PowerPoint Tips Blog

Helping you with presenting, PowerPoint, and speaking

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Tips
  • E-Store
  • Training
  • About
  • Affiliates
  • Advertise
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Design / Shapes & text boxes / Rotate objects precisely

Rotate objects precisely

July 7, 2014 by Ellen Finkelstein 6 Comments

READ LATER - DOWNLOAD THIS POST AS PDF >> CLICK HERE <<

PowerPoint makes simple object rotations very easy.

If you don’t need to be precise

powerpoint-tips-rotate-precisely-1

You can use an object’s rotation handle to drag an object around its middle. When you like what you see, release the mouse button and you’re done.

If you need a common angle

If you need more precision than eyeballing it, you can use several tools that let you quickly get common angles:

To rotate to 15° increments, press the Shift key while you drag with the rotation handle. In this way, you can reotate to 0, 15, 30, 45, 90 degrees — and so on. That is often enough.

For a 90° rotation, left or right, select the object and click the Format tab that appears. Click Rotate in the Arrange group and choose Rotate Right 90° or Rotate Left 90°.

If you need a specific, uncommon angle

But what if you need a 62° angle? Or a 13° angle? It’s common in technical presentations to need angles like this. Yes, you might use a technical drawing tool like AutoCAD and import the drawings as a picture. You can even import as a WMF, which you can ungroup and turn into PowerPoint objects, I discuss this process in another post, “Create clear, iconic illustrations in PowerPoint with (gasp!) clip art.”

powerpoint-tips-rotate-precisely-2

But you can get exact angles in PowerPoint, following these steps:

  1. Select the object and click the Format tab that appears.
  2. Click Rotate in the Arrange group and choose More Rotation Options. In PowerPoint 2007 and 2010, you’ll be in the Format Shape dialog box, with the Size item displayed. In PowerPoint 2013, you’ll be in a task pane, with the Size item expanded.
  3. Enter the desired rotation in the Rotation text box and press Enter. In PowerPoint, positive rotation is clockwise. You can enter a negative number to rotate counterclockwise.
  4. Close the task pane or dialog box.

Here’s an example of an object at a 70° rotation.

powerpoint-tips-rotate-precisely-3

 

Share
Tweet
Share6
+13
Shares 9
READ LATER - DOWNLOAD THIS POST AS PDF >> CLICK HERE <<

Related posts:

  1. Slides that pop! Using the 3rd dimension on a slide–Part II: 3D rotation
  2. How to specify the position of an image or object on a PowerPoint slide–precisely
  3. Rotation tips
  4. Changing the Default for New Objects

Filed Under: Shapes & text boxes Tagged With: precise rotation, rotate, rotation

6
Leave a Reply

avatar
This comment form is under antispam protection
4 Comment threads
2 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
4 Comment authors
Chris WallJJBEllen FinkelsteinCraig Hadden (@RemotePoss) Recent comment authors
avatar
This comment form is under antispam protection
  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
Craig Hadden (@RemotePoss)
Guest
Craig Hadden (@RemotePoss)

Thanks Ellen – this is a very succinct post, yet it covers lots of tips. The tip about holding down Shift is really handy. That’s a great way to rotate different objects by a consistent amount. As you know (but others might not), you can save time by right-clicking and choosing Size and Position instead of using the Format tab. That not only saves a couple of clicks, more importantly it saves a lot of “mouse miles” spent going all the way up to the Format tab, then across to Rotate. Please see my latest post for 4 handy shortcuts… Read more »

Vote Up0Vote Down 
8 years ago
JJB
Guest
JJB

Is there a way to rotate an object by less than one degree? I cannot get past the one degree limitation.

Vote Up5Vote Down 
6 years ago
Ellen Finkelstein
Guest
Ellen Finkelstein

Not that I know of. You can press Alt as you rotate objects and free rotate them. I’m not sure if the Rotate text box just rounds off, since it always shows an integer. I found some code that lets you do this: https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22841467/Rotate-Objects-by-Fraction-of-a-Degree.html
Here’s some information on using VBA code: http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00033_How_do_I_use_VBA_code_in_PowerPoint.htm

Vote Up0Vote Down 
6 years ago
JJB
Guest
JJB

Thank you. That works well for degrees above 1 or below -1. In my case I am just trying to straighten an image that is a little less than -1 degree off. If I can save the image already off by 90 degrees then then perhaps I can rotate it 89.5 degrees using your suggestion. Here I go and thanks again.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
6 years ago
Chris Wall
Guest
Chris Wall

JJB…

If it’s an issue of the image being in the presentation that someone has already rotated, why not simply place the image a second time? It ought to go in with zero degrees of rotation.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
5 years ago
Ellen Finkelstein
Guest
Ellen Finkelstein

Yes, that’s true, but often you don’t have access to the presentation (maybe someone else created it) or it’s just quicker to rotate it than to find it again.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
5 years ago
wpdiscuz   wpDiscuz

Free Video Training!

13 Techniques that Will Make Designing Your Slides EASY!

And get the PowerPoint Tips Newsletter with tips and resources for presenters. Plus 5 bonus tips!

BirdSend Email Marketing Tool
4-up-ads PresenterMedia PoweredTemplate High-Persuasion Secrets Power Pointers Quarter Hour


Recent Posts

Recent Posts

  • How do you format your slide titles?
  • Using PowerPoint’s cartoon people
  • Which version of PowerPoint should you buy?
  • Add a customizable, live web feed with Cameo
  • Get a designer look with abstract images to create backgrounds for slides and shapes

Connect with me!

Connect with me! Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Ellen Finkelstein, Inc. · Fairfield, IA · Tel: 515-989-1832

Privacy, Refund, and Other Legal Stuff

wpDiscuz