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Add or Delete Points (Vertexes) of Shapes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

Author: Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: Microsoft PowerPoint 2011
OS: Mac OS X

Date Created: January 31st 2012
Last Updated: January 31st 2012

Excerpt/Capsule: Learn how to add or delete points (vertexes) of a shape in PowerPoint 2011.

In a previous tutorial, you have learned how you can edit points (vertexes) of a selected shape to alter its structure. These vertexes let you control how a shape looks -- but sometimes you might find it difficult to edit a certain segment in a shape because there are no vertexes (points) available to manipulate -- or maybe there are far too many points! PowerPoint provides a simple solution for this problem -- you can add and delete vertexes from a shape.

Add Points (Vertexes)

Follow these steps to add vertexes:

1. To add a a vertex to a shape, select the shape (you can use any shape, for this tutorial I have used a Diamond) and switch to Edit Point mode (just right-click and choose Edit Points option). Now place the cursor on top of the outline of the shape where you want to add a new vertex (point) - the cursor will change to a square with a plus sign, as shown in Figure 1 (highlighted in red).
   
   Figure 1: Cursor positioned to add a point
   
   
2. Now, right-click (or Ctrl-click) to get the contextual menu -- from this menu, choose the Add Point option, as you can see in Figure 2.
   
   Figure 2: Add Point option selected
   
   
3. This will add a new point (vertex) to the shape at the cursor position (see Figure 3). Similarly, you can add as many points you want -- thereafter edit these points as required to alter the shape.
   
   Figure 3: New point added to the shape

Delete Points (Vertexes)

Follow these steps to delete existing vertexes:

1. Make sure you are in Edit Points mode (just right-click and choose Edit Points option). Place the cursor over the point you want to delete -- the cursor will change to a small square with four directional arrows around it, as shown highlighted in red, in Figure 4.
   
   Figure 4: Place cursor over the point to be deleted
   
   
2. Right-click (or Ctrl-click) to get the contextual menu. From this contextual menu, choose the Delete Point option shown in Figure 5.
   
   
   Figure 5: Delete Point option selected
   
   
3. This will delete the selected point of the shape (see Figure 6). Deleting a point changes the shape completely, as you can see in Figure 6 where a diamond is transformed to a triangle.
   
   Figure 6: Deleting a point from the shape can change the shape
   
   
4. Save your presentation.

See Also: Add or Delete Points (Vertexes) for Shapes in PowerPoint 2010.