Buzz
PowerPoint provides a set of basic tools for drawing shapes and lines on your presentation slides. To use the freehand pen and drawing tools, go to the "Review" tab and click on "Start Inking" (similar tools might also appear under the "Draw" tab in Office 365). You can also access basic shape and line drawing tools located on the right side of the "Home" tab. If you're using PowerPoint as an alternative to MS Paint or another drawing program, you can export your slides as various image file formats when saving.
Steps
Use the Ink Tools
Open Microsoft PowerPoint. If you haven’t installed it yet, you can try the free trial of the Office suite provided by Microsoft.
Select the 'Review' tab located on the right side of the menu bar.
- For Office 365 users, this tab may be labeled 'Draw'. It includes all control options related to 'Inking'. If you can't find it, the feature may not be supported on your current operating system, or you might need to update your Office version.
Click 'Start Inking'. This option, located to the right of the toolbar, will provide you with a new set of drawing tools.
Use the 'Pen' tool for freehand drawing. This button is on the left side, allowing you to select the pen tool and create basic line drawings.
Use the 'Highlighter' tool to draw transparent lines. This tool works similarly to the Pen, but the strokes are wider and transparent, allowing you to highlight over text or images without obscuring them.
The 'Eraser' tool is used to delete drawn elements. After selecting the tool, click and drag the cursor over the lines you wish to erase.
- Click the drop-down arrow on the 'Eraser' button to adjust the eraser size settings.
Change the tool color. Open the "Color" dropdown in the "Pen" section of the toolbar and select a different color from the palette for your pen/highlighter.
Modify the tool's thickness. Click on the "Thickness" dropdown in the "Pen" section of the toolbar to choose from a variety of pen/highlighter sizes.
- You can also select preset color and size options from the menu to the left of the "Color" and "Thickness" dropdowns.
Click on "Convert to Shapes". This feature automatically refines any drawn shape into a perfect form. For example, if you draw a circle by hand and enable this feature, the outline will become a perfect circle.
- This feature can also predict a shape based on the number of strokes (e.g., square, hexagon, etc.).
- Shapes will only be adjusted after the feature is activated. Any shapes drawn prior to enabling "Convert to Shapes" will not be modified.
Click on "Select". This tool lets you move drawn shapes around the screen by dragging them.
- If you have trouble, click on "Lasso" and draw a circle around the area you want to select. The Lasso tool only works with drawn shapes.
Disable the Inking feature. Click here to automatically switch to the "Select" tool once you're finished editing with the pen or highlighter. If no edits were made, the view will return to the "Review" tab.
Use the Drawing tool
Open Microsoft PowerPoint. These steps can also be applied to alternative applications like Google Slides or Openoffice Impress, although the menu options and their locations may differ slightly.
Select the "Home" tab in the top left. This tab is selected by default when you start a new document.
- All drawing tools will appear to the right of the "Drawing" section in the toolbar. On Mac, this section will be in a similar location, but without labels.
Choose a shape or line tool. On Windows, the list of shape or line options will appear to the left of the "Drawing" section in the toolbar. On Mac, both tool types will appear when you click on "Shapes" to the right of the unlabeled section.
- Click the down arrow to expand the list and explore additional shape/line options.
- To draw freehand, click the "Scribble" option from the tool list.
Click and drag your mouse cursor to draw. The line or shape (depending on your tool) will begin at the point you click and end when you release the mouse button.
Select a shape from "Quick Style". This option, located on the right side of the toolbar, offers various color shades and transparency settings for the selected shape or image outline.
Click on "Arrange". This option is also located on the right side and provides a list of alternative settings. Options like "Bring to front" or "Move to back" allow you to manipulate overlapping shapes.
Use Shape Effects. To the right of the other drawing tools, you'll find three buttons: Fill, Outline, and Effects:
- "Shape Fill" opens a color palette to fill the drawn shape.
- "Shape Outline" provides a palette to color the shape's border.
- "Shape Effects" includes pre-set graphic or lighting effects for shapes, such as "Embossed", "Glow", or "Shadow". You can apply multiple effects to a shape at once if desired.
- These effects do not affect the drawn lines.
Export as an image file
Open the "File" menu and select "Save As". This will bring you to the interface where you can name the file and choose where to save it.
Select the image file type. Below the file name field, there's a dropdown menu where you can choose the file format. This menu offers various image file types (.jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp, and more).
- By default, PowerPoint saves the file as .pptx.
Click "Save". A copy of the image will be saved in the designated location in the format you selected.
- If you're saving multiple slides as a file, the program will prompt you to select whether to export "All Slides" or "Just This One".
Tip
- If you plan to make edits to the presentation, save a copy in the .pptx format. After converting to an image file, you won't be able to use PowerPoint's usual editing tools.
- You can open a new, blank slide by going to the "Home" tab, selecting "New Slide", and then choosing "Blank" from the list of options.
- For tablet or touch screen users, PowerPoint 2016 also supports the use of a stylus to make drawing in Ink Mode much easier.
