PowerPoint 2010 Arranging Objects

PowerPoint 2010

Arranging Objects

Introduction

 

Arranging Objects

Watch the video (3:56). Need help?

Aligning Objects

To Align Two or More Objects:

1. Click and drag your mouse to form a selection box around the objects you want to align. All of the objects will now have sizing handles to show that they are selected.
   Selecting multiple objects
2. From the Format tab, click the Align command and select Align Selected Objects.
   Choosing Align Selected Objects
3. Click the Align command again and select one of the six alignment options.
   Choosing an alignment option
4. The objects will align to each other based on the option that you have selected.
   The aligned objects

To Align Objects to the Slide:

1. Click and drag your mouse to form a selection box around the objects you want to align. All of the objects will now have sizing handles to show that they are selected.
2. From the Format tab, click the Align command and select Align to Slide.
   Selecting Align to Slide
3. Click the Align command again and select one of the six alignment options.
   Aligning objects to the bottom of the slide
4. The objects will align to the slide based on the option that you have selected.
   The aligned objects

To Distribute Objects Evenly:

1. Click and drag your mouse to form a selection box around the objects you want to align. All of the objects will now have sizing handles to show that they are selected.
   Selecting multiple objects
2. From the Format tab, click the Align command.
3. From the menu, select Distribute Horizontally or Distribute Vertically.
   Choosing a distribute option
4. The objects will be distributed evenly.
   Objects distributed evenly

   Ordering and Rotating Objects

   In addition to aligning and grouping objects, PowerPoint gives you the ability to arrange objects in a specific order. The ordering is very important when two or more objects overlap, as it will determine which objects are in the front or the back.

   To Change the Ordering by One Level:

   1. Select an object. The Format tab will appear.
      The selected object
   2. From the Format tab, click the Bring Forward or Send Backward command to change the object's ordering by one level. If the object overlaps with more than one other object, you may need to click the commandseveral times to achieve the desired ordering.
      Sending an object backward
   3. The objects will reorder themselves.
      The reordered objects

   To Bring an Object to the Front or Back:

   If you want to move an object behind or in front of several objects, it's usually faster to bring it to front or send it to back rather than clicking the ordering commands multiple times.

   1. Select an object. The Format tab will appear.
   2. From the Format tab, click the Bring Forward or Send Backward drop-down box.
   3. From the drop-down menu, select Bring to Front or Send to Back.
      Sending an object to the back
   4. The objects will reorder themselves.
      The reordered objects

   To Rotate an Object:

   1. Select an object. The Format tab will appear.
   2. From the Format tab, click the Rotate command. A drop-down menu will appear.
   3. Select the desired rotation option.
      Selecting a rotation option

The rotated image

Grouping Objects

At times you may want to group multiple objects into one object so that they will stay together if they are moved. Often this is easier than selecting all of the objects every time you want to move them.

Pictures, shapes, clip art and text boxes can all be grouped together, but placeholders cannot be grouped. Therefore, you should make sure that you don't insert your pictures into placeholders if you're going to be grouping the pictures.

To Group Objects:

1. Click and drag your mouse to form a selection box around the objects you want to align. All of the objects will now have sizing handles to show that they are selected.
   Selecting multiple objects
2. From the Format tab, click the Group command and select Group.
   Grouping objects
3. The selected objects will now be grouped. There will be a single box with sizing handles around the entire group to show that they are one object.
   The grouped objects

If you select the objects and the Group command is disabled, it may be because one of the objects is inside aplaceholder. If this happens, try reinserting the images or cutting and pasting them into the same slide outside of any placeholders.

To Ungroup Objects:

1. Select the grouped object that you wish to ungroup.
2. From the Format tab, click the Group command and select Ungroup.
   Ungrouping objects
3. The objects will be ungrouped.
   The ungrouped objects