Change Shapes within a SmartArt Graphic in PowerPoint 2010
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: PowerPoint 2010
Date Created: April 19th 2011
Last Updated: April 19th 2011
Excerpt/Capsule: Learn how to change shapes within a SmartArt graphic in PowerPoint 2010.
Most of the time, SmartArt graphics work great with their default looks
-- yes, you can change
your SmartArt graphics to other layouts and you can also change
the Theme colors or apply a SmartArt Style to make your
SmartArt appear distinct and unique. What many users don't realize
though is that you can change the actual shapes within a SmartArt graphic
-- for instance you can change some circles in your SmartArt graphic
to squares with a mere click or two! Follow these
steps to explore how you can change the shapes:
- Select your existing SmartArt graphic (learn how to insert
a SmartArt graphic within PowerPoint 2010), as shown in Figure
1. Note that once you select a SmartArt graphic, two
contextual tabs activate on the Ribbon:
the SmartArt Tools Design and the SmartArt Tools
Format tabs (highlighted in red in Figure 2).
Figure 1: Continuous Block Process SmartArt graphic in PowerPoint
- Select any shape within SmartArt graphic which you want to change.
In the example shown in Figure 2, I have selected the
middle Rounded Rectangle.
Now select the SmartArt Tools
Format tab.
Figure 2: SmartArt Tools Format tab selected
- Within the SmartArt Tools
Format tab, locate the Shapes group, then
click the Change Shape button as shown in Figure
3.
Figure 3: Change Shape button
- This brings up the Shapes gallery, as shown in Figure 4. Select any shape you like, for this tutorial I have selected an Oval (refer to Figure 4 again).
Figure 4: Oval shape selected within Shapes gallery
- Figure 5 shows the selected Rounded Rectangle is
now changed to an Oval. Note that only the shape is changed and other
attributes such as fill color, outline color, etc, are still the same
(compare Figure
2 and Figure 5).
Figure 5: Selected shape within a SmartArt graphic is changed from a rectangle to an oval
See Also: Change Shapes within a SmartArt Graphic in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac
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