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Nudge and Move Shapes in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

Learn how to nudge or move shapes in PowerPoint 2010.

Author: Geetesh Bajaj

Product/Version: Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
OS: Windows 8, 7, Vista, and XP

Date Created: December 21st 2010
Last Updated: December 21st 2010

Nudging a shape or any other slide object is essentially moving it just a wee bit using the arrow keys on your keyboard rather than the mouse. Move is different in that it is more of a super-nudge, and you can use the mouse to move rather than just nudge. PowerPoint provides more than one way to nudge or move any selected shape or slide object:

1. Select the shape, and press the relevant arrow keys on the keyboard to nudge the shape towards any of the four directions.


2. To move the selected shape in even smaller increments, hold down the Ctrl key while you press the arrow keys.


3. To move the shape anywhere around the slide, select and drag it on or off the slide, as shown in Figure 1.
   
   
   Figure 1: Move shape anywhere on the slide


4. To move the shape in a straight line, select the shape and then hold the Shift key. Now, drag it horizontally or vertically (see Figure 2).
   
   
   Figure 2: Move shape in straight line


5. To nudge or move the selected shape in an exact coordinate position on the slide, access the Drawing Tools Format tab of the Ribbon. Within the Size group click the small arrow dialog launcher located at the bottom right corner (highlighted in red in Figure 3).
   
   
   Figure 3: Click the arrow dialog launcher to summon the Format Shape dialog box


6. This will launch the Format Shape dialog box, as shown in Figure 4. Click Position in the left pane to explore the position options, as explained below:
   
   
   • Position on slide | Horizontal: Type in or use the increase / decrease buttons to change the horizontal position of a shape.
   • Position on slide | Vertical: Type in or use the increase / decrease buttons to change the vertical position of a shape.
     
     
     
     Figure 4: Format Shape dialog box
     
     Either way, you can use the From drop-down list -- by default all values are calculated from the Top Left Corner but you can also choose to move or nudge from the center of the slide, as shown in the drop-down list in Figure 5.
     
     
     Figure 5: Nudge From drop-down list

See Also:

Nudge and Move Shapes in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows
Nudge and Move Shapes in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Nudge and Move Shapes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac