How to group objects in PowerPoint: step-by-step instruction

Microsoft PowerPoint is a well-known program for creating presentations. Due to its prevalence, a lot of teaching aids, and a user-friendly interface, even a novice user can develop an exciting slide show in this program. In this article, you will learn how to group objects in PowerPoint, how to align them, and how to arrange their position on the page.

Custom shapes created by grouping in MS PowerPoint

During the development of the presentation, a situation may arise when it is necessary to combine several objects into one and work with them already as a single object. In MS PowerPoint, there is such a function, and it is called "Grouping". The result is your unique custom shape.

You can rotate the finished object, change its position and the order of its location. This is called ordering. Consider how alignment and ordering of objects in MS PowerPoint is based on the 2007 version.

Why do I need to group objects?

Before we talk about how to group objects in PowerPoint, we'll examine what objects are grouped for.

Group objects, as a rule, in one of the following cases:

1. The figure that you want to get is missing from the standard figures of the program. However, when you combine several patterned shapes, you can get what you want.
2. You want to manage several objects as one: simultaneously move, flip, flip, resize, and other characteristics (adjust the overall background color, shape outlines, color and direction of the text, customize the animation, apply effects).
3. You want to create from the set of figures an emblem for your company and subsequently use it for various purposes. After all, the figure you created can be saved as a drawing for further export to any text or graphic editor.

MS PowerPoint: grouping objects. Step-by-step instruction

How to group objects in MS PowerPoint? It is enough to follow the following stages (based on the 2007 version):

1. Create a new empty slide.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click the Shapes button and draw a few.
3. Use the mouse to select all the shapes to be grouped.
4. Click the "Format" tab in the "Arrange" group and look for the "Group" button. When you click on it, you will open a menu, one of the items of which is the "Group" we need.

Done! You've learned how to group objects in PowerPoint. Now you can copy the resulting shape to any other slide. And to save your shape and use it, just right-click on it and click Save As Picture.

MS PowerPoint: aligning grouped objects

With Microsoft PowerPoint, the grouped objects can be aligned in different ways. Alignment is the change in the location relative to the page (the slide in this case). To see all the alignment methods, on the Home tab, again in the Drawing group, click the Arrange button. In the menu that opens, go to "Align":

1. "Left" - your figure will move horizontally to the left edge. On the vertical its position will not change.
2. "Align Center" - the shape will move horizontally to the center of the page, without moving along the vertical.
3. "On the right edge" - the figure will shift horizontally to the right edge. On the vertical its position will not change.
4. "Align at the top edge" - the shape will move vertically to the top edge of the sheet. Its position will not change horizontally.
5. "Align in the middle" - the figure will move vertically to the middle of the sheet, while not changing its position relative to the horizontal.
6. "Align on the bottom edge" - the figure will move vertically to the bottom edge of the sheet. Its position will not change horizontally.

MS PowerPoint: ordering objects

Another advantage of working with grouped objects is the ability to move them one by one across the page layers with a single mouse click.

Click the left mouse button to select your grouped object.

On the Home tab, in the Drawing group, go to the Arrange menu. You will open 4 options:

1. "To the fore" - selecting this option, you place your figure on the topmost layer of the slide, it will be placed on top of all other shapes and any text.
2. "To the background" - by analogy, your figure will stand behind all others with which it intersects, as well as all other contents of the slide. Caution! After performing this action, the figure may disappear altogether from your field of vision. If this was not intended, just click the Cancel button (or CTRL + Z).
3. "Move Forward" - the shape will move up one layer. However, it may well not be the top one.
4. "Move back" - move the shape one layer back.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in how to group objects in PowerPoint. Just a few clicks of the mouse - and before us is a unique figure, which is much easier to work with than with disconnected objects.