In the left side panel of the Normal View, you can click on and then drag slides to rearrange them. When you see the horizontal line, let go, and the slides will change places.
Microsoft PowerPoint has the ability to automate quite a bit of what you need to make presentations in the workplace, but a few things are lacking when you compare them to other Office Suite programs. When you need to sort your slides or text within your slides alphabetically, you won’t find the small “AZ” icon that appears in the other programs’ ribbons. This doesn’t mean you can’t sort – you just need to put on your workaround cap and actually do the sorting yourself.
Using Text Boxes
Step 1
Launch PowerPoint and open the slide deck to sort alphabetically.
Step 2
Scroll to the slide with text boxes to sort.
Step 3
Click once on a text box to enable it. You’ll see its border become darker.
Step 4
Drag the text box higher on the slide, above any other text boxes that come after it in the alphabet.
Step 5
Adjust the other text boxes the same way, by dragging and dropping them into place and moving them down as they should appear in the alphabet.
Step 1
Launch PowerPoint and open the slide deck to sort alphabetically.
Step 2
Click the “View” tab, then click the “Slide Sorter” button on the ribbon. The view changes from the traditional big slide in the main window to the pasteboard with as many slides as will fit in the current view. If the text on the slides is very small, it may help to use the screen view slider to zoom in, but this will then show fewer slides on the screen.
Step 3
Click once on the slide to appear first in the alphabetical list, such as the one with a text box starting with “A.” Press and hold down the left mouse button, then drag the slide to the left of the first slide on the screen.
Step 4
Release the left mouse button and the slide takes the first position, labeled with a “1” on the screen. If you dragged and dropped the slide into the wrong place, simply redo this step and move it into first place.
Step 5
Click the next slide to appear in the alphabetical list, then drag and drop it into place. You can also work backwards, moving slides with letters that appear further back in the alphabet to the end of the slide deck.
Step 6
Click the “Normal” button on the ribbon to return to the regular slide view.
Tip
- If all of your text appears in a single text box, rather than separate text boxes, which may be the case in bulleted lists for example, you can manually sort alphabetically in a similar way as you did with the text boxes. Highlight all of the bulleted items that should come first in the alphabetical list. Note that PowerPoint does not let you highlight the bullet itself. Right-click and select “Cut.” Move the cursor to before the first bulleted item and press “Enter” to create a new bullet. Right-click and select “Paste.” Continue to re-order the bulleted items until they appear alphabetically.
References
Resources
About the Author
Fionia LeChat is a technical writer whose major skill sets include the MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher), Photoshop, Paint, desktop publishing, design and graphics. LeChat has a Master of Science in technical writing, a Master of Arts in public relations and communications and a Bachelor of Arts in writing/English.
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PowerPoint presentation software doesn't include the same advanced text wrapping feature as other programs in the Microsoft Office suite, but you can achieve a similar effect by using a workaround solution to wrap text around a graphic on a PowerPoint slide. Use the program's Text Box tool to wrap text around a square graphic, or use the Send to Back feature to wrap text around a graphic with an irregular shape. Because these are both workaround solutions, you may need to experiment with the text to achieve a satisfactory result.
Wrap Text Around a Square Graphic in PowerPoint
Step 1
Open your presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint.
Step 2
Scroll to the slide that contains the picture or clip art graphic around which you want to wrap text. Alternatively, insert a new graphic object in the usual way with the program's Insert tool.
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Step 3
Click to highlight and select the graphic. Drag it to your preferred position on the slide. You can now create a series of text boxes above, below and on one or both sides of the graphic to create the text wrap effect.
Step 4
Click the 'Insert' tab on the program's menu ribbon. Select 'Text Box' in the Text group. Click and drag to create the first text box.
Step 5
Click to select and highlight the text box. Drag the handles on each side of the box to extend the box to your preferred width and height. Type or paste text to fill the box.
Step 6
Create additonal text boxes on either side of the graphic and below the object and fill them with text in the same way. Modify the width and height of the boxes so the text fits correctly.
Step 7
Repeat this procedure until you have created enough text boxes around the graphic object to achieve the desired text wrap effect.
Wrap Text Around an Irregular Graphic in PowerPoint
Step 1
Right-click the graphic object on the PowerPoint slide, point to 'Send to Back' and then click 'Send to Back.'
Step 3
Click the first line of text where it meets the left edge of the graphic object.
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Step 4
Press the 'Tab' or 'Spacebar' key on your computer keyboard to nudge the text past the right edge of the graphic.
Step 5
Repeat this procedure for each line of text to apply the text wrap effect. You may need to experiment until you've achieved an acceptable appearance.
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Tip
- When wrapping text around a square graphic, you can use the program's ruler and gridlines tool to lay out the slide accurately. To do this, click the 'View' tab on the menu ribbon and select the 'Ruler' and 'Gridlines' check boxes in the Show/Hide group. PowerPoint will display a grid and ruler on the slide, helping you to line up the graphic and text box objects correctly.
- Use the Snap Objects to Grid feature to fix the text boxes and graphic in place on the slide. To do this, right-click an empty area of the slide, select 'Grid and Gridlines' and then select the 'Snap Objects to Grid' check box in the Snap To group.
References
About the Author
Adrian Grahams began writing professionally in 1989 after training as a newspaper reporter. His work has been published online and in various newspapers, including 'The Cornish Times' and 'The Sunday Independent.' Grahams specializes in technology and communications. He holds a Bachelor of Science, postgraduate diplomas in journalism and website design and is studying for an MBA.