Learn PowerPoint 2013 for Windows: Text
Resize Text Boxes Accurately on a Slide
In PowerPoint 2013 resizing text boxes is easy. You select any text box and you get eight handles, four on corners, and four on
sides -- you then drag any of these eight handles to resize. The problem with this approach is that the resized text box you
end up with is not accurate. If you do not need accuracy, then you need not follow the rest of this tutorial -- however there
might be times when you need your text box sized exactly as the size of a picture you have inserted -- or even an exact size based on
a specification.
Text Layout Options
There are three types of text containers that PowerPoint provides: text placeholders, text boxes, and shapes -- all three text containers
are sufficiently similar in their characteristics for layout options for the text contained inside them. In this tutorial, we will explore
the alignment and text direction options for text within these text containers in PowerPoint 2013.
Inser Dummy Text
At some point of time, we all need dummy text to quickly add to our slides so that we can ascertain how a body of text looks or fits
within a certain text box or placeholder. Microsoft introduced an undocumented feature in PowerPoint that enables you achieve this
with just a few keystrokes, and once you are used to these shortcuts, you'll learn to appreciate this feature so much!
Selecting Text
PowerPoint and indeed all Microsoft Office programs allow you to work with a particular object only if it is selected. For example, you
select a shape to make changes to the shape. You similarly select a chart to edit the chart. And yes, you can select a text container
object such as a text placeholder, a text box, or even a shape -- and then make changes to its position, formatting, size, etc. However,
this changes the entire object -- and leaves the actual text content within that object largely unchanged. To make changes to the actual
text, you first need to select the text separately and then make changes by using the options available within the Home tab of the Ribbon
or the Mini Toolbar.
