Tip for Resizing Objects with Text in PowerPoint

Resize the object and the text doesn't adjust -- how annoying!

When you design icons or graphics in PowerPoint, you may need to incorporate text into them. What happens when you need to resize the object? If you’ve run into this problem before you know that text boxes don’t scale with the object as it is resized, even if the text box is grouped with other objects. You have to fiddle with the font size and positioning, which can be painful if you’re dealing with several objects.

How can you make the text resize with the object?

The answer is less complicated than you think, and it can be a real timesaver. Follow these steps to ensure the text resizes automatically with your objects:

1. 

   Select the "Picture (PNG)" paste option

   Click on the text box and copy the text box (Ctrl + C).

2. Paste Special the text box (Ctrl + Alt + V). When you use Paste Special, you will have different paste options. You will want to paste the text as a PNG image.
3. Once you’ve pasted the text, delete the text box and reposition the PNG image in the same position.
4. 

   Text as a PNG image enables resizing

   You’ll want to group (Ctrl + G) the PNG image with the other object(s) and then resize the grouped object while holding down the Shift key so you maintain the proportion of the object.

In addition to avoiding future resizing issues, converting text into PNG images in objects helps you to avoid another quirky PowerPoint issue related to template defaults.

Be careful when you leave text as text boxes

I recently shared some slides with someone who was aggregating slides from several individuals. When I went to present my portion of the presentation, I discovered that the new template’s default text box style inserted a bullet point before all of the text in the objects, which ruined the presentation of my images. Fellow PowerPoint ninjas, learn from my mistake! If you’re including text in an object, you should consider following the steps above to avoid any resizing or template issues later on.

Related posts:

1. Shape Resizing Issue in PowerPoint 2007
2. Editing Grouped Objects in PowerPoint 2007