slide, the Snap objects to grid check box is selected in the Grid and Guides dialog box. When you select the Snap objects to grid check box, shapes snap to the grid of evenly spaced lines, helping you align the shapes.

  9. Point to the dotted selection box around the three shapes, hold down [SHIFT], and then drag the selected shapes to the right until their left edges touch the vertical guide.

    click to expand
  10. Point to the horizontal guide, and drag it downward until it is aligned with the bottom of the Research your topic shape.

  11. Point to the horizontal guide again, hold down the [Ctrl] key, and drag a copy of the guide downward until it is aligned with the bottom of the Gather your supplies shape.

  12. Click the middle shape, and click the slanted -line selection box to select the object. Then hold down [SHIFT], and drag the object s dotted selection box to the middle of the slide.

  13. Repeat step 12 to drag the bottom shape to the right side of the slide.

  14. On the View menu, click Grid and Guides , clear the Display grid on screen and Display drawing guides on screen check boxes, and click OK .

  15. On the Drawing toolbar, click AutoShapes , point to Connectors , and then in the third column of the second row of the drop-down menu, click the Elbow Double-Arrow Connector button.

  16. Point to the top shape.

    Blue connection points appear, and the pointer changes to a small box, called the connection pointer .

  17. Point to the outer right-middle connection point, and drag downward to the middle shape (don t release the mouse button).

  18. When connection points appear on the middle shape, click the outer left-middle one.

    Red handles appear at each end of the line, indicating that the shapes are connected. A yellow, diamond-shaped adjustment handle appears in the middle of the connection line, indicating that you can adjust the line s shape.

    click to expand
    Troubleshooting  

    If square green handles appear at the ends of the line, the shapes are not connected. Click the Undo button to remove the line, and try drawing the connection line again.

  19. On the Drawing toolbar, click AutoShapes , point to Connectors , and then click the Elbow Double-Arrow Connector button.

  20. Draw a connection line between the outer connection point on the right side of the middle shape and the outer connection point on the left side of the bottom shape.

  21. Hold down [SHIFT], and click the top connection line.

    The two connector lines are selected.

  22. On the Drawing toolbar, click the Dash Style button, and then on the menu, click the Round Dot line style (the second line from the top).

  23. On the Drawing toolbar, click the Line Style button, and then on the menu, click the 3 pt line style.

    The connector lines now have larger dots.

    click to expand
  24. On the Standard toolbar, click the Save button to save the presentation. If you have finished working with shapes, turn off the Drawing toolbar.

CLOSE the AlignShape presentation.




Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Step by Step
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))
ISBN: B003D3OG7E
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 145

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