Shape Combine feature in MS PowerPoint 2010

Sometimes the emphasis in any presentation is more on the visual side rather than text side. The presenter makes use of arrows, lines, square & rectangle shaped boxes as well as many other shapes to drive his point home in simple yet powerful way.

In this article we will be focusing on the feature of Combine Shapes which was introduced in 2010 version. It is a very powerful feature which allows us to make many complex customized shapes using different combinations of individual shapes. For the sake of understanding the basics, we will be making use of 2 rectangles to show how it works.

So we have 2 rectangles as shown below and we wish to combine them to create a shape as per our need. 

Since we are not trying to make any specific shape, let’s just rotate one of the rectangles and place it on the other. 

Now select both of them and click on combine shapes in Quick Access Toolbar. 4 different options are shown to us – shape union, shape combine, shape intersect and shape subtract.

When we go for shape union, we get to see the following result

Shape combine will yield a shape as follows

Following is the result of Shape intersect

Lastly, shape subtract will leave us with the shape given below

With the proper understanding of the 4 ways of combining and some imagination, one can create wonderful customized shapes to suit one’s presentation requirements. Of course, you need to practice a lot to achieve the desired results. But proficiency here can really do wonders for your presentation.