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How to Change Your PowerPoint Slide Size (16:9 vs. 4:3)

• PowerPoint Tutorials
• March 10, 2019

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to change your slide size in PowerPoint.

That way you can create slides for any situation including on-screen presentations, printed documents, posters, postcards, handouts, etc.

First off, the two most used PowerPoint slide sizes are:

• 16:9 ratio  for onscreen presentations and new overhead projectors. This is the default setting for the latest versions of PowerPoint.
• 4:3 ratio  for printing slides on standard 8.5 x 11 pieces of paper as handouts.

When starting with a blank PowerPoint presentation, changing your slide size is super easy and straightforward. If not, there are a few issues you’ll need to deal with, each covered below.

That’s why it’s worth figuring out what slide size you need BEFORE you build your presentation. If you later convert your presentation to a different size, it can be painful!

It’s just like the old carpenter saying, “measure twice and cut once.” In PowerPoint, you’ll want to “ask twice (to double confirm the required size) and build once.”

Changing your PowerPoint slide size does not make your PowerPoint presentation larger or smaller. To reduce your PowerPoint file size, you need to learn how to compress a PowerPoint presentation .

Table of Contents

How to change your powerpoint slide size.

By default, new PowerPoint presentations start in the 16:9 slide size format.

This is the NEW standard for most modern overhead projects and monitors and is recommended for most presentations. That said, you can easily change your slide size to something else.

To change your slide size in PowerPoint, simply:

• Navigate to the  Design tab
• Open the  Slide Size  drop down menu
• Select  4:3 ,  16:9  or  Custom Slide Size  (see options below)

When starting with a blank presentation, you are now good to go. You will not have to worry about any of the conversion issues discussed below.

Notice too, how much wider the 16:9 slide size is versus the 4:3 slide size in the picture below. The new size gives you more room for the content on your slides.

When you are converting an existing presentation to a new slide size, you will additionally be given the following prompt:

“You are scaling to a new slide size. Would you like to maximize the size of your content, or scale it down to ensure it will fit on the new slide?

Maximize  leaves all your content as is on your slide, even if it no longer fits on the new slide size that you selected.

Ensure Fit  scales down your content in proportion to the new slide size you have selected. You will only see this option when moving from a larger slide size to a smaller one.

Custom PowerPoint slide sizes

Choosing  Custom  for your slide size gives you additional options to work with. Inside the dialog box you can choose your size on the left and your orientation on the right.

On top of that, you can also input your own custom slide size. However, I recommend using one of the preset PowerPoint dimension options.

• On-screen show (4:3)
• Letter Paper (8.5×11 in)
• A3 Paper (297×420 mm)
• B4 (ISO) Paper (250×353 mm)
• B5 (ISO) Paper (176×250 mm)
• 35mm Slides
• On-screen Show (16:9)
• On-screen show (16:10)

For your orientation options on the right-hand side of the dialog box, you can choose between  Landscape  and  Portrait .

In most situations, you will want one of the default settings. Best practice is  Landscape  for your presentation slides and  Portrait  for your printed notes, handouts and outlines.

Issues when converting 4:3 to the 16:9 slide size in PowerPoint

When converting an existing 4:3 presentation with content into the 16:9 format, you are not given any conversion options. Instead, PowerPoint simply does the conversion for you, which can create several problems.

There are two issues you will face in the new 16:9 slide size.

The first issue is that all the images on your slide master (including company logos) will be stretched to fit the new, larger slide size.

To fix the stretched images, you will need to fix those images (or reinsert them) on your slide master, as if you were creating a PowerPoint template from scratch.

The second issue you will face in the larger 16:9 slide size is that you will have a lot of extra white space on your slides.

While you can leave the space blank, doing so will make your content look weird. Ideally you don’t want a lot of white empty space like that on your slides. Especially since all your font sizes will be so small.

That’s why if you have the time, I recommend resizing your content to fill in the white space. You can do this by either increasing the font size of your content, or adding additional visuals that support your message.

Issues when converting 16:9 to the 4:3 slide size in PowerPoint​

When converting an existing 16:9 presentation to the 4:3 slide size, you are given the option to either  Maximize  or  Ensure Fit  (both covered below).

1. The Maximize option

This option means that the content on your slides will not be resized to fit the 4:3 slide size. The same is true if you move to any smaller slide size.

Maximize Issue #1:  All the images on your slide master (including your company logo) will be distorted.

You might also have issues with other content placeholders, slide backgrounds or anything else that was built on your slide master.  For these issues, you’ll first need to navigate to your Slide Master. Once you are there, you either adjust (or rebuild) your PowerPoint template so that everything fits properly.

Maximize Issue #2:  Your content will not be scaled down to the smaller slide size. Instead, you’ll have overhanging content as pictured above.

For these kinds of spacing issues, you will need to work through your slides to adjust your content.

One recommendation as you move from the larger 16:9 slide size to 4:3, is to break up your slides. Take the contents from one larger slide and break it into two (or even three) separate slides.

Breaking up your content is preferable to just cramming more content on the smaller slide space. Doing so will make your content easier to read when presented on an overhead projector.

2. The Ensure Fit option

This option means that PowerPoint will scale down your content to fit the smaller slide size based on the size you selected.

Ensure Fit Issue #1:  Distorted images, slide backgrounds and anything else that PowerPoint had to automatically resize on your slide master.

To fix these issues, you’ll need to navigate to your slide master and adjust (or rebuild) your template to make everything fit.

Ensure Fit Issue #2:  Your content will be scaled down to fit your new slide size, leaving you with a lot of white space. In addition, all your font sizes will be smaller, making them hard to read.

For small content like this, you’ll need to work through your slides and resize your content accordingly. Keep in mind the people at the back of the room too when choosing a new font style and size.

Saving your custom slide size as a PowerPoint theme

If want to use your own custom slide size for all your future PowerPoint presentations, you can save and set it as a PowerPoint theme.

This is a two-step process as discussed below.

1. Save your custom slide size as a theme

To save your custom slide size (and settings) as your own custom PowerPoint theme, simply:

• Open the M ore options
• Click  Save Current Theme
• Name your Theme (and don’t change the file location it saves to)
• Click  Save

2. Set your custom theme as the default

To set a custom PowerPoint theme as the default for all your future presentations, simply:

• Open the  More options
• Right-click  your custom theme
• Select  Set as Default Presentation
• Close out of PowerPoint (and do not save any presentations if it prompts you)

Once you’ve set your own custom theme as the Default Presentation, it will open every time you start PowerPoint. This saves you from always having to switch your slide sizes.

