Apply Shadow Effects to Shapes in PowerPoint 2007 for Windows

Learn how you can apply Shadow Effects to shapes in PowerPoint 2007 for Windows. You can choose from Outer Shadow, Inner Shadow, and No Shadow options.

Author: Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: PowerPoint 2007 for Windows

OS: Microsoft Windows XP and higher

Date Created: February 23, 2009
Last Updated: February 23, 2009

In a previous tutorial we showed you how to apply the preset effects to shapes in PowerPoint 2007 for Windows. In this tutorial, we'll show you how you can apply Shadow Effects to shapes in PowerPoint 2007 for Windows.

To see a sample presentation containing Shadow Effects in PowerPoint 2007, scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Follow these steps to apply Shadow Effects to a shape:

Select the shape you want to apply the effect to. Selecting a shape activates the Drawing Tools Format tab in the Ribbon. Activate this tab and locate the Shape Effects button that you can see in Figure 1 (highlighted in red).
Figure 1: Shape Effects button
This brings up the Shape Effects drop-down gallery, as you can see in Figure 2. From the Shape Effects drop-down gallery, choose the Shadow option.
Figure 2: Shadow sub-gallery
This opens the the Shadow sub-gallery (refer to Figure 2) that provides the following options:

A. No Shadow

Use this option to remove shadow from a selected shape. You can use this option only if the shape has a shadow applied.

B. Outer Shadow

There are nine outer shadow styles available for various directions. These outer shadows are akin to drop shadows.

C. Inner Shadow

Again you can choose from nine inner shadow styles. This effect applies a darkened edge to the selected shape in various directions.

D. Perspective

Adds a long shadow that can sometimes cast off outside the slide area. There are five styles available.

E. Shadow Options

If you want more control on shadows other than the options provided in this gallery, choose this option. Learn more in our Advanced Shadow Effect Options In PowerPoint 2007 tutorial.
Hover your cursor over any of the effects within the Shadows gallery to see a Live Preview of the effect. Click on an effect to apply it to the selected shape.
Remember to save your presentation often.

Related Link: My book Cutting Edge PowerPoint 2007 For Dummies covers many aspects of PowerPoint 2007. A free chapter excerpt PowerPointing with the Best of Them is available on this site.

Sample Presentation:

Click below to view on SlideShare

Click below to view on YouTube

Pictures in Presentations

Is a picture is worth a thousand words? You probably have heard this adage so often that we decided not to repeat this phrase throughout this book! Now here’s some more info: the human brain uses a larger part of its area to store visual information rather than textual content. And that’s possibly because a picture describes so much more than text.