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What is
formatting text?

  

PowerPoint allows you to change the characteristics of the text on your slide. You can make formatting changes to the font (including font, size and style) as well as to the text block (including alignment, line spacing, and indenting).

You can make formatting changes on the Slide Master if you want to make universal changes in your presentation, or you can make changes to a specific slide.

 
 
 

How do I
select text?

Before you can format text, you must first select the text you want to change:

- If you want to format a single word or phrase, drag across the text so that it is highlighted.

- If you want to format a single paragraph of text, click anywhere within that paragraph.

- If you want to change all of the text in a given text box, you can click once in the text box and then once on the border of the box. (The result is that the box border is highlighted but the insertion bar is not present.)

 
  How do I
format the font?		  

To change a font format, select the desired text (see above) and then select the desired font, font size, and styles (bold, italic, underline, shadow) on the formatting toolbar:
     

 

The change will take effect immediately.

For more options (embossed, superscript, subscript, or color) pull down the Format menu and choose Font. Select your choices from the following dialog box, then click OK:
   

 
   
   

How do I change
the alignment
of a paragraph?

  

PowerPoint gives you the choice of three text alignments: left aligned, centered, or right aligned. To change the alignment of a paragraph or block of text withn a text box, select the desired text (see above) and then click the desired alignment (left, center, or right) on the formatting toolbar:

The change will take effect immediately.

 
   
   

How do I change
the line spacing
of a paragraph?

  

Line spacing refers to the amount of space before a paragraph, at the end of a paragraph, and between lines within a paragraph. Line spacing can be measured in lines or points.

To change the spacing of a paragraph, select the desired text (see above) and then pull down the Format menu and choose Line Spacing.

 

The following dialog box appears. Enter the desired settings, then click OK:

 
   
 

How do I change the indent of a paragraph?

   To change the indentation of a paragraph, follow these steps:

1) Pull down the View menu and choose Ruler.


You will now see a ruler at the top of the window:
 



 
     

There are two gray triangles on the ruler:

 
   


2) Drag the upper triangle to set the “first-line indent” — that is, where the text of the first line will begin.

3) Drag the lower triangle to set the indent for the rest of the paragraph.

(To move both arrows at the same time, drag the square box beneath the bottom triangle.)
 

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Copyright © 2002, Bloomsburg University Virtual Training Help Center.
All rights reserved. This material may not be used without written permission.
Contact Dr. Mary Nicholson at mjnich@bloomu.edu

 
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