So that’s how you can change your PowerPoint slide size, either before or after you create your presentation.

And although you are given a lot of flexibility in the slide sizes you can choose from, I recommend using the default slide sizes as used by most people.

It’s also important to remember that switching slide sizes after you have built your presentation can be a total pain. So, to the extent possible, figure out your PowerPoint slide size first before you build out your presentation.

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How to Change Slide Size or Dimensions in PowerPoint

Change PowerPoint Slide Size (Widescreen, Standard or Custom)

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated September 7, 2023

Applies to: Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)

You can change the slide size or aspect ratio of a PowerPoint presentation in all versions. The default slide size or dimensions in 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 or 365 is widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio). You can also enter a custom slide size if you prefer (including entering slide size in pixels). The best time to set slide size is when you first set up your PowerPoint presentation before you add any content. If you change the size later in the process, you may have to deal with distorted pictures and you may also need to adjust the position and size of various objects on slides in Normal View and in the slide master(s) and layouts in Slide Master View.

The most common slide sizes or aspect ratios are typically used as follows:

• Widescreen or 16:9 aspect ratio is frequently used for onscreen presentations using a projector, monitor or a widescreen TV. Older projectors used the standard aspect ratio but most new projectors are designed for widescreen.
• Standard or 4:3 aspect ratio is often used if slides are intended to be printed on letter size paper.

Slide size changes affect the entire presentation. You cannot change slide size for single slides.

You should never change slide size just before running a presentation as you may not be satisfied with the results. If you already have a presentation with images and other content, it's also a good idea to change slide size on a copy of the presentation so you can keep the original deck and slide size.

Note: Some Ribbon tabs may appear with slightly different names if you are working with PowerPoint 365 and have a smaller screen or different display settings. Buttons on the Ribbon may appear as icons only and are also affected by screen size and display settings.

Recommended article: How to Reduce the Size of PowerPoint Presentations (10 Ways to Compress Your PowerPoint Decks)

Do you want to learn more about PowerPoint?  Check out our virtual classroom or live classroom  PowerPoint courses >

Regardless of the version of PowerPoint you use, you should go through your slides after you change slide size to be sure you are satisfied with the results. Be sure to check the slide master(s) and layouts in Slide Master View as well.

Change slide size to widescreen or standard

To change slide size to widescreen or standard size:

• In Normal View, click the Design tab in the Ribbon.
• Click Slide Size in the Customize group. A drop-down menu appears.
• Select Widescreen, Standard or another option from the drop-down menu. A dialog box appears with options to maximize content or scale to fit (this dialog appears only if you are moving from a larger to a smaller slide size).
• Select the desired option.

Slide Size appears on the Design tab in the Ribbon:

The following dialog box appears in PowerPoint to maximize content or scale to fit only when you change slide size to a smaller size (such as widescreen to standard):

If you select Maximize, the slide content will not be resized when you change to the smaller slide size.

If you select Ensure Fit, PowerPoint will scale your content to fit the smaller slide size.

Change slide size to a custom size

You can use custom slide sizes. Simply choose options from the Slides sized for drop-down menu in the dialog box (such as A4 paper size) or enter custom dimensions.

To change slide size to a custom size:

• Choose Custom Slide Size from the drop-down menu. A dialog box appears.
• Select an option from the Slides sized for drop-down menu or enter the desired slide size in the Height and Width boxes.
• A dialog box appears with options to maximize content or scale to fit (this dialog appears only if you are moving from a larger to a smaller slide size).

Note that the measurement system in PowerPoint dialog boxes is based on your system settings. If you would like to change the measurement system, check out our article on How to Change the Measurement System in PowerPoint.

The following dialog box appears when you select Slide Size and then Custom Slide Size:

You can create posters in PowerPoint by entering a custom slide size such as 36 inches wide by 56 inches high or 91.44 cm wide by 142.24 cm high. The maximum slide size in PowerPoint is 56 inches or 142.24 cm. As a best practice, set the slide size before adding content to the poster.

Many PowerPoint users are not aware that you can enter slide size in pixels (simply enter the measurement with px beside the number). This is useful in a number of situations such as using PowerPoint to create social media posts. If you enter slide size in pixels (such as 200px), when you tab to another box or close the dialog box, PowerPoint changes the pixels to the equivalent in the current measurement system.

Deal with issues when changing slide size

When changing slide size in existing presentations with content, 4 common issues occur:

• Pictures may be distorted as PowerPoint tries to adjust images to fit slide size. Images on slides in Normal View will be affected as well as images on the slide master(s) and layouts. If pictures are distorted, you will need to either manually resize each image or delete them and insert them again.
• Objects such as placeholders and shapes that have been created in PowerPoint are not in the position you'd like. You may need to move objects or reset one or more slides (on the Home tab in the Ribbon, click Reset in the Slides group).
• Extra space is created if you change to a larger slide size. You may need to move or resize objects and adjust the slide master(s) or layouts in Slide Master View.
• If you have changed to a smaller slide size, you may need to increase font size for placeholders and text boxes.

Dimension differences between different slide sizes

In PowerPoint 2013 and later versions, widescreen (16:9) format measurements are different and are set to 13.33 inches wide by 7.5 inches high or 33.867 cm wide by 19.05 cm high. This matches the height of the 4:3 format.

Avoid issues when changing slide size

To avoid issues in PowerPoint related to slide size, you should:

• Try to set slide size as a first step after you create a presentation and before you have entered any content. In 2013 and later versions, the default is widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio).
• If you have changed slide size in a presentation with content, review your slides to be sure you are satisfied with the results. You should also check the slide master(s) and layouts in Slide Master View.
• Never change slide size just before running a presentation as you may not be pleased with the results and you won't have time to fix your slide deck.
• If you have created a presentation with content, make a copy of the presentation first and change slide size on the copy.

Keep in mind that widescreen is normally used for on screen presentations and standard is often used for printed presentations.

This article was first published on October 6, 2019 and has been updated for clarity and content.

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How to change slide size in PowerPoint

• Written by: Harriet Jones
• Categories: PowerPoint design

Why would anyone want to change the slide size in PowerPoint? You open a file, it’s the perfect 16:9 (no 4:3 fans here!), and you get stuck in, right? Well, it depends what you’re using PowerPoint for…

Presentations are a powerful tool for communicating with your audience. But if you’re making presentations, the chances are you’re also looking for other ways to get your message out there. Perhaps you want to share news on your social media feeds, present a poster at a conference, have downloadable brochures on your website, or create business cards to hand out to unsuspecting members of the public.

You might be thinking, that sounds great, but I don’t have the tools to do all that! Would you believe me if I told you can do all this and more in good-old-PowerPoint?

PowerPoint is easy-to-use, quick to edit, and is super versatile. The feature that makes creating all these different materials possible is the ability to change the size of PowerPoint slides to your desired dimensions. ‘But how?’ I hear you cry. Well, cry no more! In this blog post I’ll teach you how to change slide size in PowerPoint.

If you’re a Google Slides user who’s wandered into the wrong blog post – this one on changing slide size in Google Slides might be what you’re looking for.

Quick guide:

• In the Design tab choose Slide Size . The highlighted box shows the current dimensions of your slides.
• In the Slide Size drop down, select Custom Slide Size .
• Select the slide size you want to use.

Step-by-step:

To know what to change, you need to know where you’re starting. When you open a brand new PowerPoint file, the standard slide dimension is widescreen (16:9). This is ideal for presentations because it matches the size and proportions of most modern screens.

To check your slide dimensions head to the Design tab then choose Slide Size . The highlighted box shows you the current dimensions of your slides.

To change your slide size, under the Slide Size drop down, select Custom Slide Size .

A pop-up box appears, and you can customise the slide size to suit your needs.

What’s helpful is that PowerPoint already has options built in for standard formats, such as Letter paper and A4, so you don’t have to spend time searching the web for the dimensions you need.

Not every combination of width and height is available in this drop down (including the dimensions for popular social media sites). So if you need a truly custom slide size, you can directly input your measurements. Select Custom from the drop-down list and type in the Width and Height you need.

PowerPoint will ask you if you want to ensure fit or maximize fit. Typically you would choose to maximise when increasing the size of your slides, and ensure fit when decreasing slide size.

Maximise will increase the size of any existing content on the slide, but as a result, all the content might not fit on the slide. Ensure fit scales down the size of existing content making it appear smaller but ensuring all the content fits on the slide. This is why it’s best to set the slide size right at the beginning and then you don’t need to worry about this.

After you’ve made your selection, select OK , and hey presto, you’ve done it.

For this example, we’ve chosen the size of a regular square Instagram post.

Converting aspect ratio to dimensions

Just a side note on working out what slide size you need for creating social media posts. When you look up dimensions for an Instagram post, the most popular Google results tell us it’s 1080px by 1080px, but as you can see in the screenshots above, it looks like PowerPoint wants us to input our dimensions as cm. This can be a little confusing, especially for us non-designers out there who don’t know our pixels (px) from our points (pts). There are lots of websites online that can help you convert your measurements, like here – www.unitconverters.net . However, it’s a little know fact that you can enter dimensions in cm, inches or pixels and PowerPoint will convert it for you! Just type the numbers, then a space and then the unit abbreviations (cm, in, px). For a comprehensive guide on all social media image sizes check out this article by Brandwatch .

A regular Instagram post is a square, so that’s easy as the ratio is 1:1, meaning the width is the same as the height. With rectangles, the ratio of width to height will differ. A LinkedIn post for example, can either be portrait 1080 x 1350 or landscape view at 1280 x 720. So for the portrait the ratio is 4:5 and landscape is approximately 16:9. Don’t let this intimidate you. If you divide both sides (width and height) by the same amount you guarantee the ratio will stay the same.

If you’re entering slide size details as centimetres make sure you consider the overall slide size in cm as this will affect the size of an image export, which in turn can affect the quality of your exported image. Put simply an Instagram post made on a 2cm by 2cm slide will be poorer quality than one made on a 10cm by 10cm one. We have a helpful blog post that goes into much more detail on Picture size and resolution in PowerPoint .

Now that you’re a pro on how to change PowerPoint slide size, let’s go through some examples of the awesome things you can do with this new knowledge. But before we do that just a note – there are dedicated software to create a bunch of the things we’ve mentioned in this article. If you have access to it, that’s amazing! Use it! But for many of us, PowerPoint is one of our only design tools and purchasing a handful of other programs isn’t on the cards, so we need to get the most out of PowerPoint that we can.

Academic posters

For researchers and students alike, creating academic posters can be one of the more gruelling tasks on your to-do list. For most people that’s because they struggle to make posters look beautiful and engaging meaning people miss out on reading your incredible work! With your new knowledge of how to change slide size in PowerPoint, you can start making A4 and A3 posters in PowerPoint.

Some things to remember…

A poster should never be an impenetrable wall of text but a visual summary of your work. It should be concise with plenty of white space, accessible, with a clear and logical layout. A great poster is a conversation starter that drives the audience to learn more.

We have a whole blog post on to how to create beautiful and effective academic posters in PowerPoint , so make sure you give that a read for more tips and tricks and a couple of cheeky freebies!

Social media posts

Once you know how to change slide size in PowerPoint you can create graphics for all your social media channels. Whether it’s for Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter… sorry X, we’ve got you covered. Check out this blog post on how to create social media posts in PowerPoint , from colours to image manipulation to animation! In the rapidly changing world of social media, you need to strike a balance between compelling visuals and concise messaging, to get your audience to stop scrolling, pay attention and remember your message.

If you have mind-blowing stats to share, but struggle with data visualisation, spend a little time working on your data vis skills before getting started. Start here .

And, thanks to the wonders of PowerPoint animation, you’re not just limited to static social media materials when creating in PowerPoint. Dynamic GIFs are a cool way to captivate your audience and are easier to make than you might think. When creating your GIF, remember to keep it short to capture and keep attention, and focus on smooth transitions for a polished, professional result.

Honourable mentions

Here’s a few more handy blog posts to check out for extra tips and tricks on creating anything BUT presentations in PowerPoint!

How to get the most out of PowerPoint and PDFs

How to make an infographic in PowerPoint

How to make a PowerPoint memory game

You’ve made it – now you know how to change slide size in PowerPoint and hopefully are inspired to use PowerPoint to create more than just presentations.

Harriet Jones

Communication consultant, related articles, mastering high-impact conference presentations.

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115 PowerPoint Christmas cards to download and share!

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It's Christmas! After a late night with too much eggnog and brandy snaps we set ourselves a challenge to see who could come up with the wildest PowerPoint Christmas card! So it's the day after the night before, and through blurry eyes we can reveal our efforts...

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How to Format Shapes in PowerPoint? The ULTIMATE Guide!

By: Author Shrot Katewa

Shapes, in PowerPoint, are a great way to make your presentation more visually engaging and interesting. But, not knowing how to format shapes in PowerPoint can be really frustrating and annoying especially when you are starting out! However, it is really not that hard to format shapes in PowerPoint.

To format shapes in PowerPoint, select the shapes that you want to format by holding the “Ctrl” key on your keyboard and clicking on each shape. Then, right-click using your mouse, and choose the “Format Shape” option. This will open a new window that will allow you to make changes to the shapes.

In this article, we will cover all the basics of formatting shapes in PowerPoint. We’ll go over how to add shapes, change their color and outline, and even add an image or text inside a shape! That and much more in a step-by-step manner so that it is easy for you to understand even as a beginner.

So, let’s get started!

[ A Quick Note Before We Begin – for this article, I will be using one of the presentation templates from Envato Elements . With Envato Elements, you get access to thousands of presentation designs with unlimited downloads so you never run out of options again. Plus, you get free previews so you know exactly what you’re getting before buying! Check out their pricing here ]

1. How to Add Shapes in PowerPoint?

The first thing that we should know is how to add shapes in PowerPoint. If you are already aware of this process, you can skip to the next sub-section (i.e. How to Insert a Perfect Circle in PowerPoint )

Adding shapes in PowerPoint is quite easy. Let’s learn the process with the help of some visuals –

Step 1 – Click on the Insert Tab

The first step is to click on the “Insert” tab on the PowerPoint.

Step 2 – Click on Shapes and choose the shape to add

The next step is to identify the “Shapes” option located on the ribbon, and then click on it.

Once you click on the “Shapes” option, you will be presented with several different options of shapes to choose from. Simply browse through and click on the shape that you would like to insert

Step 3 – Add the shape to the slide

The last step in the process is to add the shape to the slide. To do that, simply click and drag the cursor in one direction and you will notice that the shape has been added to the slide!

It is as simple as that!

One thing that you may have noticed is that there is no option to insert a perfect circle as a shape in PowerPoint. It may seem annoying at first, but there is an easy way to solve this problem! Let’s understand how this can be done.

1a. How to Insert a Perfect Circle in PowerPoint

Inserting a perfect circle requires you to follow three easy steps. These are as follows –

Step-1: Go to ‘Shapes’ option from the ‘Insert’ tab

To start, click on the ‘ Insert ’ tab and find the ‘ Shapes ’ option located in the ‘ Illustrations ’ section on the ‘ Insert ’ ribbon of your PowerPoint window.  

Step-2: Open the ‘Shapes’ option to choose the Oval Shape

After opening the ‘ Shapes ’ Tab, select your desired shape from a range of shapes available in the option. To make the perfect circle, select the ‘Oval’ shape from the options.

Step-3: Use the ‘Shift’ key to create a circle

Once you have selected the oval shape, your cursor will change into a plus sign to indicate that a shape is ready to be inserted. Take your cursor to your preferred location for the circle. Press the ‘ Shift ’ key on your keyboard, and ‘ left click ’ on your mouse to drag the circle into shape.

2. How to Access Shape Format Tab in PowerPoint?

Once you’ve added a shape to the slide, you will perhaps need to format it as well. This can be achieved by accessing the “Shape Format” ribbon in PowerPoint.

To access the shape format tab in PowerPoint, first, select a shape by clicking on it. This will make the ‘ Shape Format ’ tab appear at the upper middle part of your PowerPoint presentation window.

You can then access the options to format a shape.

3. How to Format Shapes in PowerPoint?

Shapes in PowerPoint can be formatted through the ‘ Format Shape ’ bar. To make the ‘ Format Shapes ’ bar appear, ‘ right-click ’ on the shape in your presentation and select the ‘ Format Shape ’ option from the drop-down menu. You will see a pictorial representation in the below section.

In the following section, I will show you some of the basics of formatting a shape in PowerPoint so that you can also incorporate these in your presentation design routine.

3a. How to Change Shape Fill Color in PowerPoint? 

Changing the shape color in PowerPoint is very easy. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to do it.

Step-1: Select the shape and open the ‘Format shapes’ window

At first, select the shape that you want to change fill color, right-click on it and open the ‘ Format shapes… ’ bar to access the different formats.

Step-2: Choose “Solid Fill” and click on the ‘Color Bucket’ icon.

While keeping the shape selected (which means a square outline is covering the shape from its outer part) go to the Format Shapes bar and find the ‘ Color ’ option by clicking on the ‘Paint Bucket’ icon .

Step-3: Select the color for the shape

After you have selected the ‘ Color ’ option, simply select the different color that you want your shape to change into and you are done!

Adding Transparency to Shape Fill Color 

If you think that the color is too bright or perhaps you want to just make it transparent, you can achieve this by adding transparency to the shape fill in PowerPoint.

Adding transparency to the shape fill color is very simple in PowerPoint. It can be done in 2 simple steps. They are described below.

Step-1: Open the ‘Format shape’ bar and go to the ‘Fill’ section.

First you will need to access the ‘ Fill ’ section in the ‘ Format shape ’ bar to find the ‘ Transparency ’ slider.

Step-2: Move the slider to increase the transparency of the color in your shape

The ‘ Transparency ’ slider allows you to increase or decrease the level of transparency to the color of the shapes in your PowerPoint presentation.

Simply glide the slider until you are satisfied with the amount of transparency in the color of the shape or alternatively, type in the percentage of transparency you want the color to have in the box.  

How to Add Gradient Shape Fill Color in PowerPoint? 

To add a gradient shape fill color to your shapes in PowerPoint, all you have to do is go to the ‘ Fill ’ section in the ‘ Format shapes ’ tab and select the ‘ Gradient fill ’ option.

This will change the color of your shape to a gradient fill. You can play around with the gradient handles, change the color of the handles and even increase or decrease the transparency of each gradient handle independently.

It will take some time to master the gradient fill and perhaps I will cover this topic in a future article.

3b. How to Add an Outline to a Shape in PowerPoint? 

You can add an outline to a shape in your PowerPoint presentation very easily from the ‘ Format shapes ’ option. The step-by-step process is given below.

