Everything on a slide is an object: a text box, a picture, a shape, a line, a table or a chart. Click an object to select it, then use the toolbar, the Format menu or Format options to change it.
Text
Click a text box and type. A placeholder that reads Click to add title or Click to add text becomes a text box when you type in it.
- Insert > Text box places a new box: click the slide, or drag to draw one.
- Bold, Italic and Underline are Cmd+B, Cmd+I and Cmd+U (Ctrl on Windows). Format > Text holds the rest: strikethrough, superscript, subscript, the font, the size and the capitalization.
- Format > Align & indent sets the alignment and the indent. Format > Line & paragraph spacing sets the spacing.
- Format > Bullets & numbering starts a list: Cmd+Shift+8 for bullets and Cmd+Shift+7 for numbers (Ctrl+Shift on Windows).
- Format > Clear formatting (Cmd+\) removes the size, weight, color and border changes from the selection.
- Insert > Link (Cmd+K) links the selected text to an address or to another slide.
Edit > Find and replace (Cmd+Shift+H) changes a word on every slide at once.
Pictures and logos
| To | Do this |
|---|---|
| Add a picture | Insert > Image > Upload from computer, or drop the file on the slide. Pictures can be up to 25 MB. |
| Add a picture from the web | Insert > Image > By URL, then paste the address. |
| Add a company logo | Insert > Image > Logo, type the company's name and pick the logo. |
| Replace a picture | Drop a file on it, or right click it and choose Replace image. The new picture keeps the size and the place. |
| Crop | Format > Image > Crop image, drag the handles, press Enter. |
| Put a picture in a shape | Format > Image > Mask image. |
| Describe a picture for screen readers | Format > Alt text (Cmd+Option+Y). |
Use on every slide in Format > Image makes the selected picture the logo on the title slide and in the footer of every slide.
Shapes and lines
Insert > Shape holds rectangles, rounded rectangles and ellipses, and galleries of shapes, arrows, callouts and equation signs. Click a shape's tile, then click the slide to place it or drag to draw it at a size.
Insert > Line draws a line, an arrow, an elbow connector or a curved connector. A connector whose ends sit on two shapes follows them when they move.
Format > Borders & lines sets the color, the weight, the dash and the ends of a line or a border.
Tables and charts
- Insert > Table shows a grid: point at the size you want, up to 20 columns by 20 rows, and click. Click a cell and type; Tab moves to the next cell. Format > Table inserts and deletes rows and columns, merges cells and turns on a header row.
- Insert > Chart adds a bar, column, line or pie chart with sample numbers. Open Format options to edit the numbers and the labels.
- Insert > Diagram adds a grid, a hierarchy, a timeline, a process, a relationship or a cycle diagram.
Arrange objects
The Arrange menu orders, aligns, distributes, rotates and groups the selected objects.
- Order: Bring to front, Bring forward, Send backward, Send to back.
- Align: one object lines up with the slide; several objects line up with each other.
- Group (Cmd+Option+G) moves, resizes and formats several objects as one. Ungroup separates them again.
Arrow keys nudge the selection; Shift and an arrow nudge it further.