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About this lesson

Learn to move and color shapes to draw attention to an area.

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2013, 2016, 2019/365.

Exercise files

Download the ‘before’ and ‘after’ Word documents from the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.

Basic Use of Shapes .docx
61.6 KB Basic Use of Shapes - Solution.docx
68.7 KB

Quick reference

Basic Use of Shapes

Learn to move and color shapes to draw attention to an area.

When to use

Shapes are for more than decoration. They draw a reader’s eye to a specific point. For example, the red outline above is simply a rectangle shape placed for a useful purpose.

Instructions:

Note: When you add a shape a new ribbon appears called the DRAWING TOOLS ribbon.

INSERT RIBBON, SHAPES

1.Click Insert, Shapes: a gallery of available shapes appear on the screen

2.Choose a shape and notice your cursor changes to a crossbar.

3.Click to drop, or click and drag to control the size of the shape on your document.
 

MOVE and RE-SIZE a SHAPE

1.Move a Shape:  When dragging a shape to a new area of your document, notice the mouse arrow has a tiny square attached called a “lasso”.  This means something is attached to the mouse and when you let go it will drop it at that point.

2.Re-size a Shape: You can resize using the white handles around the shape frame; and you can use the Size options on the Drawing Tools ribbon.
   

 

SHAPE STYLES

Notice the gallery of Shape Styles with ABC in the shape examples. That allows you to type words inside your shape.

You also can choose a specific “Shape Fill” color, even “No Fill” if you want a transparent box.

You can choose a color for the outline and even the thickness, or WEIGHT, of the outline.

And SHAPE EFFECTS will give a new dimension to the look of the shape. Click and experiment!

 

LAYOUT OPTIONS

1.The tiny symbol next to the shape is the “Layout Options” tool. This allows you to choose how the shape aligns within the text of your document.

2.Click through the options and observe what happens as each is selected.

There is no right or wrong answer when using Layout Options; it is simply up to you and your document design choices.

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  • 00:04 In this lesson we're gonna show you how to use shapes.
  • 00:07 Shapes have a relevant purpose in a document.
  • 00:10 It's not just to decorate.
  • 00:11 Sometimes it's to draw attention to a certain area of your document.
  • 00:16 First of all, they are located on the insert ribbon and
  • 00:19 on the shapes button, and you can see here a bunch of different shapes.
  • 00:23 I'm gonna float my mouse on the one that says oval.
  • 00:26 As soon as I click oval, my mouse arrow has turned to a black crossbar.
  • 00:30 You simply do a click and a drag, and you can draw a shape on the screen.
  • 00:34 Now if I do want an oval, I can just move and reshape it.
  • 00:38 I haven't let go of my mouse button yet.
  • 00:40 And when I can see that it's a circle that I like,
  • 00:43 go ahead and let go of the mouse, and a couple things happen.
  • 00:46 The white handles that you saw on a previous lesson in pictures.
  • 00:50 The layout button appears, and the rotate button right here.
  • 00:53 Now when I rotate a circle, it's not gonna matter, so I won't rotate the circle.
  • 00:58 Another thing happened, was a ribbon.
  • 01:00 Brand new ribbon called drawing tools.
  • 01:02 Up on the ribbon we have more shapes.
  • 01:04 We have a gallery of colors.
  • 01:06 You can choose a different color for your shape.
  • 01:08 Notice the ABC in there.
  • 01:09 That means you can type inside your shape.
  • 01:12 So I'll go ahead and just type a word.
  • 01:14 Now if I were to rotate that shape, the word would tip as well.
  • 01:19 You can alter the shape fill color, the shape outline effects.
  • 01:23 We have the position which is also the little tool sitting out here,
  • 01:27 the layout matches this tool icon right up here, and
  • 01:31 you can also precisely size the shape.
  • 01:36 Okay. Now we're gonna draw a square.
  • 01:38 So, I'm gonna click on insert.
  • 01:41 Then go to my shapes.
  • 01:42 We have an option.
  • 01:43 We have a square with sharp corners or a rectangle with rounded corners.
  • 01:48 I'm gonna choose the rounded corners.
  • 01:50 I'm gonna go ahead and draw a shape on my screen, and
  • 01:54 in this case I wanna empty it cuz what I wanna do is put a square around
  • 01:58 this little picture that I inserted earlier.
  • 02:01 So I'm going to click on shape outline, and I'm actually gonna leave that alone.
  • 02:06 Click on shape fill and hit no fill color which makes it transparent, and
  • 02:11 now I want the outline to be red.
  • 02:13 Here we go, red outline.
  • 02:14 I also want it to be a thicker line.
  • 02:16 That's a pretty thin line.
  • 02:18 That's called weight, line weight, and I'm gonna choose three point.
  • 02:23 And now I'm simply going to click and
  • 02:25 drag that right up over the top and resize it with that bottom handle.
  • 02:30 And there we have it.
  • 02:31 That's how you draw a reader's attention to a certain area by putting a red box
  • 02:35 around something.
  • 02:36 For fun you can go ahead and insert shape and put a heart in there.
  • 02:40 If I can find my heart.
  • 02:41 There it is.
  • 02:43 And of course we would color the heart red.
  • 02:46 So we do shape fill.
  • 02:47 And we'd put red on there.
  • 02:49 And I want to draw a lightning bolt.
  • 02:51 So insert shape, and I'm going to choose the lightning bolt.
  • 02:56 And I wanna show you a trick about the lightning bolt.
  • 02:59 I actually use these quite often.
  • 03:00 They are fun to use to draw attention to a certain point.
  • 03:03 But whenever you draw a lightning bolt it always points to the right.
  • 03:07 Well first of all, I'm gonna change the shape field to yellow, of course.
  • 03:12 But, if I want to point it to the left,
  • 03:14 now the rotate button is simply going to tip it sideways.
  • 03:17 But if I want this to point the other direction, here's a little trick.
  • 03:21 Float mouse on the left handle, the left-side handle, and
  • 03:24 fold it like a page in a book, just fold it over to the right.
  • 03:28 And there you have a lightning bolt facing the other direction.
  • 03:32 That's a great tip to use on pictures as well.
  • 03:34 If someone's face is pointing to the right, and you want them to be
  • 03:37 looking to the left, you simply grab that handle and fold it like a page in a book.
  • 03:41 All right, well please go ahead and practice.
  • 03:43 They're great fun to use and
  • 03:45 actually have a relevant purpose when you have to draw attention to a certain area.

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