Step-1: Expand the ‘Line’ section in the ‘Format shapes’ bar

The first step is to go to the lower part of the ‘ Format shapes ’ bar and expand the ‘Line’ section located at the lower part of the ‘ Format shapes ’ bar.

Step-2: Adjust the Settings for the Shape Outline.

To add an outline to your shape, at first select the shape. After accessing the ‘ Line ’ section, click on the ‘ Solid line ’ option and an outline will be automatically added to your shape.

You can then adjust the various settings provided by PowerPoint to make changes to your shape outline.

How to Change Shape Outline Color?

Changing the shape outline color is quite easy as well. All you have to do is, select the ‘ Color ’ option in the ‘ Format Shapes ’ tab while keeping the shape selected. After that, simply click on the color you want your shape outline to change to and the outline will change color.

3c. How to Fill a Shape with Picture? 

To fill a shape with picture, follow these simple steps:

Step-1: Select the ‘picture or texture fill’

While having your shape selected, click on the ‘ Picture or texture fill ’ which is located right below ‘ Gradient fill ’.

Step-2: Click on the ‘Insert’ button and select the ‘From a file’ option.

To insert an image to your shape, click on the ‘ Insert ’ button in the ‘ Picture source ’ section. This will open a pop-up. Select the ‘ From a File ’ option from the pop-up

Step-3: Select the image you want to insert in your shape and press ‘Insert’

Now from the window, select the image that you want to add in your shape and press the ‘ Insert ’ button. This will add the image inside your shape.

3d. Other Types of Shape Fill

Besides solid fill, gradient fill, and filling your shape with a picture, you can also add texture and patterns to your shape in PowerPoint. Let’s take a quick look at how to do that.

Adding a Texture Fill to a Shape

To add texture, select the ‘ Picture or texture fill ’ option then click on the ‘ texture ’ button and select the texture you want to add to your shape.

Adding a Pattern Fill to the Shape

To add a pattern to your shape, simply select the ‘ Pattern fill ’ option and then choose the pattern you want to add to your shape.

Adding these shape fill options are really quite simple. Just that you need to know how to use it.

3e. How to Add Shadow to a Shape in PowerPoint? 

To add shadow to a shape in PowerPoint you will need to go to the ‘ Effects ’ section of the ‘ Shape options ’ under the ‘ Format Shape ’ tab. A step-by-step explanation of how to add shadows to a shape in PowerPoint is described below.

Step-1: Go to the ‘Effects’ section.

At first, you will need to select the pentagon shaped icon in the middle of the sections area called ‘ Effects ’. This will allow you to access the ‘ Shadows ’ option.

Step-2: Expand the ‘Shadows’ option to find the ‘Presets’ box.

Once you are in the ‘ Effects ’ section, expand the option that says ‘ Shadow ’. This will allow you to access the ‘ Presets ’ box.

Step-3: Select your preferred style of shadows from the ‘Presets’ box.

The ‘ Presets ’ box contains various styles of shadows that you can add to your shape. Click on the ‘ Presets ’ box and select your preferred style of shadow to add to the shape in your PowerPoint presentation.

Step-4: Adjust the settings

As a final step, play around with the settings like transparency, blur, size, distance, etc to get the right shadow effect that you like. Don’t just settle with the default shadow option that PowerPoint provides even with the preset.

3f. How to Format Multiple Shapes in PowerPoint? 

One of the ways you can format multiple shapes in PowerPoint is to select all the shapes and add the format you want them to be in. The two simple steps are described below.

Step-1: Select all the shapes that you prefer to be in the same format

To select the multiple shapes in your PowerPoint presentation, first you have to hold the ‘ Shift ’ key on your keyboard and ‘ left click ’ with your mouse on the shapes.

Step-2: Select the format you want your multiple shapes to be in

After you have selected all the shapes you want to format in your PowerPoint presentation, simply apply the format you want them to be in.

4. How to Apply a Shape Style in PowerPoint?

There are several ways to apply a shape style in PowerPoint. The most efficient way is to use the ‘ Format Painter ’ tool. Here is a step-by-step explanation of using the ‘ Format Painter ’ to format multiple shapes.

Step-1: Select the shape that contains the desired format

To bring consistency to all the shapes you have added to your PowerPoint presentation, first you have to select the shape which is already in the style that you want all your other shapes to be in.

Step-2: Double click on the ‘Format Painter’

The next step is to double-click on the ‘ Format Painter ’ tool. This will allow you to select multiple shapes and change their style to the originally selected shape. The ‘ Format Painter ’ tools is in the top left corner of your PowerPoint window under the ‘ Clipboard ’ section of your ‘ Home ’ ribbon.

Step-3: Paste the shape format to other shapes

In this step, simply ‘ left click ’ once on the shapes that you want to have the same style of the original shape that you had selected in the beginning of the process. This will change their shapes and match the style of the original shape.

Once you are done applying the style to your shapes, click on the ‘ Format Painter ’ icon again to stop using the tool or you can press “ Esc ” on your keyboard

4b. What is the Quickest Way to Format Shapes in PowerPoint?

As we can see from the two ways you can apply the same format to multiple shapes, the quickest way to do it is the ‘ Format Painter ’ tool.

Although selecting all the shapes and then applying the format may seem like the easier way to do it because it has fewer steps as explained earlier in this article, it is the Format Painter tool that gets the job done the fastest.

Selecting the shapes one by one can be a tedious and boring job if you have tens of shapes in your presentation. However, with the ‘ Format Painter ’ you can do it more efficiently with just a click on the shapes.

5. How to Merge Shapes in PowerPoint? 

The ‘ Merge Shapes ’ option in PowerPoint allows you to combine more than one shape together into different combinations. While using shapes in your presentation, the ‘Merge Shapes’ option can prove to be really helpful to create interesting shapes and designs.

To merge shapes, first, you need to add some shapes to your PowerPoint presentation, and then select them. You need at least 2 shapes, to begin with.

After selecting them, the ‘ Shape Format ’ ribbon will appear in the ribbon section in the upper middle part of your PowerPoint window. In the ‘ Shape Format ’ ribbon, you will find the ‘ Merge Shapes ’ button on the ‘ Insert Shapes ’ section.

So, let’s learn more about some of the merge shape options that will be provided by PowerPoint.

5a. More about Fragment, Intersect, Union, Combine, or Subtract Shapes

The ‘ Merge Shapes ’ dropdown menu will give you 5 styles to choose from. The use of these styles is explained below.

