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A line (outline) in PowerPoint contains both points and segments. You already learned about the three types of points in PowerPoint within a previous tutorial. I now show you how segments (the line area between one point and another) work, and the two types of segments: straight and curved. You can edit these segments and also convert a straight segment to a curved segment and vice versa, as you will learn in this tutorial.

Curved Segment

1. Select the shape which has straight segments (such as Rectangle, see in Figure 1) and switch to Edit Points mode (just right-click and choose Edit Points).
   
   
   Figure 1: A Rectangle in Edit Points mode
   
   
2. Now place the cursor on top of the outline of the shape - the cursor will change to a rectangle with a plus sign, as shown in Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: Place cursor over the outline and right click
   
   
3. Now right click to get the context menu, as you can see in Figure 3. From the resultant menu choose Curved Segment.
   
   
   Figure 3: Curved Segment option selected
   
   
4. This converts the straight segment of the line to a curved segment, as shown in Figure 4 (compare to Figure 3).
   
   
   Figure 4: Straight Segment changed to Curved Segment

Straight Segment

To make a Curved Segment to a Straight Segment follow these steps:

1. Select the shape which has curved segments (such as Oval, see in Figure 5) and switch to Edit Points mode (just right-click and choose Edit Points).
   
   
   Figure 5: An Oval in Edit Points mode
   
   
2. Now place the cursor on top of the outline of the shape - the cursor will change to a rectangle with a plus sign, as shown in Figure 6.
   
   
   Figure 6: Place cursor over the outline and right click
   
   
3. Now right click to get the context menu, as you can see in Figure 7. From the resultant menu choose Straight Segment.
   
   
   Figure 7: Straight Segment option Selected
   
   
4. This converts the curved segment of the line to a straight segment, as shown in Figure 8 (compare to Figure 7).
   
   
   Figure 8: Curved Segment changed to Straight Segment
   

Directly Working with Segments

You can also click anywhere on a segment and drag it as required to change the structure of the shape. PowerPoint automatically adds a new point (vertex) at the the point you dragged the segment, as shown in Figure 9 (compare to Figure 7).


Figure 9: New point is added on the segment

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