Whizzy Words


What do you do if your text boxes look drab? If someone's doing a presentation on something important like preserving the rainforest, they want it to catch the eye.


I would suggest color... You can make your text box any color of the rainbow, and then some.


Adding color to a text box

    1. Click the text box to select it.

    2. In the Drawing Group on the Home tab, click the arrow beside the Shape Fill button, then click the green color box. The text box will turn green.

Choosing a color


Green text box


Note: There are 2 other ways you can access the Shape Fill button. The first way is to right-click on your mouse once a text box is selected. The formatting menu appears which includes the Shape Fill button. The other place to find the Shape Fill button is in the Shape Styles Group in the Drawing Tools tab. The Drawing Tools tab is a Contextual Tool which appears along with the Format tab when you click on a shape such as a text box.


What if you want to further offset your text box? Can you give it an outline?


You sure can. And you don't even need a ruler...


Outlining a text box
As you have seen, the thin gray border that appears around a text box is temporary and disappears when the text is deselected. If you want a permanent outline around your text box, create one using the Shape Styles Group in the Drawing Tools tab (or the Drawing Group in the Home tab).

Try adding a blue dotted outline to a text box.

    1. Click the text box to select it. A border will appear around the text box. The Format tab with the Drawing Tools tab above it will also appear. Click on Drawing Tools or Format to make its Groups visible.

    2. In the Shape Styles Group, click the arrow beside the Shape Outline button, then click the blue color box.

Line color

    3. Next, click on the arrow beside the Shape Outline button again, then select Weight, and then click 3 pt.

Line style

    4. When you click on the arrow beside the Shape Outline button, there is also the Dashes option in the drop-down list. Click on it, and then click the square dot dash option. The outline around the text is now a dashed line.

Dash button

    5. Click outside the text box to deselect it.

How the outline should look


You can access all the options in the Shape Fill and Shape Outline buttons in a single dialog box. To open the Format Shape dialog box, click on the little box with the downwards pointing arrow inside that is found in the corner of the Drawing Group in the Home tab, or in the Shape Styles Group in the Drawing Tools tab.

Format Shape dialog box



Note:
If you're in a hurry, PowerPoint 2007 has a QuickStyles feature which gives you a selection of outlines and fills you can quickly apply to your text box (or any other kind of shape). QuickStyles is found in the Drawing Group in the Home tab, or in the Shape Styles Group in the Drawing Tools tab. Click on its arrow to see all the preset styles to choose from. Holding your mouse over a style will preview it in the text box (or shape) that is selected. Click on a style you like and it's applied. Simple as that.

Choose a QuickStyle instead


Add special effects to a text box
You may have noticed the Shape Effects button beneath the Shape Outline button in the Drawing or Shape Styles Group. This PowerPoint 2007 feature lets you quickly add a variety of neat effects to make the outline of your text box (or any other kind of shape) stand out even more.

Click the arrow beside Shape Effects and a drop-down menu will appear.

Shape Effects options

You can apply one or more of these effects: Preset, Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Soft Edges, Bevel or 3D Rotation. Select any of these and you will be shown a bunch of choices. As usual, holding your mouse over one will create a preview of it on your selected text box. Click on an effect to apply it.

So that text box outline might wind up looking like this:

Outlines gone wild


A more advanced user can tweak the Shape Effects settings by opening the Format Shape dialog box.

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