How to Work More Efficiently With Microsoft PowerPoint Shapes

Tricks, Tips, and Insights on How to Work More Efficiently With Microsoft PowerPoint Shapes

Microsoft PowerPoint has a time-saving Smart art feature that allows you to create professional-looking graphics in your slides. When you want to add shapes to your slide, you don’t have to work harder than you have to.

Instead, you can put these tricks to work for you today.

How to Create and Format Shapes in Microsoft PowerPoint

Shapes, in huge part, make presentations more visually informative. While working with them is easy, nearly everyone wants to work a little quicker.

Here’s how you can quickly add a shape to your PowerPoint:

• Open your PowerPoint.
• Click Insert at the top left of the screen to add a shape.
• Find and select Shapes. A wide range of shape options will open. Select a shape.
• The shape will appear on your slide. Click on it and draw.

Once you’ve created the shape, you can add text, change the formatting and apply other special effects. Note that the shape options work on other Microsoft Office programs, such as:

• Word
• Excel
• Outlook

Trick #1. How To Draw Perfectly Proportional Shape on PowerPoint

If you’ve ever tried to draw a circle, you might have noticed that PowerPoint doesn’t give you a perfectly proportional shape.

The same applies to drawing a square — PowerPoint offers a rectangle instead. If you want to draw a perfectly proportional shape, here’s the trick:

• Head over to Insert at the top of the window.
• Select Shapes.
• If you’re trying to draw a square, pick Rectangle.
• The shape will move to the slides. Hold down the Shift key while dragging your mouse. The shape will adjust in a perfectly proportional way as long as you’ve pressed the Shift key.

Once you’re done, let go of your mouse first, followed by the Shift button. You can use this trick to draw other shapes, such as stars, circles, octagons, triangles, and more.

Trick #2. How To Make More Copies of a Shape on PowerPoint

The easiest way to make more copies of a shape is to use the Ctrl + D function once you’ve selected the shape. After the shape has copies, you can drag it and move it to a different location on the slide.

Alternatively, you can select the shape and then press and hold the Ctrl key while dragging the shape to another location. The trick will create a copy of the shape.

Trick #3. How to Move the Copy of a Shape on PowerPoint

PowerPoint gives you the flexibility to move your shape anywhere within the slide. However, if you want to maintain the same horizontal or vertical position, click the Shift key while moving the shape.

Holding the Shift key locks the shape in its horizontal or vertical plane.

You can also make a copy of a shape and keep it in the same plane. Hold the Ctrl + Shift keys and drag the shape in your direction.  You’ll have a copy that lines up with the original shape.

Trick #4. Making Shapes Copies by Locking the Drawing Mode in PowerPoint

You can also make copies of a shape by locking the drawing model. Proceed as follows:

• Head over to Insert at the top of the window.
• Select Shapes to open options available.
• Choose the shape that you want. The shape will appear on your slide.
• Under Shapes, right-click the option you’ve chosen.
• Select the Lock Drawing Mode option.
• If you want to continue drawing the shape repeatedly, whether on or not in the same proportions, you can continue to draw the shape that will replicate.
• When you finish drawing the shape, go back to Shapes. Right-click on the shape and select Lock Drawing Mode to switch it off.

Trick#5. How to Add Text On Shapes in PowerPoint

You can quickly add text to a shape. Just proceed as follows:

• Right-click on your shape. A drop-down menu will appear.
• Select the Edit Text option. A text format will appear on the shape you created.
• Put in the text you’d want.

As with any text, you can format the text as you want. You can want to make it bold, larger, or any other edits you’d want to make

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