Glen Millar PowerPoint WorkBench PowerPoint MVP
since 2003
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Welcome to these tutorials, many of which were unique concepts when first published!

animatebuildvisualizeinteract2007logicvideo


build: techniques to build and visualise faster

this3d bezier curves ] custom toolbars ] [ clever snap to grid ] Excel in PowerPoint ] fast ppt in outline view ] Friday for FAQ's ] object selection and visibility ] offline clip art (new) ] photo albums ] powerpoint layouts ] round tripping ] Save image portion as image in 2003 or 2007 ] smart tags ] word art from text ] xcelsius Interactive Charts ]


 

Clever Snap to Grid

Logic: use native PowerPoint features to position objects in PowerPoint

The Snap to Grid option in PowerPoint can be a bit confusing. Not so much in how it works, but what is it for? That is really for?

Well, here is an example of cropping images.

I want to overlay one identical image on top of another. Then split them both in half, but have the join match perfectly.

I first of all set my Snap to Grid at 2 centimetres (yours will probably be in inches), and I check the "Snap objects to grid" option.

gridlines dialogue box

The easiest way to display the gridlines dialogue box is to click the little down arrow in the Show group on the View tab of the Ribbon.

grids and guides dialogue box

I then insert two identical images on my slide, which I want to split in half.

Note that I drag the image handles, after they are inserted, so they will snap to the existing grid.

two images side by side on a PowerPoint slide

Now to the cropping. Notice, that with the Snap to Grid option checked, my cropping of the left image will also Snap to Grid. This image is cropped to the first snap.

image on the left is cropped from the right to centre

This is the second...

image on the right is cropped from left to centre

So far, so good. But, as I said, I want to overlay both images and split them in the middle, but match edges perfectly so no-one can see the join.

Because the images were placed exactly on the grid in the grid was used for cropping, they should align perfectly.

image on the right drag to the centre

As I drag the image at the right to the Guide marks (or dots) at the centre, notice the Smart Guides coloured red which pop up at the top and bottom of my selections.

turn off grid snapping

When I turn off snap objects to grid, I can then position my images exactly where I want them.

two images placed using smart guides

Now we can use some clever animation to make the single image animate from different directions.

wipe animation in different directions

Try it. It really works!


  

 

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