How to Curve My Words in PowerPoint

Go beyond straight lines with Microsoft PowerPoint.
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You can’t get much more basic than Microsoft PowerPoint’s default style of straight black text on a plain white slide, but consider that only your blank artist’s palette. Go off the straight and narrow and take your presentation’s text on a curve by applying some of PowerPoint’s formatting options. In just a click, you can twist and turn your text, giving your slides a more fanciful look for a title, resources section or just to call attention to a point you’re making.

Open PowerPoint and browse to the slideshow file with the words you want to curve. Once you’ve opened that slide deck, scroll to or press “Page Down” to get to the slide with the words.

Highlight all the words to put into a curve. Note that a new orange “Drawing Tools” tab opens above the ribbon.

Click the “Text Effects” button on the ribbon, then click the “Transform” option.

Drag the cursor, without clicking, through the options in the “Follow Path” or “Warp” sections, where you can do full curves, which make your words look like a circle, or half curves, where your words look like an arc.

Click the curve style you want to apply and the formatting is complete.

  • These instructions apply to Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 and 2010.
  • If you don’t yet already have words in the PowerPoint to curve, you can do the same process from scratch. Open a new PowerPoint file and begin typing into one of the two text boxes on the main slide. Then follow the same procedure as illustrated here.
  • Another way to play with curved text is through the WordArt option, which you can find by clicking the Insert tab.

Fionia LeChat is a technical writer whose major skill sets include the MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher), Photoshop, Paint, desktop publishing, design and graphics. LeChat has a Master of Science in technical writing, a Master of Arts in public relations and communications and a Bachelor of Arts in writing/English.

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