So, as you can see, there are various ways to select and deselect shapes in PowerPoint.

You can use the Selection Pane to make an accurate selection, as explained in another tutorial.

Since ⌘ + A also selects the title, you can thereafter deselect the title so that the selection is limited to shapes on the slide.įigure 4: Slide with all shapes selected except a single deselected shape This works best if you have a slide with many shapes and a title. To do so, press Ctrl + click (or Shift + click) on unwanted objects to deselect them, as shown in Figure 4, below.

Press ⌘ + A to select all the slide objects on the slide then deselect the ones that are not shapes which you don't want to be the part of the selection.

This works best when the shapes you want to select are placed fairly close to each other.įigure 3: Draw a marquee over the shapes to select them Then, click and drag to draw a marquee with your cursor over the shapes you want to select, as shown in Figure 3, below.

Place your cursor on the blank area of the slide (area that has no selectable content), or even click on the area outside the slide.

Figure 2, below, shows two shapes have been selected.įigure 2: Two shapes selected on the slide Repeat the same process to select more shapes on the slide.

Click a shape to select it, and then ⌘ + click (or Shift + click) another shape to select it.

To select more than one shape in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac, use any of these options: You can also use the Selection Pane to select.

If you pressed Tab quickly and missed selecting a shape, you can press Shift + Tab to reverse the entire tab selection process. To select a shape that's behind some other shape and not easily selected or visible, first select any other shape, and then press the Tab key several times to search among all the objects on your slide until the shape you want is selected.

To deselect the shape, click anywhere on the slide away from the shape, or ⌘ + click (or Shift + click) on the selected shape.įigure 1: A single shape selected on the slide Select a Shape that's Behind Another Shape Figure 1, below, shows a single shape selected on the slide. Although this tutorial explains how you can select shapes on a slide, the process works the same way for any other slide object.įollow these steps to select shapes and other slide objects in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac: Select or Deselect a Single ShapeĬlick a shape to select it. If you cannot select an object, then you cannot modify it at all. Before you change or format something, PowerPoint expects you to first to make a selection, and then do something such as clicking a button to perform an action for the selected slide objects.

Select all for mac