• Union: The Union style simply combines the selected shapes into one shape.
• Combine: This style of merging shapes will merge the shapes together but exclude the intersecting area of the shapes.
• Fragment: In this style, the shapes will merge together and while also showing all the outlines of both shapes.
• Intersect: This style is the opposite of the union style of merging shapes. This style merges the intersecting area of both shapes while excluding all the other parts of the shapes.
• Subtract: This style of merging shapes takes the shape that has been selected second away from the shape that has been selected first.

5b. How to Crop Shapes in PowerPoint?

To crop or cut shapes in PowerPoint, you can use the “Subtract” option under the merge shapes in PowerPoint. To do that, follow the 2 steps described below.

Step-1: Add 2 shapes to your PowerPoint slide

The first step is to add the two shapes that you want to use on your slide. You can insert it based on the methods described previously in the article.

Then, select the two shapes and head over to the “ Shape Format ” ribbon. Under the merge shapes option, choose the “ Subtract ” option.

The “ Subtract ” style crops away from the shape that has been selected second, from the shape that has been selected at first. Simply place a shape on top of the shape that you want to crop and make sure the intersecting area is in the part where you want to crop.

Step-2: Crop the shape

Once you have used the “Subtract” option from the “Merge Shapes ” menu under the “Shape Format” tab, you will be left with the subtracted shape.

5c. How to Create Custom Shapes in PowerPoint? 

With “ Merge Shapes ” option under the “ Shape Format ” ribbon, you can make almost any shape you can imagine using a combination of the ready-made shapes and the 5 styles of merging shapes as described earlier. Here is how to do it in 2 simple steps.

Step-1: Insert 2 or more shapes to create a custom shape

Simply insert the shapes that can be combined, intersected, subtracted, or merged in union to make the shape that you need.

  Step-2: Merge the combination of shapes with your preferred style.

After that, you have to combine the different shapes you have just inserted in order to create your custom shape. Merge the shapes together in the style that best fits your preference.

In some cases, you can also add another shape like a circle in the above example, and create an even more interesting design.

Step-3: Replicate the design to create a unique slide

You can then replicate the design to create a unique slide. The sky is the limit once you understand the amazing merge shape feature of PowerPoint!

6. How to Align and Distribute Shapes in PowerPoint? 

The align and distribute tool in PowerPoint helps to organize unorganized shapes that is spread throughout a slide in the presentation.

The alignment tool is used to align the randomly placed shapes in the slide to be aligned uniformly and the distribution tool helps to distribute the shapes evenly across the slide.

The process of using the alignment and distribution tool is described step-by-step below.

Step-1: Select all the unevenly placed shapes in the presentation

At first you have to select the shapes that you want to align uniformly in the slide of your PowerPoint presentation. 

Step-2: Click on Align Under the Shape Format option

After selecting the shapes, the ‘ Shape Format ’ ribbon will appear. Go to the ‘ Shape Format ’ ribbon where you will find the ‘ Align ’ option under the ‘ Arrange ’ section.

Click on the ‘ Arrange ’ tool and you will find 6 option to choose your alignment. For this example, we will choose the “ Align to Middle ” option.

Step-3: Distribute the shapes that have been aligned

After aligning the randomly placed shapes, they can be distributed evenly either vertically or horizontally. While the shapes are selected, click on the ‘ Distribute Horizontall y’ style or ‘ Distribute Vertically ’ style to distribute them accordingly.

For this example, we shall distribute it vertically. So, we shall choose that option from the menu.

Here’s what we will be left with after using the “ Disbtribute Horizontally ” option. See how easy it is to format, and align the shapes in PowerPoint once you know how to do it!

7. How to Edit Shapes in PowerPoint? 

Editing shapes in PowerPoint is done using the ‘Edit Shapes’ option located in the ‘Shape Format’ tab, under the ‘Insert Shape’ section. A step-by-step explanation of how to edit shape point and how to add or remove shape points is given below.

7a. Edit Shape Points 

To edit shape points you must first add a shape to your presentation, select it and follow the simple steps below.

Step-1: Go to ‘Edit Shape’ located under the ‘Insert Shapes’ section of the ‘Shape Format’ tab.

At first select the shape and go to the ‘ Edit Shape ’ option which is located at the upper left part of the ‘ Shape Format tab ’ under the ‘ Insert Shape ’ section.

Step-2: Go to the ‘Edit Points’ option

Once you have selected the ‘ Edit Shape ’ option a drop-down menu will give you two other options. Select the ‘ Edit Points ’ option from that drop-down menu. This will make all the edit points in your shape instantly appear.

Step-3: Hold one of the shape points and drag them

Once you have selected the ‘ Edit Points ’ option, the edit points in your shape will appear. Now simply select an edit point and drag them to edit it into your preferred shape.

Removing Shape Points 

Adding and removing edit points is very simple in PowerPoint. The process of removing edit points is described in 2 simple steps below.

Step-1: ‘Right click’ on the point that you want to remove

To remove an edit point, at first you have to ‘ right click ’ on the edit point to make the drop-down bar appear. This will give you a selection of edits that you can make.

Step-2: Click on the ‘Delete Point’ option

In this step, all you have to do to remove the edit point is to click on the ‘ Delete Points ’ option and the edit point will be deleted instantly.

The process of adding an edit point to your shape is the same as removing it. Here is how you add an edit point to a shape in your PowerPoint presentation.

Adding Shape Points

If you want to add shape points, here’s what you need to do.

Step-1: ‘Right click’ on the area where you want to add the edit point

At first you must move your cursor to the area where you want to add the edit point and ‘ right click ’ on the mouse of your computer. This will open a drop-down menu with several options.

Step-2: Select the ‘Add Point’ option

After you open the drop-down menu, simply select the add points button to add an edit point to the selected area. Then you can drag the edit point to your preferred position.

8. How to Add Text to a Shape in PowerPoint?

Adding text to a shape in your PowerPoint presentation may sound tough, but it is actually quite the opposite.

All you have to do is insert a shape in the slide and ‘ Double Click ’ anywhere on the inner part of the shape. A blinking vertical line will appear which is the keyboard cursor. This indicates that you can now start typing in the shape.

Alternatively, you can also directly start typing once you have selected the shape by clicking on it.

