Rotating and Flipping
To rotate a shape 90° to the left or right, choose Draw⇨Rotate or Flip and then Rotate Left 90° or Rotate Right 90° (see Figure 7-33). You can apply these modifications serially, so, for example, you could rotate a shape 180° (90 plus 90) and then flip it.
Figure 7-33: Rotate or flip a shape or line with the commands on the Draw menu.
You can also free-rotate a shape if you need a rotation other than 90° or a multiple of 90°. It works just like with text boxes (see Chapter 5). Simply select it and then drag its green rotation handle to rotate it. The mouse pointer becomes a set of circular arrows, as shown in Figure 7-34. Holding the Shift key while rotating will constrain the rotation to 15° increments.
Figure 7-34: Drag the green circle-the rotation handle-to rotate an AutoShape.
Flipping an object changes it to a mirror image of itself, either vertically or horizontally. This can be useful if you need to use the same object twice or more on the same slide at different orientations. You might make several copies of an AutoShape and then flip some of them so that each points toward the center of the slide, for example.
To flip a shape vertically or horizontally, choose Draw⇨Rotate or Flip and then Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical.