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Editing Points and Snapping (to grid or to other objects)

Anonymous
2011-10-02T10:19:09+00:00

In PowerPoint I am trying to draw custom shapes.  I can create other shapes as guides and get these to snap together, then I try and draw around them to get my custom shape.  Unfortunately, either when adding a new shape or when "editing points" I cannot get the points I add to snap to the grid or to other objects.  This makes my custom shapes look messy, particularly since they do not have lines that are exactly vertical or horizontal, and it is also difficult to create shapes that "jigsaw" together.  In older versions, I used to be able to get the points to snap to grid on creation, even though I never managed to get them to snap if I were adjusting them later, so would often draw a new shape over an old one to ensure all the points were correctly snapped to grid points to ensure it looked good.

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  1. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2011-10-07T18:02:31+00:00

    OK, I see what you mean now. When you drag a point the movement is continuous as if snap to grid were not turned on.  I'm not sure if it is a bug or by design, but you can let Microsoft know you would like the behavior changed by telling them at this URL:

    http://www.microsoft.com/mac/product-feedback

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-10-07T07:51:54+00:00

    Thanks for the reply.  I have tried at high zoom levels, and by the way the point seems to move when I click a new one, it appears to be snapping to something, but it doesn't match the grid and I can create points that are slightly misaligned.  This happens when I create points and when I try to move them.

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  2. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2011-10-06T02:24:28+00:00

    My shapes do seem to follow the snap settings. I work in 200% to 400% zoom. If you zoom in does that help?

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-10-03T04:22:23+00:00

    Actually, it is none of these.  I can no longer find any reference to it in the help manual (though it was there in previous versions and the capability to draw custom shapes is there – go to add shape on the ribbon, then lines and connectors and it is the next-to-last one you can add)).  If you add a polygon where you draw each line separately by clicking a point for each vertex, you end up with any shape you like.  But I like to draw with "snap to grid" turned on, or with snapping to the edges of other shapes.  When drawing like this in the older version of PowerPoint, each point you created in your custom polygon would snap to a specific point.  Now it no longer does, so your custom shape no longer fits correctly to anything else on the screen.

    Once you have created a custom shape, you can right-click it (or control-click it) and a pop-up menu appears with "edit points".  If you select this, you can move any individual vertex of the shape, but this also fails to follow the snapping settings you have activated.

    I just want to know how I can get these vertices to move so they follow the snap settings I have activated.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-10-03T00:36:27+00:00
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