Making Text Align to the Edge of the Text Box
Text boxes in PowerPoint are like mini-word documents. Each one has its own margins, tabs and formatting.
The text box formatting options (margins, tabs, line spacing, etc.) for each text box can be modified in the Format Shape dialog. Select a text box > FORMAT > open the FORMAT SHAPE pane > TEXT OPTIONS > TEXT BOX. Or right-click any text box and select FORMAT TEXT EFFECTS > TEXT BOX.
Just one example of where modifying a text boxes internal margins can help the visual layout is when a design needs the text to flush align with other objects, vertically and/or horizontally, the text box margins interfere with the results.
For this example, it is making the 3 objects, 2 boxes and 1 text box, all with the ALIGN LEFT tool, vs. manually adjusting the position of the text box so the text inside it is visually aligned with the objects above it.
The left edge of all three align, but visually the text is indented, but they are actually aligned to the left edge.
Instead of manually moving the text box left to visually align the text with the two boxes, adjust the text box margins – set the left margin to zero.
To illustrate, here is are two text boxes. They have identical formatting, but the lower one has a solid fill to show the text margin. The top text box has a zero left margin. The bottom text box has the default .1″ inset margin pushing the text away from the true left edge.
To make the text align to the left edge, go to the Format Tab and click on the small arrow under the text portion for the FORMAT SHAPE menu.
Select TEXT BOX in the left column and on the right in the INTERNAL MARGIN section change the LEFT to “O”.
The text now aligns flush to the left edge.
At TLC Creative we are constantly working with text box internal margin settings to create visual layouts. It is easier if each text box is visualized as a mini-Word document with it’s own settings.
Troy @ TLC
What is the Tab Selection Order on a Slide?
Many times, in PowerPoint, you may find yourself with layered content that makes it difficult to format, adjust animations, etc. A great tip is to know about the TAB key. Select any object on the slide, then click the TAB key to rotate through selecting every visible object on the slide. Bonus tip: use SHIFT + TAB to reverse the selection order.
So, how is the selection order of tabbing chosen? Look to the SELECTION PANE. The Selection Pane is the order that the TAB key follows. It not only shows every element on a slide, but has the functionality to change the name of each element, and enables turning on/off the visibility of any element on a slide.
To turn on your selection pane, go to HOME > SELECT > SELECTION PANE from the drop down. Or for all of TLC Creative we have the Selection Pane on our custom QAT.
With the Selection Pane open, use the TAB key and the selected objects go down (or up with SHIFT + TAB) the object list. Or click on any element in the Selection Pane to select any object on the slide.
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Use the TAB key to move through the layers of objects on the slide. The tabbing order follows the Selection Pane order, also referred to as the z-order, or the stack order.
Troy @ TLC
The Presentation Podcast Episode #56 Released Today!
A new episode of The Presentation Podcast with Troy, Nolan, and Sandy is available today! Check out the latest episode, #56 – PowerPoint Templates In Depth with Julie Terberg and Echo Swinford.
PowerPoint templates are a key, and fundamental, feature of PowerPoint. We have all seen “templates” that are far from a true, functional and helpful PowerPoint template. Troy, Nolan and Sandy are joined by two industry experts in PowerPoint template development who literally wrote the book on PowerPoint templates, Echo Swinford and Julie Terberg.
Turn Off Text Hyperlink Color
PowerPoint automatically creates clickable hyperlinks for any text that begins with “www.” as well as all email addresses.
For presentations that are presented on screen, a clickable link is not needed (the audience is not receiving the slides) and can be a visual distraction. Like many things in PowerPoint there are multiple ways to make the unwanted color and underline go away. Here are 3 ways to turn off text hyperlink color or remove a hyperlink:
Option 1
- Highlight the link
- On the ribbon, go to INSERT and in the LINKS section, choose HYPERLINK.
- Tip: CTRL+K on your keyboard is a shortcut to the Edit Hyperlink menu
- Click the “Remove Link” button
Option 2
- Right click the hyperlink text and on the menu select REMOVE HYPERLINK
Option 3
-
- This one is time sensitive. Immediately after the hyperlink text is entered (hyperlink text that automatically is configured as a hyperlink either starts with www. or has the email address formula with an @ symbol), the text changes to a hyperlink and there is an ‘AutoCorrect Options’ button.
- Click the button, and select UNDO HYPERLINK
- This one is time sensitive. Immediately after the hyperlink text is entered (hyperlink text that automatically is configured as a hyperlink either starts with www. or has the email address formula with an @ symbol), the text changes to a hyperlink and there is an ‘AutoCorrect Options’ button.
There, 3 solutions to removing unwanted hyperlink coding in PowerPoint (also works in Word and Excel)!
Troy @ TLC
Select Text with Keyboard Shortcut
Microsoft has some great text selection tools. Double click and the full word is selected. Three clicks and a paragraph is selected. Click and drag and the selection automatically jumps in full word intervals. What many presentation designers do not have is the keyboard equivalents to these text selection options – they are amazing for speeding up design time!
1. Select ALL text in a placeholder.
- Click inside the text box, anywhere, and CTRL + A to select all (okay, most everyone knows this one)
2. Select a paragraph
- Click inside the text box, at the beginning of the paragraph, and CTRL + Shift + Down Arrow a full paragraph is highlighted.
3. Select individual words
- Click inside the text box, at the beginning of word to select, and CTRL + Shift + Right Arrow to select that word.
- Click Right Arrow again to select the next word – repeat to select as many words needed
Okay, now it’s time to go edit slides more efficiently!
Troy @ TLC
PowerPoint and Illustrator – Both Have Vector Shapes
If you use Adobe Illustrator, or other vector art programs, you are familiar with Bezier curves. Vector art is scalable, without resolution loss, and is editable in both appearance and in shape. PowerPoint shapes are vector graphics and can be edited directly in PowerPoint just like editing vector art in Illustrator (but with a simplified set of options). For example, Christie on the TLC Creative design team created this example showing how a rectangle can be edited into a purple jelly bean shape – all inside PowerPoint, using native PowerPoint features.
1. Create any shape in PowerPoint, mine is a purple rectangle
2. Right click on the shape and select EDIT POINTS
3. A rectangle is a simple vector shape with just 4 points, one for each corner. Click and select any of the points. The Bezier handles will display. Right-click the selected point and from the pop up menu we can change the type of Bezier corner.
PowerPoint points can be SMOOTH, STRAIGHT, or CORNER points. For a rectangle, with all straight edges, the points are CORNER points which keeps the Bezier handles straight and 90 degrees to each other. But to create my purple jelly bean I do not want the 90 degree corner and change its properties to SMOOTH.
4. The Bezier handles move outside the shape and it becomes a radius corner.
5. My purple jelly bean has no straight lines, so all 4 points are changed to SMOOTH points. The rectangle is now a “blob” with no straight edges.
6. This next step has nothing to do with shape edit points, but I cannot leave a slide with an ugly shape, so I am adding a cast shadow.
7. Back to editing shape points, and some design – duplicate the shape, change the color to a lighter shade of purple and then right-click and select EDIT POINTS.
8. Through a combination of adding a few new points (also SMOOTH points) and moving the position of points and Bezier handles, it was pretty quick and easy to create a new custom shape that is now a highlight accent.
9. To make the large blob shape more like a jelly bean, right-click > edit points > add a new point in the top center (make it a SMOOTH point) and drag it down a bit.
10. Done – at least enough for this tutorial, and we never left PowerPoint. Think of it as working in a legacy version of Illustrator, maybe 2.0.
It’s Like Monopoly – Go Directly to the Master Slide!
The Master Slide is where as presentation designers we try to keep clients away from. But as a designer, this is a fantastic shortcut to accessing the master slide!
As example, we want to change the background color across all slides. Easy, just update the Master Slide. The typical way of doing this is View > Slide Master and the Master Slide view opens with that layout selected.
However, we need to change the background color on the Master Slide, not the Master Layout. So now we need to scroll up and select the Master slide at the top. Too many steps for a busy presentation designer!
A quick and easy shortcut to achieve going directly to the Master Slide is to hold SHIFT + DOUBLE-CLICK on the NORMAL VIEW icon in the lower right bar.
This is will automatically open the master to the top slide where you can quickly update all slide backgrounds.
Here it is in action, 1 click (okay a double-click) access to the Slide Master.
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Troy @ TLC