Resize Text Boxes Accurately on a Slide in PowerPoint 2010

Resizing text boxes works in almost the same way as you would resize any other slide object in PowerPoint -- select it and you will see eight handles on the four corners and four sides -- you then drag any of these corners to resize. The problem with this approach is that the resized text box you end up with is not accurate. If you do not need accuracy, then you need not read the rest of this tutorial -- however there might be times when you need your text box sized exactly as the size of a picture you have inserted. Look at the slide in Figure 1 to understand what we are explaining:

Figure 1: The picture in this slide is much wider than the text box underneath

As you can see in Figure 1 above, the picture is much wider than the text box below that includes a caption for the picture. If we want the width of the text box to exactly match the width of the picture, then we need to do two things:

1. Find out the width of the picture.
2. Then change the width of the text box to match the width of the picture.

Follow these steps to proceed with these twin objectives:

1. Select the picture -- this activates the Picture Tools Format tab of the Ribbon, as shown in Figure 2.
   
   
   Note: The Picture Tools Format tab is a contextual tab. Contextual 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.
   
   
   
2. Within the Size group you'll find the Width and the Height attributes of the selected picture. Make a note of the Width of the picture (highlighted in red in Figure 2). For this particular example the picture width is 4.44 inch.
   
   
   Figure 2: Width and the Height values of the selected picture
   
   
   Note: Do you see the Width and Height values in centimeters rather than inches? That's not an issue since you will either see centimeters or inches everywhere in PowerPoint -- but if you want to change the unit of measurement, you will have to do that globally in your Microsoft Windows operating system. The following tutorials will help you:
   
   Change the Unit of Measurement in Windows 8
   Change the Unit of Measurement in Windows 7
   Change the Unit of Measurement in Windows Vista
   Change the Unit of Measurement in Windows XP
   
   
   
3. Now, select the text box beneath the picture. Note that you no longer see the Picture Tools Format tab -- rather you now see the Drawing Tools Format tab. Both of these tabs are contextual tabs -- and which contextual tab you see in the Ribbon depends upon what you select on your slide.
   
   For now, access the Drawing Tools Format tab, and click the dialog launcher located at the bottom right corner of the Size group (highlighted in red in Figure 3).
   
   
   Figure 3: Dialog launcher within the Size group .
   
   
4. This brings up the Format Shape dialog box with the Size option selected in the left pane (see Figure 4).
   
   
   Figure 4: Size editing options within Format Shape dialog box
   
   
5. Uncheck the Lock aspect ratio check-box (highlighted in red in Figure 4 above). This ensures that any change in the width of your text box will not change its height. If this check-box is not checked, then leave it untouched.
   
   
6. Within the same dialog, locate the Width option (highlighted in red in Figure 5). Type in the width value to match the picture (4.44 inch), You will see the resized text box immediately on your slide -- if you don't see the text box, you may have to move the Format Shape dialog box that you are working with a little so that it does not cover your text box. When done resizing, click the Close button to get back to the slide.
   
   
   Figure 5: Width of the text box changed to match the picture's width
   
   
7. This will resize the text box, as shown in Figure 6 (compare to Figure 1).
   
   
   Figure 6: Text box resized
   
   
8. Once the text box is resized, you might want to align it with the picture so that it is positioned right beneath the picture. PowerPoint 2010 also lets you smart align the text box with the picture.
   
   
9. In some cases a resized text box may result in your text becoming smaller -- or the text overflows outside the text box. To correct this you need to tweak the Text Autofit options.
   
   
10. Make sure to save your presentation often.

See Also:

Resize Text Boxes Accurately on a Slide in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows
Resize Text Boxes Accurately on a Slide in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Resize Text Boxes Accurately in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac