The PowerPoint® Blog

We just reviewed how to make metallic text with gradients, but we can also use Image Fills to create unique effects as well. We used the following still images from Adobe Stock for this example:

For our first example, we just filled the text with the images. Right-click on your text box and select FORMAT SHAPE. Go to the TEXT OPTIONS tab, then choose PICTURE FILL. What’s great is that the text remains editable, and the image will make itself a pattern to fit as much text as is necessary.

Next we took this image-filled text and added a gradient outline on the text to help jazz it up a little bit. Right-click on your text box and select FORMAT SHAPE. Go to the TEXT OPTIONS tab, then scroll to TEXT OUTLINE. We added a similar gradient from our Metallic Lines post. This helps give the text a literal border, as well as add a little more dimension to the text.

Finally, we added a bevel in addition to the image fill and gradient outline to really elevate the metallic look. Right-click on your text box and select FORMAT SHAPE. Go to the TEXT OPTIONS tab, then the EFFECTS tab. Adjust the bevel depth until you get the effect you’re looking for. We used a deeper bevel to match the bold font.

We’ve reviewed creating metallic effects on shapes and lines, but the real question is – how does it work on text? The answer is, very well and very easily. Adding metallic effects on text is simple to accomplish in PowerPoint, and the best part is that the text will always remain editable even with the effects applied.

To start off, we’re just applying a gradient to the text. Right-click on your text box (important, make sure it’s the text box and not while editing text) and select FORMAT SHAPE. Go to the TEXT OPTIONS tab, and under TEXT FILL, apply a GRADIENT FILL. Here we used a 6-stop gradient to get all the metallic colors, and a 10° angle to get a reflective effect. Download an editable PowerPoint slide with the Gold, Bronze, and Silver metallic text here.

We can further emphasize the metallic effect by adding a bevel onto the text. This can be tricky depending on the font you use – fonts with thin serifs like this one can be problematic with the bevel, but it worked well in this case. Right-click on your text box and select FORMAT SHAPE. Go to the TEXT OPTIONS tab, then the EFFECTS tab. Adjust the bevel depth until you get the effect you’re looking for. Here we used a slightly different gradient for a different look. Download an editable PowerPoint slide with the Gold, Bronze, and Silver metallic text here.

Continuing our exploration of PowerPoint’s capabilities to create metallic effects on shapes, let’s look at how we can create some metallic lines. These are super useful for underline effects, outlines, or other accents in your presentation.

For this first example, we used a very similar gradient to yesterday’s shapes. Select any PowerPoint line, right-click and select FORMAT SHAPE, go to the LINE section, and select the GRADIENT line option. Here we used a linear gradient, 4 gradient stops, but 0 angle. Download an editable PowerPoint slide with the Gold, Bronze, and Silver metallic lines here.

For a more sophisticated metallic look in this example, we added more gradient stops (7 total) with darker colors. The thinner lines also create a more elegant look. Again, create any PowerPoint line, right-click and select FORMAT SHAPE, go to the LINE section, and select the GRADIENT line option. Download an editable PowerPoint slide with the Gold, Bronze, and Silver metallic lines here.

We can make these lines even more convincingly metallic with the same bevel trick that we used with the shapes. The gradient used here is similar to the above 7-stop gradient, with a bevel effect applied on top. Right-click on your PowerPoint line and select FORMAT SHAPE, go to the EFFECTS tab, and open the 3-D FORMAT options. Manipulate the bevel depth for different effects. Download an editable PowerPoint slide with the Gold, Bronze, and Silver metallic lines here.