Paragraph formatting in PowerPoint is similar to formatting in Word. You'll be able to change alignment, justification and spacing with a few clicks of the icons on the formatting toolbar. You can perform more complicated formatting operations using the "Paragraph" group menu options. The simplicity of changing paragraph formatting, the similarity of the menus and toolbars to those in Word and the user-friendly interface mean that you'll have a low learning curve and be able to fine-tune your slides to create the best visual impact for your business meetings and big presentations.
Step 1
Launch the Microsoft PowerPoint application and open the presentation containing the paragraph to be formatted, or create a new presentation and add some text to a slide for formatting.
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Step 2
Click on the "Home" tab at the top of the PowerPoint window. All of the formatting tools we will discuss are on the Home tab.
Step 3
Select the paragraph text you want to format by either dragging your mouse over the text while holding down the left-click button on the mouse or triple-clicking on the paragraph text. Whichever method you choose, you will know the text is selected when it is highlighted in gray. Make sure all of the paragraph text is highlighted before performing any of the following two steps.
Step 4
To change the paragraph's alignment, click on the button for left, center, right, or justified alignment from the "Paragraph" group on the toolbar. Click the "Align Text" button and select whether you want the paragraph to align in the top, middle, or bottom of the box.
Step 5
To change the paragraph's line spacing (or adjust the width of the empty space between the lines), click on the "Line Spacing" button from the "Paragraph" group on the toolbar. On the drop-down menu that appears, choose one of the spacing options or click on "Line Spacing Options" and set your alignment, indentation and spacing options in the "Paragraph" dialog box. You can also adjust tab settings within this dialog box.
Step 6
If you want to copy the formatting used in an existing paragraph to a different paragraph, select all of the text in the existing paragraph and click on the "Format Painter" paintbrush icon in the "Clipboard" group. You'll notice the cursor changes to a paintbrush icon. Select all of the text in the paragraph to which the formatting is to be applied. This will copy the paragraph formatting from the first textbox to the second. This is useful when you need to format several paragraphs or text on several slides. Press the "Esc" key to turn off the format painter.
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