Add & Format SmartArt in Powerpoint 2010

PowerPoint offers a unique feature called SmartArt which allows users to add text to predefined art designs. The advantage with SmartArt is that although each component of the SmartArt can be edited individually, you can also modify the SmartArt as a whole while retaining the settings on each individual component.

The following steps will help you add a SmartArt to PowerPoint.

Step 1 − Go to the Illustrations group under the Insert ribbon.

Step 2 − Click on the SmartArt command to open the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog. You can choose the SmartArt category and pick individual SmartArt types from the list. You also get a preview and a short description of the graphic in the preview section.

Step 3 − Select the SmartArt type and click OK or double-click on the SmartArt type to insert the graphic in the slide.

Step 4 − The graphic is inserted in the slide along with a text pane where you can enter/ modify the SmartArt text.

Step 5 − Add the necessary details and close the text pane to complete the SmartArt insertion.

The PowerPoint SmartArt formatting features have been grouped under two ribbons: Design and Format. The sections below discuss the features under each ribbon. To access these ribbons, you must select the SmartArt first.

SmartArt Design Features

We will now understand the various SmartArt design features in PowerPoint.

The following table describes the various SmartArt design features in PowerPoint.

SmartArt Format Features

We will now understand the various SmartArt format features in PowerPoint.

The following table describes the various SmartArt format features in PowerPoint.