Welcome to the third installment of our series, where we unlock the secrets of PowerPoint key commands that can dramatically enhance your efficiency. As a beginner, familiarizing yourself with these handy key commands will not only speed up your workflow but also provide a seamless experience as you navigate through various features of PowerPoint. Join us as we unveil these golden nuggets of PowerPoint mastery!
What’s covered in this part:
- Mastering shortcuts for resizing and constraining shapes to enhance presentation aesthetics
- Learning techniques to move objects with precision and ease
- Discovering the secrets of grouping and ungrouping objects for a streamlined slide design
- Tips for quick and efficient font resizing and slide duplication
Resizing Shapes
Efficient Resizing Techniques
- Utilize
Ctrl + Shift + Arrow
to finely adjust the size, increasing or decreasing by 1 pixel in both directions. - Employ
Shift + Arrow
to align the size adjustments to the grid, aiding in uniform resizing. - For a fluid resizing experience, hold the key combination to progressively alter the dimensions.

Note: Always be cautious of maintaining the aspect ratio to avoid distorting the shape.
Constraining Shapes
Maintaining Proportions and Alignment
- While drawing or resizing objects, leverage the Shift and/or Control keys to maintain proportions and facilitate alignment as you drag using the handles:
Shift
maintains the aspect ratio.Shift + Control
retains the aspect ratio while resizing uniformly in all directions.- Employing
Shift
while rotating aligns the movement to the grid.

Manipulating Objects
Precision in Movement
- With the ‘Snap Objects to Grid’ feature activated, use navigation arrows to move objects incrementally by 1/12”.
- To refine the movement further:
- Utilize the
CTRL
key alongside navigation arrows to move objects by a single pixel. - Hold the
SHIFT
key while dragging objects with the mouse to restrict movement parallel to the object’s orientation.
- Utilize the
- Tip: Toggle the ‘Snap Objects to Grid’ feature as per your preference; it is enabled by default.

Grouping and Ungrouping Objects
Streamlining Object Management
- Group selected objects effortlessly using
Control+G
. - To ungroup selected objects, employ the shortcut
Control+Shift+G
.

Adjusting Font Sizes
Simple Text Resizing
- To alter font sizes, select the text or object containing the text and use:
Control + Shift + >
to increase the font size.Control + Shift + <
to decrease the font size.
- Note: Font resizing occurs in standard increments. For specific sizes, input the desired value in the font size field.

Slide Master
Quick Access to Slide Master
Experience seamless navigation to a slide’s master view using the shortcut depicted below:

Modifying Indentation
Easy List Adjustments
- For bulleted or numbered lists, enhance readability by adjusting the indentation using
Tab
at the start of a line. - Reverse the indentation effortlessly with
Shift+Tab
to create a well-structured list.
Duplicating Slides or Objects
Swift Duplication
- Bypass the traditional copy and paste method (
Control-C
,Control-V
) with a single command:Control-D
for quick duplication.
Repeating Last Action (A Time-Saver)
Efficient Editing
- Utilize
F4
orCtrl + Y
to replicate your last action, a vital shortcut that can save significant time, especially when making uniform changes across multiple slides.
PowerPoint Shortcut Cheat Sheet
Your Go-To Reference
We’ve compiled these valuable PowerPoint shortcuts into a handy cheat sheet for you. Keep it within reach, perhaps on your desktop, until you’ve mastered each of these time-saving tricks!
