Troubleshoot moving, editing, and formatting text

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003

ShowI can't move an object.

  • Select the object (such as a text box, AutoShape, or piece of clip art) by clicking its border, and when the pointer becomes a four-headed arrow, drag the object.
  • The object might have been created on the slide master. To move an object on the slide master, point to Master on the View menu, and then click Slide Master. On the slide master, click the object to select it, and then drag it.

ShowI can't use drag-and-drop editing because selected text doesn't stay selected.

  • Be sure the pointer is over the selected text when you try to drag it. You'll see a small, empty gray box when you click the pointer to drag the text.
  • Drag-and-drop editing might not be on. On the Tools menu, click Options, click the Edit tab, and then select the Drag-and-drop text editing check box.

ShowI want to change the formatting for a line of text, but the whole paragraph changes.

  • When you drag to select the line of text, if your pointer drops slightly below the current line, the line below will also be selected. Move the pointer back up, while still dragging, to undo the unwanted selection.
  • Some formatting changes— such as line spacing, alignment, bullets, and tabs— affect the entire paragraph and can't be applied to a single line.
  • Be sure to select only the text you want to change. If you select an entire paragraph, the changes you make affect all text in the paragraph

ShowHow can I keep my text from resizing as I type?

Turn off text AutoFit (this is on by default). When resizing is turned off, Microsoft PowerPoint will not reduce your font size and line spacing to fit spillover text into a placeholder.

  1. On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect Options.
  2. Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
  3. Under Apply as you type, do any of the following:
    • To turn off AutoFit for title text, clear the AutoFit title text to placeholder check box.
    • To turn off AutoFit for body text, clear the AutoFit body text to placeholder check box.

ShowI want to select only a few characters, but whole words get automatically selected.

When the "select whole words" setting is on, Microsoft PowerPoint automatically selects a whole word, and the space after it, as you drag to select. To turn off this setting, on the Tools menu, click Options, click the Edit tab, and then clear the When selecting, automatically select entire word check box. Then, drag to select the characters.

ShowSome slide text does not appear on the Outline tab.

  • Some types of text don't appear and aren't editable on the Outline tab. They include: text added with the Text Box tool Button image, text attached to an AutoShape, WordArt text, and text in embedded objects.
  • If you click Expand All Button image, on the Formatting toolbar, only slide titles appear on the Outline tab. To see all of the text, click Expand All Button image again.

ShowI formatted my text, but the formatting is not showing.

  • To see formatted text on the Outline tab or in the notes pane, click Show Formatting Button image on the Standard toolbar.

  • To see colors that you apply, on the View menu, click Notes Page.

  • To see how the text will print, on the Standard toolbar, click Print Preview Button image, and in the Print What list, click Notes Pages.

ShowI don't want those buttons to appear after an automatic correction.

To turn off the AutoCorrect Options button, on the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect Options. On the AutoCorrect tab, clear the Show AutoCorrect Options buttons check box.