Add, change, or delete shapes

You can add one shape to your file or combine multiple shapes to make a drawing
or a more complex shape. Available shapes include lines, basic geometric shapes,
arrows, equation shapes, flowchart shapes, stars, banners, and callouts.
After you add one or more shapes, you can add text, bullets, numbering, and Quic
k Styles to them.
Note: For more information about using charts or SmartArt in your document, see
When should I use a SmartArt graphic and when should I use a chart?.
What do you want to do?
Add a shape to your file
Add multiple shapes to your file
Add text to a shape
Add a bulleted or numbered list to a shape
Add a Quick Style to a shape
Change from one shape to another shape
Delete a shape from your file
Add a shape to your file
Which program are you using?
Excel
PowerPoint
Word
Excel
1.On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Shapes.
The Insert tab, with Shapes highlighted, in Excel 2010.
2.Click the shape that you want, click anywhere in the workbook, and then drag t
o place the shape.

To create a perfect square or circle (or constrain the dimensions of other shape
s), press and hold SHIFT while you drag.
Tip: You can add individual shapes to a chart or add shapes on top of a SmartArt
graphic to customize the chart or SmartArt graphic.
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PowerPoint
1.On the Home tab, in the Drawing group, click Shapes.
The Home tab, with Shapes highlighted, in PowerPoint 2010.
2.Click the shape that you want, click anywhere on the slide, and then drag to p
lace the shape.
To create a perfect square or circle (or constrain the dimensions of other shape
s), press and hold SHIFT while you drag.
Tip: You can add individual shapes to a chart or add shapes on top of a SmartArt
graphic to customize the chart or SmartArt graphic.
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Word
1.On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Shapes.
The Insert tab, with Shapes highlighted, in Word 2010.
2.Click the shape that you want, click anywhere in the document, and then drag t
o place the shape.
To create a perfect square or circle (or constrain the dimensions of other shape
s), press and hold SHIFT while you drag.
Tip: You can add individual shapes to a chart or add shapes on top of a SmartArt
graphic to customize the chart or SmartArt graphic.
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Add multiple shapes to your file
Instead of adding individual shapes to create a drawing, you might want to creat
e a SmartArt graphic. In a SmartArt graphic, the arrangement of the shapes and t
he font size in those shapes is updated automatically as you add or remove shape
s and edit your text.
Which program are you using?

Excel
PowerPoint
Word
Excel
1.On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Shapes.
The Insert tab, with Shapes highlighted, in Excel 2010.
2.Right-click the shape that you want to add, and then click Lock Drawing Mode.
3.Click anywhere in the workbook, and then drag to place the shape. Repeat this
for each shape that you want to add.
Tip: To create a perfect square or circle (or constrain the dimensions of other
shapes), press and hold SHIFT while you drag.
4.After you add all the shapes that you want, press ESC.
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PowerPoint
1.On the Home tab, in the Drawing group, click Shapes.
The Home tab, with Shapes highlighted, in PowerPoint 2010.
2.Right-click the shape that you want to add, and then click Lock Drawing Mode.
3.Click anywhere in the on the slide, and then drag to place the shape. Repeat t
his for each shape that you want to add.
Tip: To create a perfect square or circle (or constrain the dimensions of other
shapes), press and hold SHIFT while you drag.
4.After you add all the shapes that you want, press ESC.
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Word
1.On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Shapes. Button image.
The Insert tab, with Shapes highlighted, in Word 2010.

2.Right-click the shape that you want to add, and then click Lock Drawing Mode.
3.Click anywhere in the document, and then drag to place the shape. Repeat this
for each shape that you want to add.
Tip: To create a perfect square or circle (or constrain the dimensions of other
shapes), press and hold SHIFT while you drag.
4.After you add all the shapes that you want, press ESC.
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Add text to a shape
Click the shape that you want to add text to, and then type your text.
Note: The text that you add becomes part of the shape
shape, the text rotates or flips also.

if you rotate or flip the

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Add a bulleted or numbered list to a shape
Which program are you using?
Excel
PowerPoint
Word
Excel
1.Select the text in the shape that you want to add bullets or numbering to.
2.Right-click the selected text, and on the shortcut menu, point to Bullets, and
then click Bullets and Numbering.
3.Do one of the following:
To add bullets, click the Bulleted tab, and then choose the options that you wan
t.
To add numbering, click the Numbered tab, and then choose the options that you w
ant.

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PowerPoint
1.Select the text in the shape that you want to add bullets or numbering to.
2.Right-click the selected text, and on the shortcut menu, do one of the followi
ng:
3.
To add bullets, point to Bullets, and then choose the options that you want.
To add numbering, point to Numbering, and then choose the options that you want.

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Word
1.Select the text in the shape that you want to add bullets or numbering to.
2.Right-click the selected text, and on the shortcut menu, do one of the followi
ng:
3.
To add bullets, point to Bullets, and then choose the options that you want.
To add numbering, point to Numbering, and then choose the options that you want.

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Add a Quick Style to a shape
Quick Styles are combinations of different formatting options that are displayed
in a thumbnail in the Quick Style gallery in the Shape Styles group. When you r
est your pointer over a Quick Style thumbnail, you can see how the Shape Style (
or Quick Style) affects your shape.
1.Click the shape that you want to apply a new or different Quick Style to.
2.Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the Shape Styles group, click the Q
uick Style that you want.
The Shape Styles group on the Format tab.
To see more Quick Styles, click the More button Button image.
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Change from one shape to another shape

1.Click the shape that you want to change to a different shape.
To change multiple shapes, press CTRL while you click the shapes that you want t
o change.
2.Under Drawing Tools, on the Format tab, in the Insert Shapes group, click Edit
Shape Edit shape button image, point to Change Shape, and then click the new sh
ape that you want.
Tip: If you are using PowerPoint 2010, you can use the Combine Shapes feature t
o create complex new shapes. For more information about this, see Create a custo
m shape in PowerPoint 2010.
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Delete a shape from your file
Click the shape that you want to delete, and then press DELETE.
Tip: To delete multiple shapes, press CTRL while you click the shapes that you
want to delete, and then press DELETE.
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