Apply Preset Effects to Shapes
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista
Date Created: February 23rd 2009
Last Updated: February 23rd 2009
Excerpt/Capsule: Preset effect styles let you apply a combination of effects at one go.
PowerPoint 2007 offers six effect types that you can apply to most slide objects including shapes. However there may be times when you don't want to go through the trouble of experimenting with these six effects to see if a particular shadow effect style works well with another bevel effect. If that sounds familiar, you will love the Presets option that combines effects that generally work well with each other.
To see a sample presentation containing Preset effect in PowerPoint 2007, scroll down to the bottom of this page.
Follow these steps to apply a Preset effects style to a shape:
- Select the shape you want to apply the effect to. Selecting a shape activates the Drawing Tools Format tab in the Ribbon -- activate this tab and locate the Shape Effects button that you can see in Figure 1 (highlighted in yellow at the bottom right of the Figure).
Figure 1: Shape Effects
- This brings up the Shape Effects dropdown gallery, as you can see in Figure 2. From the Shape Effect dropdown gallery choose the Preset option.
Figure 2: Preset dropdown gallery
- This opens the Preset sub-gallery (refer to Figure 2 above) that provides the following options:
- No Presets: This is the option you can use if you already have applied a preset effect to a shape that you want to remove.
- Presets: There are twelve shape effects in the preset, which can be applied to a shape. All these presets are combinations of the other six effect types that PowerPoint provides -- these are Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Soft Edges, Bevel, and 3-D Rotation. You can individually tweak each of these effects but the Presets option makes it a lot more easier.
- 3-D Options: This option takes you to the 3-D Options tab of the Format Shape dialog box that lets you do much more than just tweak the 3-D options. You can also read a detailed article on 3-D Options.
- No Presets: This is the option you can use if you already have applied a preset effect to a shape that you want to remove.
- Mouse over any of the effects within the Preset gallery to see a live preview of the effect. Click on an effect to apply it to the selected shape.
- Remember to save your presentation often.
Related Link: My book Cutting Edge PowerPoint 2007 For Dummies covers many aspects of PowerPoint 2007. A free chapter excerpt PowerPointing with the Best of Them is available on this site.
Sample Presentation
Click above to view on Slideboom