Sometimes, if you’re working on a presentation in PowerPoint, the standard shapes in the program might not suit your needs. We’ll show you how to merge multiple shapes to create your own custom shapes.
- First, insert the two shapes that you want to combine into my presentation. To insert a shape, go to Insert > Shapes. Select the shape that you want, and then use the crosshairs to draw it onto the slide.
- Next, if you’re on a Mac, click on the Shape Format tab at the top >Merge Shapes dropdown menu. For Windows, go to the Format tab >Merge Shapes dropdown menu. As you can see, there are several options for merging shapes, including union, combine, fragment, intersect, and subtract. Here’s a quick rundown of what each option does:
- Union simply joins the two shapes, becoming one shape that you can use like all other shapes in PowerPoint.
- Combine is similar to merge, but you get empty space where your shapes were overlapping.
- Fragment will combine them but give you a separate area to work with within these three compartments.
- Intersect will remove everything except the intersection of the two shapes, making it similar to the opposite of the combine function.
- Subtract will remove from one shape what was covered by the second.
These five options give you lots of tools for combining multiple shapes to create custom ones that fit your needs.
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PowerPoint features a large library of shapes used for things like creating flowcharts. That’s not all, though—PowerPoint also lets you combine and merge these shapes to create a unique object. Here’s how.
Merging Shapes in PowerPoint
To merge shapes in PowerPoint, you’ll first need to insert the shapes you wish to merge. To do so, head over to the “Insert” tab and select “Shapes” found in the “Illustrations” group.
On the drop-down menu that appears, browse through the large library of shapes and select the one you want to use. We’ll use the oval shape in this example.
Next, draw your shape. You can do so by clicking and dragging your cursor.
Repeat the steps above to insert your next shape. Once ready, make sure the shapes are overlapping.
To merge the shapes, you’ll need first to select both of the shapes that you want to merge. To do this, hold the Ctrl key while clicking each shape in turn.
Once you select the shapes, you’ll notice a new tab appear—the “Shape Format” tab. Go ahead and select that tab.
Over in the “Insert Shapes” group, click the “Merge Shapes” button.
From the drop-down menu that appears, select your desired merge type. You can also hover over each option to get a live preview.
PowerPoint has many standard shapes to add to your presentation. Or you can merge and group objects to make your own.
Select Home > Shape .
Select the shape you want to use.
Click and drag across the slide, drawing the shape to the desired size.
With the shape selected, you can change the Shape Fill , Shape Outline , or Shape Effects .
Tip: Select the shape and press Ctrl+D to create a duplicate shape.
Rotate or flip an object
Select an object.
Select Drawing Tools Format > Rotate and then select:
Rotate Right 90°
More Rotation Options
Select the shapes to merge. To select several objects, press Shift, and then select each object.
On the Drawing Tools Format tab, select Merge Shapes , and then pick the option you want:
Union : Turns all the selected objects into one object.
Combine : Turns all the selected objects into one object, but removes the overlapping portion.
Fragment : Turns larger objects into many smaller ones based on how they overlap.
Intersect : Trims portions of the larger objects and leaves only the portion that overlaps each object.
Subtract : Removes a portion of the last selected object that does not overlap.
Once you get the shape you want, you can resize and format the shape, just like a standard shape.
Press and hold Ctrl while you select each object.
Under the Drawing Tools (or Picture Tools ) Format tab, select Group > Group .
Select a grouped object.
Under the Drawing Tools (or Picture Tools ) Format tab, select Group > Ungroup .
If you are following this website or my Youtube Channel for PowerPoint tutorials then you might know that many of the animations are only possible if you have Merge Shapes or Combine Shapes in PowerPoint commands available. Unfortunately, PowerPoint 2007 doesn’t support Merge / Combine Shapes and in PowerPoint 2010; you also might need to enable these commands as they might not appear by default. So, in this tutorial, we will learn to Enable or Add Merge Shapes in PowerPoint 2010 Ribbon. In later versions like in PowerPoint 2013 and above, the Combine Shapes are changed to Merge Shapes.
