Aligning and positioning in PowerPoint

Aligning and positioning in PowerPoint

If you use any graphics in PowerPoint, you need to know how to position and align them -- to each other, to the page or to text. Other than bad spelling, nothing screams Amateurmore than graphics that look crooked or scattered or positioned unevenly.

Here are some handy features that will make it easier to deal with graphics, so you don't have to eyeball them.

1. Use the grid. The grid is a set of vertical and horizontal lines that's normally invisible. Objects will snap to the grid, as though the grid has some gravity. That's why, when you drag an object, it doesn't move smoothly across the screen.
   
   To show or hide the grid, either click the Show/Hide Grid button on the Standard toolbar or press Shift + F9. If you want to ignore the grid temporarily, press Alt as you drag. As long as you hold the Alt key, you can drag objects smoothly...but there's less chance that they will line up.
   
   
2. Use the guidelines. If you want some objects to sit along a line, horizontally or vertically, don't eyeball it; display a line on the screen. When you press Alt + F9, a horizontal and vertical guideline will appear and objects will snap to them, unless you're holding the Alt key. Drag the guidelines anywhere you want. Of course, pressing Alt + F9makes the guidelines disappear.
   
   Are a single vertical and single horizontal guideline not enough? Just Ctrl + drag any guideline to duplicate it. To remove a guideline, just drag it off the edge of the page. But you'll have to remove them one-at-a-time; there is no command that deletes all guidelines. (Pressing Alt + F9 only hides them, it doesn't remove them.)
   
   When you drag a guideline, do you notice the little numbers attached to the mouse pointer? They're showing you how many inches away from the middle of the slide you're dragging. If you'd rather that the number start from zero, to make it easier to measure how far you're dragging it, press Shift while you drag. For example, if you want to add a guideline half an inch below an object, hold Shift as you drag a horizontal guideline downwards. When the number on the mouse pointer displays 0.50, let go. As with dragging objects, the guidelines can snap to the grid or not, depending on whether you're pressing Alt.
   
   
3. Set grid and guides options. Press Ctrl + G to display the Grid and Guides dialog box. There, you can turn snapping on and off (if you're tired of holding Alt) and turn the grid and guides on and off.
   
   When you turn the grid on, it only shows the lines at each horizontal and vertical inch. The grid has many more lines than that, but there isn't a way to make the rest of them appear. But in this dialog box, you can at least set their spacing. Click OK when you're done.
   
   
4. Move objects very small amounts with precision. To move an object horizontally or vertically exactly 1/10 of an inch, press one of the four arrow keys on the keyboard. To move an object 1/100 of an inch, press Ctrl + an arrow key. You can't be that accurate with the mouse!
   
   
5. Drag objects straight vertically or straight horizontally. Just Shift + drag the object. If you start dragging horizontally using the Shift key, you can't also drag vertically, and vice-versa. So go ahead, have that extra cup of Java! PowerPoint won't mind if your hands are a little shaky.

Here's a bonus tip: if you want to duplicate an object while dragging it, press Ctrl while dragging. And if you press Shift + Ctrl while dragging, you'll duplicate the object exactly horizontally or exactly vertically.