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Resize Shapes Within SmartArt in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

Author: Geetesh Bajaj

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

Date Created: October 20th 2011
Last Updated: October 20th 2011

Excerpt/Capsule: Learn how to resize the individual shapes contained within a SmartArt graphic in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

One of the reasons why PowerPoint's implementation of the SmartArt feature is considered so good is because customizations are so doable. We have already shown you how to change colors of the entire SmartArt graphic, or apply cool SmartArt styles. In addition, you can format at the individual shape level within the SmartArt graphic -- change individual shapes or move them within the area occupied by the SmartArt. In this tutorial, you will explore how you can resize individual shapes within a SmartArt graphic:

Select your existing SmartArt graphic (learn how to insert SmartArt within PowerPoint 2011), and select the individual shape which you want to resize, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Basic Radial SmartArt graphic
You can place the cursor over the selected shape’s handles (four blueish white round handles on the corners, and four square blueish white handles on the sides) -- and just drag any of these handles to resize the shape. Learn more about resizing shapes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.

However, there may be situations where you want to slightly rotate the shape, or to resize it to a fixed size. The Format Shape dialog box provides you with options to do so -- to access this dialog, use any of these procedures:
- With the shape selected, access the Format | Shape menu option as shown in Figure 2.
  
  Figure 2: Shape option within the Format menu
- Right-click the selected shape to bring up a context menu. From this menu, select the Format Shape option as shown in Figure 3.
  
  Figure 3: Format Shape option
Both procedures will summon the Format Shape dialog box - in this dialog box, make sure that Size panel is active in the sidebar as shown in Figure 4. This panel includes the options to resize and rotate the selected shape.

Figure 4: Shape resize and rotation options within Format Shape dialog box
Enter the new Height, Width, and Rotation values for the selected shape as shown in Figure 5 below. Click OK to apply these changed values and get back to the slide.

Figure 5: New values entered for resizing and rotating the selected shape

Note: When you are making changes to the shape attributes from within Format Shape dialog box, you can see the preview of the changes in the selected shape as shown in Figure 5 above.
Figure 6 shows the selected circle shape resized (and rotated), compare Figures 1 and 6.

Figure 6: Selected shape within the SmartArt graphic is resized and rotated
Save your presentation.

Tip: You can restore the original parameters of any shape which you resize. To do that, right-click the shape you want to restore the defaults for, and then choose the Reset Shape option in the contextual menu, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Reset Shape option

Tip: In addition to resetting a shape, as explained in the previous tip, you can also reset your entire SmartArt in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac to its defaults.

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