Aligning text boxes and shapes in your PowerPoint presentation can make your slides look more organized and professional. Here is a simple guide to help you align your elements.

Step 1: Open Your PowerPoint Presentation

Open the PowerPoint file where you want to align text boxes or shapes.

Step 2: Select Your Slides

Navigate to the slide or slides where you have the text boxes, shapes, pictures, or other elements you want to align.

Step 3: Select the Items to Align

Click on the first text box or shape you want to align.

Hold down the ‘Shift’ key and click on the other items you want to align with it. This will select multiple items at once.

Step 4: Access the Align Tools

With your items selected, go to the “Format” tab on the ribbon.

In the Arrange group, click on “Align.” This will open a dropdown menu with several alignment options.

Step 5: Choose Your Alignment

From the dropdown menu, you can choose how you want to align the selected items. You have options like “Align Left,” “Align Center,” “Align Right” for horizontal alignment, and “Align Top,” “Align Middle,” and “Align Bottom” for vertical alignment.

If you want to ensure equal spacing between selected elements, you can use the “Distribute Horizontally” or “Distribute Vertically” options from the dropdown menu.

Step 6: Save Your Changes

Don’t forget to save your presentation to preserve the alignment changes.

Tips for Aligning Text Boxes or Shapes

• Use gridlines and rulers (View > Show > Gridlines and Rulers) to help you position items even more precisely.
• Consistent alignment across all slides can significantly enhance the professional appearance of your presentation.

Get a Printable PDF of this Article

Along with our other how-to tutorials, this guide on how to align text boxes and shapes in PowerPoint is also available as a downloadable PDF.