How to Draw a Spiral in PowerPoint

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With a bit of creativity, you can make almost any shape you need using the Shape tools available in PowerPoint 2013, including spirals. You can also do circle shape and draw inductor in Powerpoint. The spiral PowerPoint process involves combining shapes – in this case, arcs – to get a perfect spiral.

To get started, open a blank PowerPoint presentation or add a new blank slide to a presentation you've already started. Delete the empty text boxes -- they'll just be in the way for this project.

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Start With an Arc

Step 1: Create the Arc

Click the Insert menu, select Shapes and then click the Arc icon.

The Arc is in the Basic Shapes section.

Image Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.

Drag the cursor across the screen to draw an arc. At this point, it doesn't matter how big it is. Right-click the arc and click the Outline icon so you can select a color and line weight from the drop-down menu.

For best results, use a line weight of 3pt or thicker.

Image Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.

Select the Line icon from the Shapes drop-down menu. Draw a horizontal line below the arc by holding down the Shift key while dragging the cursor. Select the Arc and drag the Yellow Handles onto the line.

Click the Shape Tools' Format menu, select Size and then click the Expand Arrow at the bottom of the drop menu.

Drag the yellow handles so the arc touches the horizontal line.

Image Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.

Step 2: Make the Arc a Semi-Circle

Change the arc's Height and Width to 1 inch to make the arc a perfect semicircle. Readjust the arc if needed so that its ends are exactly on the horizontal line. Note that you can use any size you want. For a smaller spiral, set the Height and Width to 0.5 inches.

Word uses inches for measurements by default.

Image Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.

Create the Spiral

Step 1: Copy the Arc

Create a copy of the arc by pressing Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V. Using the Size menu on the right, double the Height and Width of the copy. In our example, this is 2 inches each. Drag the copy so that it's centered on the original arc, with its ends touching the horizontal line.

A vertical line appears when the arcs are centered.

Image Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.

Press Ctrl-V again to create another arc and increase its Height and Width to 3 inches. Make a fourth copy that's 4-inches high and wide.

Step 2: Position and Group the Arcs

Position all the arcs so that they are centered on the original arc and touching the horizontal line. If you want to create a longer spiral than the one in this example, add two new arcs for each additional loop desired.

Delete the horizontal line and press Ctrl-A to select all of the arcs. Group them together by clicking the Shape Tools' Format menu, selecting Arrange and then Group.

Group the arcs together so they are easier to manipulate.

Image Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.

Step 3: Copy the Grouped Arcs

Create a copy of the grouped arcs by pressing Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V. Rotate the copied group 180 degrees by dragging the circular Rotate Handle while holding down the Shift key. Drag the copies one-inch to the left and then adjust the position so that the edges of the top and bottom arcs touch seamlessly.

After dragging the bottom arcs to the side like this, nudge them upward to create two sprials.

Image Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.

Step 4: Finish the Spiral

At this point, you have an interwoven double-spiral, so we need to delete four of the arcs. The easiest way to do this is to click the outer spiral at 10 o'clock and then Ctrl-click every other arc across the shape diagonally.

Ctrl-click the four arcs as illustrated here.

Image Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.

Delete the arcs by pressing the Delete key. If you happen to need two spirals, drag them to the side. If you accidentally delete the wrong arcs, press Ctrl-Z a couple of times and try selecting them again.

Create a double a double spiral by lining up the two spirals.

Image Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Microsoft.

Copy and paste the completed spiral into any PowerPoint presentation.