How to Use the Drawing Toolbar in PowerPoint
Step 1
Open Microsoft PowerPoint and locate the Drawing toolbar at the bottom of the screen. If you don't see the Drawing toolbar, choose the "View" menu, point to "Toolbars" and click on "Drawing" to open the Drawing toolbar.
Step 2
Click the "Draw" button to access the Draw Toolbar menu and the "AutoShapes" button to access the AutoShapes menu. From the Draw menu, you can group, order, align and rotate objects. The AutoShapes menu lets you select and insert an AutoShape into your presentation.
Step 3
Insert a line, arrowed line, rectangle or oval by clicking on the buttons signified by those objects. After you have clicked one of the buttons, you can then click in your presentation to insert the selected object.
Step 4
Include a text box in your presentation by clicking the "Text Box" button, word art by clicking the "Word Art" button, a diagram or chart by clicking the "Insert Diagram or Organizational Chart" button, clip art by clicking the "Insert Clip Art" button or a picture by clicking the "Insert Picture" button.
Step 5
Apply color to the objects you have inserted in your PowerPoint presentation by choosing the "Fill Color" button to fill an object with color, the "Line Color" button to change the color of a line or the "Font Color" button to change the color of a new or existing font.
Step 6
Change line and arrow styles by using the "Line Style," "Dash Style" and "Arrow Style" buttons to choose and apply a line or arrow style to your presentation.
Step 7
Add a shadow to a PowerPoint object by using the "Shadow Style" and "3-D Style" buttons.
From the View menu, point to Toolbars and click on Drawing.
Here are the PowerPoint Drawing toolbar icons and its function:
Draw
Enables you to apply different adjustments to the objects that you draw.
Select Objects
Enables you to select a particular drawing object. For selecting multiple objects, keep the Shift key depressed.
AutoShapes
Click on the AutoShapes icon to bring up a list of shape menus. Drag the mouse on to a selected set of shapes and select one from the list.
Line
Used to draw a line. To draw perfectly horizontal or vertical line, depress the Shift key while dragging.
Arrow
Used to draw a line with an arrowhead on it.
Rectangle
Used to draw a rectangle. To draw perfect square, depress the Shift key while dragging.
Oval
Used to draw an oval. To draw perfect circle, depress the Shift key while dragging.
Text Box
Used to draw a text box into which you can enter text.
Vertical Text Box
Used to draw a vertical text box into which you can enter the text vertically.
Insert WordArt
Used to insert different pattern of WordArt to your presentation.
Insert Diagram or Organization Chart
Used to insert diagram or organization chart.
Insert Clip Art
Used to insert clip art.
Insert Picture
Used to insert picture from the location that you specify.
Fill Color
Used to fill a drawing object with a color or shading.
Line Color
Used to define the line color of a drawing object.
Font Color
Used to formats the selected text with the color you pick.
Line Style
Used to define the line style used by an object.
Dash Style
Used to define the dashed line style used by an object.
Arrow Style
Used to define the arrow line style.
Shadow Style
Click the shadow style you want for the selected object.
3-D Style
Click the 3D style you want for the selected object.