Creating Customized Shapes in PowerPoint 2010

Ask Amy November 7, 2011
by Amy Pearson

One of the new features of PowerPoint 2010 is the ability to create custom shapes. You can do this by taking one or more separate shapes and combining them in one of four ways – union, subtract, combine, or intersect. Our Figure shows how an overlapped circle and star behave when each of the four different options is applied.

Although using the union, subtract, combine, or intersect commands is quite simple, finding them is a little more difficult. They are not automatically available when you install PowerPoint. They must be added to either the Quick Access Toolbar or one of the Ribbons.

To customize either the Quick Access Toolbar or a Ribbon, right click on the Ribbon and from the short cut menu, select either Customize the Quick Access Toolbar or Customize the Ribbon. Once the PowerPoint Options dialog box displays, from the Choose commands from drop-down list, select All Commands and then find Shape Combine, Shape Intersect, Shape Union, and/or Shape Subtract and add them to the Quick Access Toolbar or group on the desired Ribbon.

For specific details on working with the Quick Access Toolbar or Ribbon visit our blog and on from the bar on the right hand side, select March and then choose “Adding a Command to the Quick Access Toolbar.”

Amy Pearson is a Senior Instructor for Summit Training, the author of the Ask Amy column that appears on Summit Training’s monthly newsletter, and editor of the both the Summit Training and Connect Learning newsletters. Amy is a Microsoft Office MOS and has been providing Microsoft Office training both in the classroom and online for more than 15 years.