If you’ve never used desktop publishing software such as Microsoft Publisher, Corel Draw, or Adobe InDesign, you may not be familiar with using objects and layers to create print or screen documents. Unlike popular programs like Word and Excel, PowerPoint’s entire design principle revolves around the objects to create your presentation.
As with the desktop publisher, each element in your PowerPoint presentation is an object that you can position without interfering with other objects. These objects include text, images, videos, and any other elements present in your PowerPoint files. Since each object is a separate element, you can layer objects to make your presentation look exactly the way you want. Read on to learn why and how to overlay objects in a PowerPoint presentation.
Why layer objects?
There are two main reasons why you might want to layer objects in your PowerPoint presentation. First, object layering gives you the ability to arrange your presentation in any layout you want. Instead of working in a linear fashion like in a text editor, you can place and overlay objects as much as you like.
Second, layering allows you to use all the white space in your presentation. In particular, text boxes take up a lot of space. By placing objects in layers, you can use all the space on the slide without changing the position of other objects.
Object layers in PowerPoint
Let’s say you’ve added four blocks to your PowerPoint presentation; first red, then green, then blue, then yellow. Each rectangle represents an object. When you add a new object to your PowerPoint presentation, the application automatically places the newest objects on top of the old ones. If you add blocks in the above order, the layering of objects looks like this:
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Note that the newest field (yellow) is on top of the others. Using PowerPoint’s layering feature, you can layer these objects in any order. To arrange objects in a different order from the default, first click the Home tab on the Ribbon and find the Draw section. In the Draw section, find and click the Arrange button.
Note that there are four heading items in the pop-up menu:
- Bring to Front
- Send to Back
- Start Forward
- Send Back
With these commands, you can overlay objects in PowerPoint the way you want. Note, however, that the menu items are inactive; you won’t be able to use them unless you make the object active first by clicking on it before clicking the Arrange button. As an example, let’s place the yellow box on another layer.
Start by clicking on the yellow box to make it the active object. Then click the “Arrange” button and choose “Send Back” from the menu. Notice that the yellow border has now moved back one layer to be between the blue border and the green border.
Now select the blue box and this time choose Send to Back from the Arrange menu. Notice that the blue rectangle is now at the bottommost level and behind the yellow, green, and red rectangles. Using the four order functions on the Arrange button, you can choose whether the object moves one level up or down, or all the way to the highest or lowest level.
It can take a while to get used to working with layers in PowerPoint, but the menu system is pretty intuitive. Use the Send Backward and Bring Forward commands to move the object one layer back or forward, and use the Send Backward and Bring Forward commands to move the object all the way forward or backward in the stacking order.
You can also just right-click the object and select the options you want from the context menu as shown below.
Also, it’s worth noting that you can also make your layers completely transparent or semi-transparent, which can lead to some interesting effects. In our small example, I made the yellow layer semi-transparent and then added text to the green box.
You can make a layer transparent by right-clicking it and then clicking the Style button. You will see a variety of boxes in different colors and styles. Towards the center / bottom, you will find opacity and translucency options.
There is virtually no limit to the number of layers that objects on a PowerPoint slide can occupy. However, to keep your audience simple and straightforward, consider using no more layers on one slide than you need.
Use too many layers and you risk making the slide too complex to follow. Experiment with positioning and layering objects in PowerPoint, and you can free up unused white space to create a more visually appealing PowerPoint presentation. Enjoy!
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