More PowerPoint Related Topics

• How to Crop a Picture in PowerPoint? [Complete Step-by-Step Tutorial!]
• How to Give a Presentation on Zoom? A Helpful Resource!
• How to Convert a PowerPoint to PDF? [A Simple Guide!]
• PowerPoint vs Google Slides: Which is Better? [ULTIMATE Test!]
• How to Change Bullet Style in PowerPoint? A Complete Guide

Credit to diana.grytsku (designed by Freepik) for the featured image of this article

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How to create a square grid in the PowerPoint?

I want to create a sudoku-like square grid in the PowerPoint, but I can't find a simple way to do it.

I can't precisely adjust the cell size with the table tool, and it is hard to align other graphs with the cells.

Is any plugin or some other softwares able to quickly create a square grid?

• microsoft-powerpoint

2 Answers 2

I don't know about other versions of PowerPoint but you can do this out of the box in PowerPoint 2007.

Create your table, select all the cells, pick the Layout tab on the ribbon and cell your desired cell size there.

• Thanks for your reply, but I can't put other graphs (ex: a circle) into the table. I just tried to draw a lot of squares and align them together, which works better. –  AngelLeliel Nov 15, 2010 at 13:21
• 1 In PowerPoint 2010 this is done by using insert>>Table –  James Mertz Nov 15, 2010 at 13:29

Tip: You can convert a table into perfectly aligned individual square shapes in 2010 by saving the table as a .emf, and re-inserting the picture. Use "Edit Picture" to have PowerPoint convert it to shapes. Use the selection pane to quickly remove unneeded elements (the conversion will create extra shapes for the borders of the cells etc, which you probably do not want)

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Make your own custom shapes in PowerPoint

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Shapes can be used to add interest to a presentation, to emphasize a point, or just to make your presentation look a bit more exciting. PowerPoint’s shapes are great because you can format them with colors, 3-D effects and shadows, and they always look perfect, even when you scale them really large or very small. With just a few simple tricks you can add a little variety and a unique feel to your shapes.

All of the shapes below were created in PowerPoint and can be resized, copied and reused in any Office application. As you can see, they are all geometric shapes with added effects, such as shadowing.

Making these shapes is simple and fun. Here, for example, is how to create the Celtic knot in the example above.

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Present like a pro.

Create a shape

First, add a circle to a blank page. Make it fairly big, so you can work with it easily, but leave plenty of space to work. Now you’ll need a second circle of the same proportions, so simply make a copy. The quickest way to duplicate a shape is to select the circle and then drag it while holding the Ctrl key. Once you have the second circle, you want to size it down while keeping the same proportions. If you resize it by holding Shift while moving one of the corner handles, it scales it evenly, and the proportions stay the same.

Next, drag the first circle over the top of the second, and use the alignment guides to align them, so they have the same center. When they are aligned the shape will look like this:

Press Ctrl and click each circle to select them both (or use ⌘ if you are working on a Mac). You want to select the bigger circle first, then the smaller one. I’ll explain why in a moment, but for now let’s just see how the magic happens. Now that you have two shapes selected, the Merge Shapes under the Drawing Tools/Format ribbon tab is enabled.

Click the Merge Shapes drop-down to display the five choices: Union, Combine, Fragment, Intersect and Subtract. You can move your mouse over each option to see a preview of what option each does, but for now, select Subtract . If you selected the shapes in the right order, you should have a circle with the center cut out. This is why the order you select shapes matters—the first shape you select is the part that’s kept when you click Subtract, while the second shape is cut out. If your Circle doesn’t look right, undo, click on a blank part of the slide, and reselect the shapes—making sure to select the bigger circle first, then click Subtract again.

Now you have a single ring. Use the Ctrl+drag trick to make two more copies, so you have three identical rings. Move them so they overlap in a triangle, so that the overlap makes the Celtic knot shape. The alignment guides make it easy to make sure they’re all overlapped evenly. Then select the three rings and click Union from the Merge Shapes menu to make the knot.

Apply effects to a shape

Next, we’ll use a little shape formatting to make it unique. First, select your shape, and on the Drawing Tools/Format tab, click the Shape Outline drop-down and select an outline color (such as a golden color), and then set the Outline Weight to 4 ½ pt . Next, click Shape Fill and select a color (green for example). As a finishing touch, click Shape Effects , and under Bevel choices, select Relaxed Inset to make the outline look like a raised rim on a piece of jewelry. There you have it, a nice custom shape you can use anywhere.

That’s the basics of making custom shapes. You can use the various Merge Shapes commands to trim shapes, combine them, and to make any number of useful custom shapes.

Before we finish, I want to show you one more tip for making custom shapes that can be really powerful, which even some of the power users who know all about Merge Shapes miss.

If you create a text box and a normal shape, you can use the Merge Shapes commands to make text into shapes. For instance, try making a rectangle and then make a text box with some text in it. You’ll probably want to change the font size so that the text is only slightly smaller than the rectangle. Drag the text box over the rectangle, select the rectangle first, then the text.

• If you select Subtract , you get a rectangle with the text cut out of it.
• If you select Intersect , you get a single shape that is shaped like the text.
• If you select Fragment , you get the shape with the text cut out, plus individual shapes for each letter.

All of these shapes can have any normal shape formatting applied to them. I’ll bet you can immediately see some cool uses for that.

There you have it—everything you need to know to create great shapes. What you can make is limited only by your imagination and patience. Have fun!

—Tucker Hatfield, senior program manager for the PowerPoint Graphics team

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How-To Geek

How to make a border or frame on a powerpoint slide.

Although there's not a specific command to add a border to a whole slide, there are a couple of ways you can make it happen.

Quick Links

Adding a border to a slide using a shape outline, searching for a border via bing image search.

Although there's not a specific command to add a border to a whole slide, there are a couple of ways you can make it happen. One way is to create a border using the outline of a shape. The second is to use the Bing Image Search feature built into PowerPoint to search for and insert a border. Let's see how it's done.

Open up your presentation and select the slide to which you want to add a border.

Switch to the "Insert" tab and then click the "Shapes" button. Select a shape from the Rectangles category. In this example, we're using a basic rectangle with squared edges.

A crosshair symbol displays. Using your mouse, position the crosshair symbol on the upper-left corner of your slide.

Press and drag your mouse to draw a rectangle shape to encompass your whole slide. Release your mouse to finish drawing. If you don't get the positioning right on the first try, you can grab any of the handles on the shape and drag them to resize.

Now that you've got the size of the border right, you'll want to eliminate the background color from the shape. On the "Format" tab, click the "Shape Fill" button and then click the "No Fill" command from the drop-down menu.

