Tutorials

Microsoft PowerPoint Tutorials

The Drawing Toolbar

The Drawing Toolbar provides many commands for creating and editing graphics. The toolbar is located at the bottom of the Power Point screen or it can be activated by selecting View>Toolbars>Drawing from the menu bar.

• Menu -
  
  • Grouping - Images can be grouped together so they become one image and can be moved together or the same formatting changes can be applied to both at once.
    • Select all the images that will be grouped by holding down the SHIFT key and clicking once on each image.
    • Then select Group from the Draw menu.
    • The images can be ungrouped by selecting Ungroup from the same menu. The rectangle and circle in the image to the left are separate images with their own sets of selector handles and they are grouped together in the image to the right.
      
    
    
    
  • Order - The order of overlapping images can be changed using this feature. In the example below, the green circle is selected and the Send Backward command was used to move the image below the blue rectangle. Send Backward and Bring Forward will move elements by one layer. Send to Back and Bring to Front move the elements to the back or top of a series of several overlapping graphics.
    
    
    
  • Nudge - Use the nudge actions to move an object slightly in one direction.
  • Align or Distribute - Select a group of objects and choose one of the the commands from the Align or Distribute menu to change the position of the objects in relation to one another.
  • Rotate or Flip - Rotate an object 90 degrees or flip the object over its x- or y-axis.
• Select objects - Deactivate all drawing functions.
• Free rotate - This button will place green handles on certain objects so they can be arbitrarily rotated. Click and drag the handles to rotate the objects.
  
• AutoShapes menu - Click the small down arrow to the right of the "AutoShapes" text to select a shape. [more...]
• Line and Arrow - Click and drag the mouse on the slide to add lines. Hold down the SHIFT key to draw a straight line. Use the end points of the completed line to stretch and reposition the line.
• Rectangle and Oval - Click and drag the mouse on the slide to add rectangles and ovals. Hold down the SHIFT key to add squares and circles.
• Text box - Click to draw a text box on the slide.
• Word art - Click to add WordArt. [more...]
• Picture - Click to add a clip art image to the slide.
• Fill color - Choose a fill color for rectangles, ovals, and clip art.
• Line color - Select a border color for shapes and pictures.
• Font color - Highlight text on the slide and click the small down arrow next to the Font color icon to select a color.
• Line style - Highlight a line or arrow that has been drawn and click this button to select a thickness or style for the line.
• Dash style - Highlight a line or arrow and select a dash style.
• Arrow style - Change the arrow head style for an existing arrow or change a line to an arrow.
• Shadow - Select a text box to add shadow to text or choose any other object on the slide to add a drop shadow.
• 3D - Add a three-dimensional effect to text and other objects.

 

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