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PowerPoint 2003 and previous versions don't allow you to draw a semi-circle shape although that's not an issue within PowerPoint 2007. In this tutorial, I'll show you three ways in which you can add a semi-circle to your PowerPoint 2003 slide -- whichever way you choose, make sure you save one semi-circle so that you can copy-paste and reuse it again whenever required.

First Option: Find a friend who has PowerPoint 2007

Yes, this really is the easiest option:

1. Find a friend or colleague who has PowerPoint 2007, and ask them to follow the steps in our Creating Semi-Circles in PowerPoint 2007 tutorial.
   
   
2. Then tell them to save the resultant file as a PPT file, as opposed to PowerPoint 2007's default PPTX format.
   
   
3. Thereafter whenever you need a semi-circle, just copy that shape from the PPT file you received, and paste it into any slide as required.

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Second Option: Use a Block Arc

OK -- this must be one of the most counter-intuitive things in PowerPoint, but it can be done:

1. Get started with a blank slide. Now access the Drawing toolbar, and choose AutoShapes | Basic Shapes | Block Arc, as shown in Figure 1.
   
   
   Figure 1: Basic Shapes
   
   
2. Place an instance of the Block Arc, as shown in Figure 2 -- note that there is a diamond handle in the left side of the arc tube. Drag it to the right very, very carefully until you end up with a semi-circle. I know, you may not be able to achieve the semi-circle the first time you try -- if that is the case, try again.
   
   
   Figure 2: Block Arc
   
   Note: OfficeOne provides a PowerPoint add-in called ProTools (on the ProTools page, look for a section called Tips) that makes it easy to create a semi-circle in PowerPoint -- and PowerPoint 2007 creates an easy semi-circle too.
   
   3. Either way, you'll end up with an almost perfect semi-circle as shown in Figure 3.
   
   
   Figure 3: Semi-circle
   
   4. (Optional) Rotate the circle 180 degrees using the green rotation handle on top so that your semi-circle looks like what you can see in Figure 4.
   
   
   Figure 4: Rotate at 180 degrees
   
   5. Save your presentation.

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Third Option: Get Leftovers From A Chart!

Yes, you read that right -- you can create a semi-circle from a chart in PowerPoint 2003 -- follow these steps:

1. Get started with a blank slide. Now choose Insert | Chart so that you are in PowerPoint's special charting mode called Microsoft Graph.
   
   
2. Choose Chart | Chart Type to bring up the dialog box that you can see in Figure 5. As you can see, I chose the first option that's a regular pie. Click OK to exit this dialog box.
   
   
   Figure 5: Chart Type
   
   
3. If you cannot see the Datasheet, choose View | Datasheet so that you can see it as shown in Figure 6.
   
   
   Figure 6: Datasheet
   
   
4. Clear the data within all the cells except for A1 and B1. In both these cells, type in identical values -- I typed in 100 in both of them (see Figure 6 again).
   
   
5. Click anywhere on the slide outside the chart area to exit Microsoft Graph.
   
   
6. Select your chart -- be careful not to double-click your chart since that will re-activate Microsoft Graph -- so just gently select it. Then choose Edit | Copy.
   
   
7. Insert a new blank slide (Ctrl+M), and then choose Edit | Paste Special to bring up a dialog box of the same name as shown in Figure 7. Choose the Picture (Enhanced Metafile) option, and then click OK.
   
   
   Figure 7: Paste Special
   
   
8. Right-click the pasted chart graphic carefully, and choose the Group | Ungroup option in the resultant menu as shown in Figure 8.
   
   
   Figure 8: Ungroup
   
   
9. PowerPoint will warn you that the chart picture will convert to a Microsoft Office drawing object (see Figure 9). Click Yes to proceed.
   
   
   Figure 8: Ungroup
   
   
10. Right-click the ungrouped chart graphic carefully again, and choose the Group | Ungroup option one more time.
    
    
11. You'll now find two semi-circles within the ungrouped leftovers from the chart! Select any of them, and copy-paste them wherever required.

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