Text Effects in PowerPoint 2010

Among the options for stylizing text in PowerPoint, you have already explored Text Fills and Text Outlines. You have also learned how to apply various WordArt styles in PowerPoint. Now let us learn how to apply and edit various text effects like Shadow, Reflection, Glow, 3-D Rotation, Transform, etc. to your text. Follow these steps to explore more:

1. Select the text to which you want to apply a text effect. Alternatively, if you just want to follow this tutorial step-by-step, insert a text box on a blank slide and type some text in it -- also change the text font to something "blockier", such as Arial Black (see Figure 1). Select the text, or select the entire text box by clicking on the edge of the placeholder, to bring up the Drawing Tools Format tab on the Ribbon as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1.
   
   
   Figure 1: Drawing Tools Format tab of the Ribbon
   
   
   Note: The Drawing Tools Format tab is a contextual tab. Contextual tabs are special tabs in the Ribbon that are not visible all the time -- they make an appearance only when you are working with a particular slide object which can be edited using the options within these tabs.
   
   
2. Within the Drawing Tools Format tab, locate the WordArt Styles group. Then click the Text Effects button that you can see highlighted in red within Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: Text Effects button within WordArt Styles group
   
   
3. This opens the Text Effects drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 3.
   
   
   Figure 3: Text Effects drop-down gallery
   
   Let us explore the options within Text Effects drop-down gallery, as marked in Figure 3:
   
   
   1. Shadow: Applies shadow effects to the selected text. PowerPoint provides three types of shadows: Outer, Inner and Perspective, and you can apply any of these, or customize them to your requirement. To learn more about this option refer to our Apply Shadow Effects to Shapes tutorial -- although the linked tutorial pertains to shapes, the concepts are similar enough.
      
      
   2. Reflection: This option applies a reflection to the selected text, and you can choose from several reflection styles. Make sure not to use both shadow and reflection for the same text. To explore this option further refer to our Apply Reflection Effects to Shapes tutorial -- like mentioned earlier in point A, this option works similarly for both shapes and text.
      
      
   3. Glow: Glow adds a hazed, blurred color perimeter outside the text. PowerPoint provides several glow variations; the glow colors are based on the Theme colors, although you can also choose any other color you like. Explore more in this tutorial -- Apply Glow Effect to Shapes.
      
      
   4. Bevel: Applies bevel effects to the text. You can also customize your own bevel. Our Apply Bevel Effects to Shapes tutorial provides more info on this option.
      
      
   5. 3-D Rotation: With this effect type, you can apply parallel, perspective, and oblique 3-D effects to the selected text. For More information, read our Apply 3-D Rotation Effects to Shapes tutorial.
      
      
   6. Transform: Apply any of the preset Transform effects to make your text 'arty'. To learn more about this option refer to our Text Transforms in PowerPoint 2010 tutorial.
      
      
4. Choose any text effect from within the Text Effects drop-down gallery and apply to your text as required. In Figure 4 you can see the selected text applied with 3-D Rotation and Shadow effects.
   
   
   Figure 4: Text applied with 3-D Rotation and Shadow effects
   
   
5. Remember to save your presentation often.

See Also:

Text Effects in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Text Effects in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac