Duplicate and Add Multiple Shapes

Quick reference

• 00:05 When you're working with shapes in your presentation,
• 00:07 it's very handy to know how to duplicate them without just a copy and a paste.
• 00:11 So let's start with our blank slide.
• 00:13 Insert, the Shapes button gives us the drop-down menu with various
• 00:17 groups of shapes.
• 00:18 I select a rectangle, click, drag and release, and there is our shape.
• 00:24 Now duplicating that is as easy as dragging with the mouse.
• 00:27 And notice, as soon as I hit the Ctrl key on the keyboard, it's duplicated and
• 00:32 I can release the mouse.
• 00:34 And there is our shape there.
• 00:36 Do that again, hold the Ctrl key, click and drag, and there are our three shapes.
• 00:42 And I'm going to align those so I draw a marquee over the top of them,
• 00:47 align selected objects, align middle, and there are our three shapes all aligned.
• 00:54 Now, that's really cool.
• 00:55 But if I go Ctrl+Z if I wanna produce those shapes in a line then,
• 00:59 it's actually very easy to do.
• 01:02 So I'll delete that one, delete that one, drag with the Ctrl key duplicator.
• 01:09 But as soon as I also hit the Shift key, watch what happens.
• 01:12 It pops up in perfect alignment horizontally.
• 01:16 And it will align horizontally, or if I go this way,
• 01:19 vertically down, vertically up or vertically left.
• 01:24 So I release and there is the shape.
• 01:27 Again, click with the mouse, Ctrl+Shift, drag, release.
• 01:31 And there is my shape in perfect alignment either with the top or
• 01:35 the center and so on, very cool.
• 01:37 Now let's do something else.
• 01:39 Let's click a little oval, and
• 01:41 I used the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+D to duplicate that shape.
• 01:46 Now, I'm going to move it just there and Ctrl+D again.
• 01:52 Notice how PowerPoint actually remembers the last location of movement,
• 01:56 and the relationship.
• 01:59 So after I go Ctrl+D, it has replicated that shape.
• 02:03 So it's a very fast way to be able to
• 02:06 replicate shapes in a particular orientation alignment.
• 02:10 That's very cool.
• 02:12 Now let's briefly look at something else that's very cool as well.
• 02:15 I go for a funny little shape like a right arrow.
• 02:18 Well, it's not really a funny shape, probably shouldn't say that.
• 02:21 But if we right-click on the shape, we get this option to lock the drawing mode.
• 02:26 So I click that button.
• 02:28 So my cursor has changed into a little cross or an X.
• 02:31 I click and drag.
• 02:34 There's my arrow, but the cursor has remained the same.
• 02:38 So I click and drag, click and drag, click and drag.
• 02:40 And as soon as I hit Escape on the keyboard,
• 02:44 it unlocks that locked mode, and turns back into a normal pointer.
• 02:50 And that's just another way of duplicating many shapes.
• 02:52 So you can right-click and lock the join mode and hit Escape to get out of it.
• 02:58 That's very simple.
• 02:59 So remember that you can duplicate shapes with Ctrl+D.
• 03:03 Or you can hold down the Ctrl key and release.
• 03:06 Or if you want them in perfect alignment you can hold the Ctrl to duplicate and
• 03:11 the Shift key, which will snap them into perfect alignment.
• 03:14 You can also lock the drawing mode, so that your shapes
• 03:17 can stick to your mouse effectively, and you can draw multiple shapes.
• 03:21 So it's very easy to replicate shapes and duplicate them, and get them in alignment.
• 03:25 And well worth an investment of your time understanding, because it will save so
• 03:30 much time. I love it.

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