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If you're new to PowerPoint, you'll need to learn the basics of working with text. In this lesson, you'll learn how to cut, copy, paste, and format text.
Optional: Download our practice presentation.
Watch the video below to learn more about the basics of working with text in PowerPoint.
Before you can move or arrange text, you'll need to select it.
PowerPoint allows you to copy text that is already on a slide and paste it elsewhere, which can save you time. If you want to move text, you can cut and paste or drag and drop the text.
You can access the cut, copy, and paste commands by using keyboard shortcuts. Press Ctrl+X to cut, Ctrl+C to copy, and Ctrl+V to paste.
Formatted text can draw your audience's attention to specific parts of a presentation and emphasize important information. In PowerPoint, you have several options for adjusting your text, including size and color. You can also adjust the alignment of the text to change how it is displayed on the slide.
Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn about the different commands in the Font and Paragraph groups.
Some placeholders format text as a bulleted list by default. Click the Bullets or Numbering commands to create a new list, or click the drop-down arrows to choose the list style.
This command allows you to change the direction of your text.
Use the drop-down menu to change the font of the selected text.
Choose the font size of the selected text from the drop-down menu, or use the Increase Font Size and Decrease Font Size commands to increase or decrease the size.
You can use these commands to align your text at the top, middle, or bottom of a placeholder or text box.
Here, you can adjust the spacing between characters.
Here, you can quickly change the case of the selected text.
Use the font style commands to apply bold, italic, underline, shadow, or strikethrough to the selected text.
You can use this command to change the text color.
You can use these commands to align your text to the left, center, or right of a placeholder or text box.
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