Sometimes when you’re creating a PowerPoint presentation, it can be difficult to align text and objects perfectly on the slide. Thankfully, PowerPoint has a helpful feature called “smart guides” that makes this process much easier. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to use smart guides in PowerPoint. We’ll also provide some tips for using them effectively. Let’s get started!
1. Open the presentation you want to work on in PowerPoint. Click the “View” tab on the Ribbon. Then click the “arrow icon” in the bottom-right corner of the Show group.
2. Make sure the “Display smart guides when shapes are aligned” option is checked in the popup that occurs. This will enable the smart guides feature. Press Ok to close the popup after checking the box.
3. Now, let’s say you want to align an image in the middle of your slide. Simply click and hold on to the image, and then drag it to the desired location. As you move the image around, you’ll notice red lines appearing on the slide. These are the smart guides.
These red lines pop up as soon as the object you’re dragging lines up with another object on the slide, or when it’s centered horizontally or vertically on the slide itself. A short horizontal guide usually signals top, middle, or bottom alignment with a neighbouring shape, while a vertical guide flags left, centre, or right alignment. When you’re happy with the position of the object, simply release the mouse button to place it in that spot.
4. If you want to align the image with another object, simply click and hold on to the image and then drag it next to the object. As you get close to aligning the two objects, you’ll see a smart guide appear.
That’s all there is to using smart guides in PowerPoint! Once you get used to watching for the red lines, lining up shapes, text boxes, and images on a slide becomes quick work, and your finished deck looks noticeably tidier. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!