MS-Excel / General Formatting

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Formatting Shapes

When you select a Shape, Excel displays its Drawing Tools> Format context tab, with the following groups of commands:

• Insert Shapes: Insert new Shapes; change a Shape to a different Shape.
• Shape Styles: Change the overall style of a Shape; modify the Shape's fill, outline, or effects.
• WordArt Styles: Modify the appearance of the text within a Shape.
• Arrange: Adjust the "stack order" of Shapes, align Shapes, group multiple Shapes, and rotate Shapes.
• Size: Change the size of a Shape.

Many of the commands that are available in the Ribbon are also available in the Shape's shortcut menu, which you access by right-clicking the Shape. In addition, you can use your mouse to perform some operations directly (for example, resize or rotate a Shape).

As an alternative to the Ribbon, you can use the Format Shape dialog box. Right-click the Shape and select Format Shape from the shortcut menu. You will get a stay-on-top tabbed dialog box that contains some additional formatting options that aren't on the Ribbon.

Grouping objects

Excel lets you combine two or more Shape objects into a single object. This feature is known as grouping. For example, if you create a design that uses four separate Shapes, you can combine them into a group. Then you can manipulate this group as a single object (move it, resize it, and so on).

To group two or more objects, press Ctrl while you click the objects to be included in the group. Then right-click and choose Group> Group from the shortcut menu.

When objects are grouped, you can still work with an individual object in the group. Click once to select the group; then click again to select the object.

To ungroup a group, right-click the group object and choose Group> Ungroup from the shortcut menu. This command breaks the object into its original components.

Aligning and spacing objects

When you have several objects on a worksheet, you may want to align and evenly space these objects. You can, of course, drag the objects with your mouse. Or, you can use the keyboard arrow keys to move a selected object one pixel at a time. The fastest way to align and space objects is to let Excel do it for you.

To align multiple objects, start by selecting them (press Ctrl and click the objects). Then use the tools in the Drawing Tools> Format> Arrange> Align drop-down control.

You can't specify which object is used as the basis for the alignment. When you are aligning objects to the left (or right), they are always aligned with the leftmost (or rightmost) object that's selected. When you are aligning objects to the top (or bottom), they are always aligned with the topmost (or bottommost) object. Aligning the centers (or middles) of objects will align them along an axis halfway between the left and right (or top and bottom) extremes of the selected shapes.

You can instruct Excel to distribute three or more objects so that they are equally spaced horizontally or vertically. Use the Drawing Tools> Format> Arrange> Align drop-down control and select Distribute Horizontally or Distribute Vertically.