Add Pattern Fills to Shapes in PowerPoint 2003 and 2002 for Windows

In other tutorials in this series, we covered solid fills, gradient fills and texture fills in PowerPoint 2003 and previous versions. In this tutorial page, we will explore the Pattern Fills. Patterns in PowerPoint are two-color designs comprising patterns like lines, dots, dashes and checks. PowerPoint includes 48 such patterns with names like plaid, weaves, shingle and zig zag. If you want to see a sample presentation showing Pattern Fills in PowerPoint, scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Follow these steps to change or apply a Pattern Fill to an AutoShape:

1. Select the AutoShape that you want to change the fill for. Alternatively, if you just want to follow this tutorial step-by-step, launch PowerPoint. Most of the time, PowerPoint will open with a new slide in a presentation, users can change the slide layout to Blank by selecting Format | Slide Layout, and then choose the Blank layout in the resultant Task Pane.
2. You will find the rectangle AutoShape option in the Drawing toolbar located below the PowerPoint interface. Select this option, and click once on the blank slide to place a rectangle AutoShape.
3. Select the AutoShape, and choose the Format | AutoShape option, as shown in Figure 1, or double click the AutoShape.
4. 
   Figure 1: AutoShape option to be selected
4. Either way, this opens the Format AutoShape dialog box that you can see in Figure 2. Note that this is a multi-tabbed dialog box, and all the options we need can be found in the Colors and Lines tab (again, see Figure 2).
5. 
   Figure 2: Colors and Lines tab within the Format AutoShape
5. In the Fill area, click the downward arrow next to the Color option, and choose Fill Effects, as shown in Figure 3.
6. 
   Figure 3: Fill Effects
6. This summons the Fill Effects dialog box that you can see in Figure 4. This dialog box has four tabs: Gradient, Texture, Pattern and Picture, select the Pattern tab (again, refer to Figure 4).
7. 
   Figure 4: Pattern tab of the Fill Effects dialog box
7. Choose any of the pattern styles. Figure 4 shows that we selected the first pattern available, this one is named 5%, probably because the dots in this pattern comprise 5% of the total pattern area. Similarly, there are patterns all the way from 5% to 90%! Other pattern names are more intuitive than these ones, they are called Sphere, Wave, etc.
8. Whichever pattern you choose, you can then choose the foreground and background colors for the pattern. Both of these have downward arrows next to them that work in the same way as you would choose a solid color. If you don't want to change the foreground and background colors, and accept the default color values that PowerPoint uses, that's OK too.
8. Once the pattern is selected, click OK to apply the pattern to the AutoShape, and get back to the Format AutoShape dialog box. Thereafter, click OK again to get back to your slide and AutoShape.
9. Remember to save your presentation often.
Related Link: Learn how to do more with AutoShapes in this free excerpt from my book: Cutting Edge PowerPoint For Dummies, read a free chapter called AutoShape Magic here.

Sample Pattern Presentation:

Click below to view on YouTube