Align Shapes in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

Creative freedom may require no aligning of objects on a slide geometrically. Indeed, you may want everything placed in an organic, non-aligned manner. Ultimately, the decision to align can differ on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes, alignment works, and at other times, an unaligned bunch of shapes looks perfectly natural and organic, as you can see in the two different examples shown in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Alignment works great many times, but is better not done at other times

Look closely again at Figure 1, and you'll tend to agree that the bunch of circles on the right seems to follow a natural S curve and aligning them all in the same straight line would not benefit at all. On the other hand, the bunch of rectangles on the left certainly benefits from being aligned in a straight line.

Also, remember that alignment works with more than just shapes, and you can also combine shapes with other slide objects and align them all together. Now for those times when you place shapes on a PowerPoint slide anywhere you want, and then you need these shapes to be arranged in a straight line.

Follow these steps to align shapes and other slide objects in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows:

1. Select all the shapes which you want to align.
2. Access the Home tab of the Ribbon, and click the Arrange button. You'll find an Align option in the resultant gallery. Clicking Align brings up the Align gallery, as shown in Figure 2, below.

Align Options on the QAT

If you use the Align tools often, consider adding them to your Quick Access Toolbar by customizing it.
3. 
   Figure 2: Align gallery in the Home tab of the Ribbon

Align Selected Objects?

Before you begin aligning shapes, make sure the Align Selected Objects option is activated in the Align gallery, as shown in Figure 2, above.
3. The Align gallery provides six align options, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2, above:
4. The Align Left, Align Center, and Align Right options works with shapes and slide objects suitable for alignment vertically on the slide, as shown in Figure 3, below.
5. 
   Figure 3: Shapes placed for vertical alignment on the slide

Align Left

6. The left-most shape within the selection determines the left point for alignment of all shapes, as shown in Figure 4, below.
7. 
   Figure 4: Shapes aligned to left

Align Center

8. This Align Center option calculates the center of all objects in the selection, by first determining the left-most and right-most points, and then determining the center between those end points. This command will align all shapes vertically along their centers, as shown in Figure 5, below.
9. 
   Figure 5: Shapes aligned to center

Align Right

10. The right-most shape within the selection determines the right point for alignment of all shapes, as shown in Figure 6, below.
11. 
    Figure 6: Shapes aligned to right
12. The Align Top, Align Middle, and Align Bottom options are suitable for selected shapes and other slide objects, placed horizontally on the slide, as shown in Figure 7, below.
13. 
    Figure 7: Shapes placed for horizontal alignment on the slide

Align Top

14. The top-most shape within the selection determines the top point for alignment of all shapes, as shown in Figure 8, below.
15. 
    Figure 8: Shapes aligned to top

Align Middle

16. This Align Middle option calculates the middle of all objects by determining the top-most and bottom-most points, and then determining the middle between those end points. This command will align all shapes horizontally along their middles, as shown in Figure 9, below.
17. 
    Figure 9: Shapes aligned to middle

Align Bottom

18. The bottom-most shape within the selection determines the bottom point for alignment of all shapes, as shown in Figure 10, below.
19. 
    Figure 10: Shapes aligned to bottom
4. Save your presentation often.