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Sizing and Positioning Objects
By now, moving and sizing objects is old hat for you, right? Drag by a selection handle to resize, or by the border to move. It's the same as with text boxes (see Chapter 5). Here are some tips:
Proportional resizing: Drag a corner selection handle rather than a side one.
Moving or resizing several objects at once: Hold down Shift and click each one until all are selected; then move or resize as a group. You can also drag a "box" around a group of objects with the mouse pointer to select them all.
Specific positioning: Right-click the object, choose Format AutoShape, and then on the Position tab, enter an exact position for it.
Specific sizing: Right-click the object, choose Format AutoShape, and then on the Size tab, enter an exact size in inches or a percentage of the current size. You can choose to lock the aspect ratio (that is, the proportion of height to width), if desired (see Figure 7-7).
Cropping: If you want to crop the object rather than resize it, use the Crop tool on the Picture toolbar.
Figure 7-7: AutoShapes and WordArt can be sized precisely just like text boxes.
| XREF | The Picture toolbar's Crop tool is covered in Chapter 8 in detail. |
In addition to these basic sizing and positioning settings, PowerPoint also offers the following options for fine-tuning.
Nudging
To nudge something is just what it sounds like: to move it over slightly. The Nudge commands are located on the Drawing menu (on the Drawing toolbar). Select the object and apply the command (Up, Down, Left, or Right).
| Tip | To convert the menu into a floating toolbar, drag it off onto the work area by the dots at the top (see Figure 7-8). This works for all the submenus off the Drawing menu (including Align or Distribute, covered in the following two sections). Figure 7-8: Use the Nudge controls from the Drawing toolbar's Draw menu or drag the controls off into their own floating toolbar. |
You can also use the keyboard to nudge objects. Select an object and then use the arrow keys to move it.
The amount that each nudge moves depends on these factors:
If Snap to Grid is turned on, each nudge moves the object by one place in the grid spacing. By default, the grid interval is .083 inches. To toggle Snap to Grid on/off or to change the grid spacing, choose Draw⇨Grid and Guides to display the Grid Settings dialog box.
If Snap to Grid is turned off, each nudge moves in .01-inch increments.
Alignment and Distribution
You can align or distribute objects either in relation to the slide itself or in relation to other objects. Here are some examples:
You can align an object to the top, bottom, left, right, or center of a slide. I have found the Center option to be especially handy in making an object appear in the exact center both vertically and horizontally.
You can align two objects in relation to one another so they are at the same vertical or horizontal position. For example, you could align two pictures so that their tops form a straight line across the slide.
You can distribute three or more objects so that the spacing between them is even. For example, if you have four objects in a horizontal row, Distribute would reallocate the space between them so there is the same amount of blank space between each.
| Note | The commands on the Align or Distribute menu are not always available. You must have two or more objects selected for aligning, or you must make sure that the Relative to Slide command has a checkmark next to it. You must have three or more objects selected for distributing. |
ALIGNING AN OBJECT IN RELATION TO THE SLIDE
To align a single object in relation to the slide, select the object and then choose Draw⇨Align or Distribute and then the desired Align command (see Figure 7-9).
Figure 7-9: The Align or Distribute submenu offers a variety of options for making objects align in relation to one another.
The Relative to Slide command must have a checkmark next to it in order to align a single object. (Otherwise there is nothing for it to align with!) To check this, choose Draw⇨Align or Distribute. Choose Relative to Slide from the menu to toggle its checkbox on/off.
ALIGNING TWO OR MORE OBJECTS WITH ONE ANOTHER
You can also align two objects in relation to one another. This works by assigning the same setting to both objects. For example, in Figure 7-10, the objects are in their starting positions. Figure 7-11 shows what happened when I used the Draw⇨Align or Distribute⇨Align Top command. The lower object moved up to the same vertical position as the higher one. If I had used Align Bottom, the higher objects would have been moved so that its bottom matched the lower one. If I had used Align Center, both objects would have moved to split the difference between the positions of their centers.
Figure 7-10: The original positioning.
Figure 7-11: The positioning after applying the Align Top command.
To align two or more objects with one another, you'll first need to turn off the Relative to Slide option if it's on. (It's on in Figure 7-9, for example.) Then, select all the objects, choose Draw⇨Align or Distribute, and then choose the desired alignment command.
| Note | If you use Align Top and the objects move to the very top of the slide, you have probably left the Relative to Slide option turned on. Undo (Ctrl+Z) and then select Draw⇨Align or Distribute⇨Relative to Slide to turn it off. |
DISTRIBUTING OBJECTS
Distribution works only in relation to the slide or with three or more objects selected. When you distribute objects, you spread them evenly over a given space. For example, suppose you have just aligned three text boxes vertically, as shown in Figure 7-12, and now you want to even out the space between each box. You can apply the Distribute Horizontally command to create the uniform spacing shown in Figure 7-13.
Figure 7-12: The original positioning.
Figure 7-13: The positioning after applying the Distribute Horizontally command.
To distribute objects, select them (hold down Shift as you click each one), then choose Draw⇨Align or Distribute, and then either Distribute Vertically or Distribute Horizontally.
