Outlining fonts in PowerPoint allows you to emphasize words or statements displayed on-screen. Aside from helping your audience better understand your main idea, it also lets them read your text clearly using a few adjustments. In this post, we’ll focus on how to outline fonts to emphasize your key message.
Bring Up the Interface in PowerPoint 2013
1. Select the text that you wish to format by dragging your cursor from the start to the end of the word. You can also select all of the text by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+A.
2. Right-click on the highlighted text. A context menu will appear.
3. Click on the “Format Text Effects…”, which is the second to the last option.
The Format Shape window pane will appear on the right side of the screen. It displays two main options: Shape Options and Text Options.
4. Click on Text Options. There will be three icons underneath.
5. Click the leftmost icon which is the Text Fill & Outline icon (this is the “A” icon with a rectangular shape beneath it).
6. Click on Text Outline to expand the menu.
Text Outline
There are two submenus underneath Text Options, namely Text Fill and Text Outline. These settings individually control the look of your font. Expand or collapse each submenu by clicking on the triangle on the left of each word. Outline text fonts in PowerPoint 2013 by toggling the three options underneath Text Outline
If you don’t want any outline effect on the selected text, click on No line. This is selected by default.
Choose the Solid line option under the Text Outline if you want your text outlined with a single flat color. You can also adjust the transparency, width, compound lines, dashes, cap, and join type.
Click the Gradient line button if you want the outline to start from one color and slowly fade into another color. You can choose what specific colors the gradient should use, how it should look (Linear, Radial, Rectangular, or Path), and what angle it should show at. You can also adjust its Position, Transparency, and Brightness.
Text Fill
1. Select Text Fill under Text Options to alter the font color without making any changes on the text outline.
2. Click the Text Effects This is the icon next to Text Fill & Outline icon, which is also an “A” icon with only an outline. Choose among the six submenus: (Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Soft Edges, 3-D Format, and 3-D Rotation) to apply additional effects to the selected text.
In the example below, the Glow effect is used to improve the appearance of the selected text.
Customize Your Text
You don’t need to download a different font every time you want it to look a certain way. Simply format a pre-existing font within PowerPoint and have free reign on your font’s design. Outlining text enhances your key points, making them more readable and understandable for your audience. If you want to highlight your text and convince the crowd to focus on your main idea, apply the instructions above to achieve visually compelling PowerPoint presentations.
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References
“Change the Color of WordArt.” Office Support. Accessed January 22, 2016. www.support.office.com/en-US/article/Change-the-color-of-WordArt-4F506FF1-9C83-4214-A0AE-390D394813CD
Weedmark, David. “How Do I Outline a Font in PowerPoint?” eHow, January 10, 2015. Accessed September 17, 2015. www.ehow.com/how_7195619_outline-font-powerpoint.html