By default, your rectangle shape has a thin border, but you can make it thicker if you want. On the Format tab, click the "Shape Outline" button. On the drop-down menu that appears, point to the "Weight" option and then select a thickness for your border. In this example, we're going with a 6 pt thickness. The result is a thick border around your slide.

Want an even thicker border? On that "Shape Outline" drop-down menu, click the "More Lines" command to open the Format Shape pane. In the "Line" section of that pane, you can adjust the adjust the "Width" setting to whatever you like either by entering a point size or clicking on the up and down arrows. In this example, we increased the width to 20 pt.

To add the border to additional slides, select your shape and then click the "Copy" button on the "Home" tab (or just hit Ctrl+C). Switch to a different slide and then click the "Paste" button (or press Ctrl+V).

Rather than adding a simple shape outline for a border, you can also search for a fancier border image. Select the slide where you want to add a border, switch to the "Insert" tab, and then click the "Online Pictures" button.

Enter a search phrase, such as "line borders" or "flower borders" in the Bing Image Search box, and then click "Search" (or press Enter).

Click on a border you like and then click "Insert" to add it to your slide.

That's all there is to it!

We do have another little bonus tip for you. If you're using a background image on your slide and all you want is a white border around it, you don't even need to add a border. You can resize your background image so that it's slightly smaller than your slide. Doing so gives the illusion that's there's a white border around your slides. Take a look:

Pretty neat!

Work with gridlines and use snap-to-grid in PowerPoint

Gridlines help give you visual cues when you're formatting in PowerPoint.

The default horizontal and vertical gridlines make a grid of one-inch squares. You can't change that grid size. You can change the spacing between the dots that comprise each gridline by using the Spacing option. This setting allows you to adjust the precision of object alignment.

Turn on the snap-to options

Select View on the ribbon, and in the Show group, select the dialog-box launcher.

The Grid and Guides dialog box appears.

To position shapes or objects to the closest intersection of the grid, under Snap to , check the Snap objects to grid box.

To see the grid on your screen, under Grid settings , check the Display grid on screen box.

To change the measurement units in PowerPoint, see Change the ruler units from inches to centimeters .

Turn off the snap-to options

Clear the Snap objects to grid box.

Make these settings the default for all presentations

If you want the current settings in the Grid and Guides dialog box to be the default settings for all presentations you open, select Set as Default .

Tips about grids and guides

To temporarily override the snap-to options, hold down Alt while you're dragging an object on the slide.

To show drawing guides on your screen, under Guide settings , check the Display drawing guides on screen box.

Drawing guides are a pair of dotted guidelines, one vertical and one horizontal, that intersect at the center of the slide. When drawing guides are on, objects will snap to these lines when dragged within a threshold of a few pixels.

When Display smart guides ... is turned on, guides appear to aid you in aligning and spacing one object in relation to others.

Show or hide gridlines in Word, PowerPoint, or Excel

Change the ruler units in PowerPoint from inches to centimeters

Turn snap to grid on or off

Select View > Guides > Snap to Grid .

Turn dynamic guides on or off

Select View > Guides > Dynamic Guides .

Tip:  For fine control over placement of objects on a slide, hold down Command while dragging.

Add or remove guides

Drawing guides can help you position shapes and objects on slides. Drawing guides can be shown or hidden, and you can add or delete them. When you drag a guide, the distance to the center of the slide is shown next to the pointer. Drawing guides are not visible during a slide show and do not print in a presentation.

To show or hide guides, select Guides on the View tab.

To add a guide, Ctrl+click or right-click on your slide, point to Guides , and then select Add Vertical Guide or Add Horizontal Guide .

To remove a guide, Ctrl+click or right-click the guide line, and then select Delete on the menu.

You can change the color of a guide, allowing you to use colors to denote different meanings or just make a guide stand out from the background. Right-click the guide, select Color , and make your selection.

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Drawing a Perfect Square in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

Learn how to draw a square in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows. Constraining the width and height of your shape to be the same is key to creating a square in PowerPoint.

Author: Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 and higher

Date Created: September 30, 2013 Last Updated: August 30, 2023

Learn PowerPoint

Solve this problem: Change PowerPoint slide size, and you lose fonts, backgrounds, and colors!

OK, you want to draw a square box on your slide and none of the options within the Shapes gallery are called "Box" or "Square"! Yes, there's a Rectangle option but the shapes drawn using this option almost never have the same width and height. The solution may be to manually resize the Rectangle so that it has the equal proportions of a Square but that again is a long process. Don't you want something easier and quicker? The short answer must be Yes! We already showed you how to draw a perfect circle . Now, we'll show you how to draw a perfect square in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows using those same principles:

• Launch PowerPoint 2013 for Windows . Most of the time, PowerPoint will open with a new slide in a presentation. You can change the slide layout to Blank by selecting Home tab | Layout | Blank .
• Within the Home or Insert tab of the Ribbon , click the Shapes button to bring up the Shapes drop-down gallery that you can see in Figure 1 . Select the Rectangle shape (highlighted in red within Figure 1 ) since that's what we will use to draw a square.
• Use any of these two options to place a perfect square shape on your slide:
• Click anywhere on the slide to add the Rectangle shape in a predefined size (typically 1 inch x 1 inch), as shown in Figure 2 .
• For resizing , hold down the Shift key while dragging any of the four corner handles to retain the square proportion (preventing the square from becoming an rectangle).
• Alternatively, click and drag on the slide along with the Shift key held down while dragging to constrain the height and width proportions, as shown in Figure 3 . Optionally, you can hold the Ctrl key (in addition to the Shift key) to draw a square from the center.
• The resultant square can also be resized as required .
• Save your presentation.

Circles and Squares: Drawing a Perfect Square in PowerPoint (Index Page)

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How to create squares in PowerPoint

In PowerPoint you can create perfect squares and circles using shapes. This tutorial will show you how you can create perfect square shapes in PowerPoint as well as true circles. The secret is to use the SHIFT key.

Here we will show you.

First, start a new presentation or open your PowerPoint template where you want the square to appear.

Of course you can use this tip to draw perfect shapes for example if you need to draw a perfect star or true diamond.

The final slide will look like this below. Despite the title says Perfect Squares, it is clear that the left shape is a square while the right shape is a perfect circle in PowerPoint.

If you need PowerPoint templates with squares we encourage you to download our free squares PowerPoint templates . You can learn more about PowerPoint and find nice tutorials like this one in our free PowerPoint tutorial 2010 section.

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