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Move and size a shape

When you select a shape by clicking it, you will see small dots on the corners and on each side of the shape called handles.

shape selected

You can use standard Windows skills to manage the position and size of the shape.

To move a shape, do one of the following

  • Cut and paste the shape to another location in the presentation, or in another presentation.
  • Drag the shape to a new location.
    The move pointer is a four-headed arrow. You may need to point at the border of an object before the pointer changes into the four-headed arrow. move pointer

The Shift and Alt keys are modifiers for creating, moving, and resizing an object. You can use Shift (constrain), Alt (grid on/off) and Shift+Alt to modify the move.

The Shift+drag modifier

Hold the Shift key while dragging to constrain the action, or make it more accurate. Holding Shift while drawing creates a shape of perfect proportions or a perfect horizontal, vertical or diagonal line. Holding Shift while resizing maintains proportions. Holding Shift while moving or copying constrains the move/copy to a single direction -- horizontal or vertical from the current position.

The Alt+drag modifier

If an object seems to 'jump' or move in rough increments, it is probably because Snap To Grid is active. Press the Alt key while drawing, moving, copying or sizing to override the grid and work in single pixel increments.

To copy a shape, do one of the following:

  • Copy and paste the shape to another location in the presentation, or in another presentation.
  • Ctrl+drag the shape to a new location. Hold Ctrl then drag then release Ctrl.
    The copy pointer is a four-headed arrow. You may need to point at the border of an object before the pointer changes into the four-headed arrow. move pointer


You can use Shift (constrain), Alt (grid on/off) and Shift+Alt to modify the copy.

Resize the shape by dragging one of the shape's handles.

resize a picture by dragging its handles

  • Position the mouse pointer over a handle.

    The mouse pointer turns into a double-headed arrow.

  • Drag towards the center of the shape to make the shape smaller.

    or

    Drag away from the center of the shape to make the shape larger.

  • Drag a corner handle to maintain the aspect ratio (proportions) of the shape.

    Drag a handle on one of the sides of the picture shape you can size the shape horizontally or vertically without maintaining the shape's aspect ratio.

  • Press and hold Ctrl and drag a handle to resize from the center of the object. Without the Ctrl modifier, resizing uses one of the handles as the anchor of the resize operation.

Unlike pictures (photos and clip art), drawn shapes are not configured by default to lock their aspect ratio (proportions). That means, if you drag a corner handle of a shape, you can distort it. Luckily, you can use Shift (constrain), Alt (grid on/off) and Shift+Alt to modify the resize.

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