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About this lesson

Group, rotate and wrap text to shapes.

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2016, 2019/365.

Exercise files

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Shapes - Arrange.pub
106 KB Shapes - Arrange - Solution.pub
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Quick reference

Shapes - Arrange

Group, rotate, and wrap text around the shapes.

When to use

Group shapes into one object to easily maneuver and move them. Rotate the shapes horizontally or vertically, and wrap text for ease of reading layout.

Instructions

Helpful Hints to Arrange the Shapes

  • Click and drag a lasso around all the shapes which will select them and you will see handles on each one.

             

  • Or Ctrl Click each shape if you want to only choose certain individual ones.
  • Group the shapes into one using the Ribbon tool, Group.

 

      

  • Or right-click on the shapes and Group.      

  • The Rotate tool will pivot the shapes.
  • Apply Wrap Text to observe how a shape affects text.

Before:                                                                       

Text box placed over a shape.                               
Shape: no wrap applied.                                       

       

After:

Text box Send Backward.

Shape: wrap text: Square.

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  • 00:04 We're going to take this a step further.
  • 00:06 After you've got the butterfly put together, and
  • 00:08 it was probably quite a journey to get that done,
  • 00:10 we're going to group all the pieces and parts.
  • 00:12 You see, as I click on the little wings, you can see each one has its own handle.
  • 00:16 And, if I draw a lasso on the left hand side, it says click and
  • 00:20 drag a lasso around the shape that simply means with your cursor out
  • 00:24 in the white area, you can click around any shape you'll see this dash box.
  • 00:29 When I let go that has selected all the shapes that is a lasso selects
  • 00:33 everything inside of it.
  • 00:35 On my home ribbon I have a group that says arrange,
  • 00:38 I've got a button that says group these all together as one but
  • 00:41 I want to show you the rotate first before we do anything else.
  • 00:44 This is why you need to group hit the rotate and rotate 90 degrees and
  • 00:49 observe what just happened to our cute little butterfly.
  • 00:52 We destroyed it.
  • 00:53 Alright, so Ctrl + Z will undo that.
  • 00:56 Put it back together.
  • 00:57 Now, all the pieces and parts are still selected.
  • 01:00 But sometimes you might click off of it just accidentally.
  • 01:04 Don't be afraid just to grab that arrow and click and
  • 01:06 drag a lasso around that again to reselect all the pieces.
  • 01:10 And I'm going to come up to the Group button, again,
  • 01:12 I'm still on my Home ribbon.
  • 01:14 When I float my mouse on the Group button, the tool tip says Ctrl+Shift+G.
  • 01:19 Also my Drawing Tools Format has an arrange section with group and rotate.
  • 01:25 Also my right click has a Group button,
  • 01:28 as you can see when you're working with diagrams you've got all the tools.
  • 01:31 You just need to choose where to find it, it's up to you.
  • 01:34 I'll go ahead and click the Group button.
  • 01:36 And now my butterfly is one entity.
  • 01:38 I can prove it right here by hitting my rotate, rotate 90 degrees and
  • 01:41 all the pieces travel together.
  • 01:43 And I'll just bring it back.
  • 01:44 There we go.
  • 01:45 Well, the next part of this lesson is wrapping text around the shape, okay.
  • 01:51 So apply wrap text to observe how a shape effects a text box.
  • 01:54 So I'm going to click and drag this box, and
  • 01:57 I'm going to move it right over the top of this butterfly and let go.
  • 02:00 And that butterfly just burst itself through because pictures or
  • 02:05 diagrams, will automatically take over a text box.
  • 02:09 What if I just wanted that butterfly to be a nice little image in
  • 02:12 the background behind all my text, I didn't want it to break my text?
  • 02:16 Well, we've got to tell the butterfly to go behind.
  • 02:19 So on the edge of the butterfly, I'm going to click this, I'm going to click on
  • 02:23 the butterfly, right click and the order section I've got bring to front,
  • 02:27 send to back, bring forward, send backward.
  • 02:30 So I'm going to go ahead and send backward and there we go.
  • 02:33 I just layered it, the butterfly behind the text box.
  • 02:36 Well what if I want to bring the text box behind the butterfly,
  • 02:40 can I do the same thing?
  • 02:42 It's not giving me the option.
  • 02:43 I can go to my text box tools Format and
  • 02:46 I can see if I have a send behind which I don't.
  • 02:49 My drawn tools Format, do I have a send backward?
  • 02:51 I do.
  • 02:52 So my drawing tools is talking about the square of the text box,
  • 02:56 not the text inside of it.
  • 02:57 See, we're working on the edge of a text box not internally, not with the text.
  • 03:02 So I'm going to send this backward and there we go.
  • 03:06 So as soon as you want your butterflies or your text to wrap around
  • 03:12 you have to mess with the send forward, send backward on either one.
  • 03:16 Try it on the text box, try it on the butterfly.
  • 03:18 Now there is a science to it.
  • 03:20 Generally, the text box has to go to the back.
  • 03:22 And so, just so you know.
  • 03:24 It's a great exercise to practice with, group your butterfly together,
  • 03:28 rotate it to test it, and then the text box over it and see if you can
  • 03:33 make that text split apart around the butterfly and then be over the top of it.

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