For many users, the Merge Shape commands may be assumed as a new feature in
PowerPoint 2013. However these were available in PowerPoint 2010 through the
Combine Shapes commands. Yes, these were not available by default from any of the Ribbon tabs in PowerPoint 2010, but you could
customize the QAT to get these commands. In PowerPoint
2013, Microsoft gave the new Merge Shapes name to these commands and also gave them a place right within the
Ribbon. And now, these commands are no longer limited to shapes as they
also work with text and pictures.
Accessing the Merge Shape Commands
- To access the Merge Shape commands you first need to insert some
shapes on your PowerPoint slide. In this example we inserted a Rectangle and a Circle -- make sure you place the shapes in a way so that they
overlap each other, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Two overlapped shapes
- When the shapes are selected, you will see the Drawing Tools Format tab on the Ribbon (highlighted in
red within Figure 2). Make sure that this contextual tab is activated.
Figure 2: Drawing Tools Format tab
Note: The
Drawing Tools Format tab is a
Contextual tab. These
tabs are special tabs in the
Ribbon that
are not visible all the time -- they only make an appearance when you are working with a particular slide object
which can be edited using special options.
- Within the Drawing Tools Format tab, locate the Insert Shapes group and click
the Merge Shapes button (highlighted in red within
Figure 3). This brings up the Merge Shapes drop-down gallery (highlighted in
blue within Figure 3).
Figure 3: Merge Shapes drop-down gallery
These five Merge Shapes options work in different ways (see Figure 4) – we will show you how these commands work in our tutorial
pages linked below:
- Union
- Combine
- Fragment (new in PowerPoint 2013)
- Intersect
- Subtract

Figure 4: Merge Shapes get you various, differing outputs
Additionally, you can now also merge shapes with text and pictures, as explained in the following tutorials:
- Convert Text to Shapes by Intersecting in PowerPoint 2013
- Convert Text to Shapes by Fragmenting in PowerPoint 2013
- Merge Shapes with Pictures in PowerPoint 2013
See Also:
Merge Shape Commands in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows
Merge Shape Commands in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac
Combine Shapes Commands
in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac