Flip Shapes in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows

The shape on your slide looks perfect. It sports the right color and it’s branding is spot on with your slide content. However, do you wonder if there’s something you could do to get better results? These are the times when most slide designers want some change, and they want their slide content to look fresh and different! And the easiest change that you can make to your shape is to flip it.

Let's use the Teardrop shape, as shown in Figure 1, as an example. You can resize and rotate this Teardrop shape. However, even with rotation, you are just turning the shape in another direction without making any changes to the shape's structure. The Flip option, on the other hand, lets you mirror your shape in another direction to create a reverse image.

Follow these steps to apply the Flip option in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows:

1. Select your shape so that eight white handles appear around the selection, as shown in Figure 1, below.
2. 
   Figure 1: Select the shape
2. Select any of the side handles, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1, above, and drag towards the other end of the shape, as shown in Figure 2, below.
3. 
   Figure 2: Drag towards the other end of the shape
3. Keep dragging beyond the shape on the other side to flip the selected shape, as shown in Figure 3, below.
4. 
   Figure 3: Drag on the other side to flip a shape
4. Alternatively, you can hold the Ctrl key and drag any of the side handles towards the other end of the shape, as shown in Figure 4, below. This action will flip the shape from the center (not proportionately), as shown in Figure 4 on the right side.
5. 
   Figure 4: Hold the Ctrl key to flip the shape from the center
5. To get more exact control over the flip, select the shape to activate the Drawing Tools Format tab on the Ribbon, as shown in Figure 5, below. Within the Arrange group, click the Rotate button to access the Rotate drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 5. Choose either Flip Vertical or Flip Horizontal, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 5.
6. 
   Figure 5: Flip options within Rotate drop-down gallery
6. Figure 6, below, displays the selected shape flipped horizontally.
7. 
   Figure 6: Shape flipped horizontally
7. You can make copies of your selected shapes, and then flip them differently to create a pattern, as shown in Figure 7, below.
8. 
   Figure 7: Use flip to create patterns