Locked lesson.
About this lesson
Shapes add interest to a publication by adding text and color.
Lesson versions
Multiple versions of this lesson are available, choose the appropriate version for you:
2016, 2019/365.
Quick reference
Shapes
Insert a shape and review the Drawing Tools available on the new ribbon.
When to use
There are many creative options available for shapes. Use these features often.
Instructions:
- Click the Insert Ribbon.
- Click the Shapes button.
- Click the Oval shape and click into the blank publication and a perfect circle appears:
- For an Oval, click and drag the Oval shape onto your page.
- Notice the Drawing Tools Ribbon at the top of the screen.
- By practicing with the tools available, you can change the shape dramatically.
- Fill Color.
- To alter the shape, use the Top circle handle to tip or tilt the shape.
- Resize a shape with the corner handle, or press Ctrl and resize will expand all sides at once.
- Arrange the layers of stacked shapes with the Bring Forward or Send Backward buttons.
Computer Tip
To quickly zoom into your shape, hold Ctrl and scroll the mouse wheel up or down. Or use the Zoom control in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Design Tip
Use the Format Painter button on the Home Ribbon (or on your Quick Access Bar) to duplicate the format from one object onto another.
- 00:01 All right, we're starting with a blank publication, this time.
- 00:07 We're going to work with shapes.
- 00:09 Shapes are on the insert ribbon, and they're over here,
- 00:12 in the illustrations group.
- 00:13 We have pictures, online pictures, shapes and
- 00:15 picture placeholders, but let's just stay with shapes.
- 00:18 When you click this, you'll see all the variety of shapes in here.
- 00:22 Everything you could possibly imagine is in here.
- 00:25 Generally, sometimes, when I teach this in class, people try to click and
- 00:28 drag the shape.
- 00:29 They'll try to click and drag, and it won't come out of there.
- 00:32 Actually, how you do this is you simply click it once, and nothing happens.
- 00:36 But notice my mouse on my screen turned to a black crossbar, and
- 00:39 I'm just going to click to drop a perfect square.
- 00:42 Let's go do that, again.
- 00:43 Click on the Insert.
- 00:44 Click on Shapes.
- 00:45 This time, grab the circle.
- 00:46 Click it once.
- 00:47 Come out here.
- 00:48 Just click to drop a perfect circle.
- 00:50 But what if I want an oval?
- 00:52 Click on Insert.
- 00:52 Click on Shapes.
- 00:53 Click that circle, again.
- 00:55 But, this time, click and drag, and you'll see an oval.
- 00:58 Okay, so that's how you do this.
- 00:59 As soon as you let go, you see the Drawing Tools, Format.
- 01:03 So I can come over here.
- 01:04 I can edit my shape, change a shape.
- 01:07 I can put text inside the shape.
- 01:09 Just type the word, Hello.
- 01:10 I know you can't see that.
- 01:11 It's really tiny, so let me make that a little larger.
- 01:14 And then, we can change the outline, change the color, the inside color fill.
- 01:21 You can get really crazy, with all of this stuff, shape effects.
- 01:24 We can add shadows and all this to it.
- 01:26 But, let's see, that didn't really work, did it?
- 01:29 Let's see.
- 01:30 Let's try reflection.
- 01:31 There we go. We've got a reflection going on.
- 01:33 I want to take this a little further, though, and
- 01:35 we're going to look at the arranging, as well.
- 01:38 You can click and drag, and
- 01:39 layer these things, and the computer knows which one came in first, second and third.
- 01:43 So let me scroll in, so you can see this.
- 01:45 So I put the square in first, and then I did this circle.
- 01:51 I think I did that one third.
- 01:52 So first, second, and then this orange one was third.
- 01:55 But what if we want to send this orange one to the back?
- 01:58 Well, notice, on the Drawing Tools, Format, we have a Bring Forward,
- 02:01 Send Backward.
- 02:01 They both have drop-down arrows.
- 02:03 So Bring Forward, Bring to Front, Send Backward, Send to Back.
- 02:06 Then, of course, we have the alignment, so we can align these relative.
- 02:10 If you've watched this course from the beginning, this all looks familiar to you.
- 02:14 It's because you saw it in the text boxes.
- 02:16 See, text boxes, shapes and pictures all have handles, all have the Bring Forward,
- 02:21 Bring Back, all have wrapped text functions.
- 02:23 So it's going to seem familiar.
- 02:25 We also have this little spinning circle at the top, so we can tip this sideways.
- 02:29 I like this one, the shapes, because the text didn't stay horizontal.
- 02:33 It actually tipped with the shape.
- 02:34 I really like that feature.
- 02:35 It's kind of nice.
- 02:38 But, all that to show you that I want to tell you that you don't always
- 02:41 have to go to your ribbons for these alignment buttons.
- 02:43 They're also on the right-click.
- 02:45 So I'm going to right click on the edge of the shape,
- 02:47 not in the text area, on the edge of the shape, right mouse button.
- 02:51 And we have an option, right here.
- 02:53 I thought I'd have that option, to send this backward.
- 02:56 Way up there, see this little minibar?
- 02:57 It winds up far away from my mouse, but this minibar has a Bring Forward,
- 03:02 Send Backward button in it.
- 03:03 So I can just hit that, and hit it again, and send that backward.
- 03:07 So now I'm going to click on this little box, right click.
- 03:10 This time, I want to send this one backward.
- 03:12 Send it backward.
- 03:13 You right click on this one, cute little minibar with the base little functions.
- 03:17 You see, it's within a quarter inch of my mouse.
- 03:19 Instead of me having to stop, go up to my Drawing Tools, Format, find Bring Forward
- 03:23 or Send Backward, just a right click, and it's right there by my mouse.
- 03:27 It's kind of great.
- 03:28 I just wanted to point that out to you.
- 03:29 All right, let's go ahead and move on to the next lesson,
- 03:34 and we'll work more with shapes.
- 03:36 But this time, we're going to put pictures inside the shapes.
- 03:38 Kind of a cool feature!
Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.