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Learn how to draw in PowerPoint in this short tutorial. You can use PowerPoint drawing tools to create lines and free form shapes. It's really easy to add lines and shapes to your PowerPoint. Draw with the Pen tool Draw straight line segments with the Pen tool The simplest path you can draw with the Pen tool is a straight line, made by clicking the Pen tool to create two anchor points. The drawing shape will be completed once you let go of the mouse, which will bring up a new Drawing Tools option. This menu will have options for ways to change the color of the drawing.
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The Freeform drawing tool lets you draw anything almost like drawing with a pencil on a piece of paper. In addition, you can create straight lines as well --this dual capability of the Freeform tool provides you with more creative freedom. Turn the snap to grid and snap to object options on or off. You can draw in straight lines when you draw a freeform shape. Turn off the snap-to options. On the Home tab. Turn snap to grid on or off in Word 2016 for Mac. Show or hide gridlines in Word, PowerPoint, or Excel.
Upon opening a fresh PowerPoint slide, you’re greeted with two placeholder text boxes and an expanse of white space. While you can add text to the presentation by simply typing, adding elements such as lines require you to go to the software’s tabs and ribbons. Lines can underscore text elements or, for printed presentations, let your readers know exactly where to initial, sign or comment. One benefit of PowerPoint is that once you have created your desired line, you can multiply it and save work time.
Drawing the First Line
1.Launch PowerPoint. To add multiple lines to an existing presentation, check the “Recent” pane or click “Open Other Presentations.” Otherwise, double-click the “Blank Presentation” icon. If desired, click on each of the two text boxes pre-placed on the slide and press the “Delete” key to remove them. They won’t obscure or interrupt your lines, but deleting them gives you more room to work.
2.Click the “Insert” tab, and then click the “Shapes” button on the ribbon. Choose your line from the “Lines” section, such as the first line, which is just a straight line with no arrow heads. Note that the cursor changes to a plus symbol.
3.Position the cursor where you’d like the line to start, such as the left or bottom of the slide. Press and hold down the “Shift” key to constrain the line you draw to be a straight line.
4.Press and hold down the left mouse button. Drag the mouse until the line is your preferred length, then release the mouse button and “Shift” key. The line appears as a very thin blue, by PowerPoint's default settings.
5.Check the top of the work area for the newly opened “Drawing Tools” tab. Here you can edit your line. Click the “Shape Outline” menu and choose options such as “Weight” to make a thicker line or the colored squares to change the line to your preferred or required color. You can also scroll through the “Shape Styles” section of the ribbon and click one to instantly change the line appearance.
Making Multiples
1.Click once on the line so it is enabled. You’ll see two small white squares if it is enabled; if not, click again.
3.Press “Ctrl-V” to paste the copied line. You can also right-click anywhere on the slide and choose “Paste” from the context menu that appears.
4.Click the line and drag it into place as preferred.
5.Right-click and choose “Paste” again, as many times as you need lines on the slide.
Tip
- The “Making Multiples” section gives you a shortcut to drawing multiple lines of exactly the same size, color and width. This functionality can be helpful when you want to create a notes page, for example. To draw multiple but different in appearance line, simply repeat the “Drawing the First Line” changes and make changes as you go.
Warning
- These instructions apply to PowerPoint 2013. Other versions of the software operate differently.
References (1)
About the Author
Fionia LeChat is a technical writer whose major skill sets include the MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher), Photoshop, Paint, desktop publishing, design and graphics. LeChat has a Master of Science in technical writing, a Master of Arts in public relations and communications and a Bachelor of Arts in writing/English.
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