These topics were covered extensively in the first two parts:

Part 1
1) Basic functions of grouping
2) Actions within the group
3) Instructions for animating a group
4) Display of groups in the selection menu

Part 2
5) SmartArt, diagrams, tables and their groupings
6) Adding an element to a group – without losing the animation
7) Unusual examples from practice

In the third part, you will read interesting information about the following topics within the groups:

Part 3
8) Visually appealing wording with groups
9) “New” effects through groupings
10) More interesting tips & tricks

8. Visually appealing wording with groups

The so-called "wording" is usually a real eye-catcher, as such a graphic is visually appealing and also offers an immediate insight into upcoming or potential topics. Once you have created such a graphic, the "group behavior" of the elements allows you to create further new wording graphics from a basic group.

The visual impact of color choices can vary greatly depending on individual preferences and corporate identity, and can create different focal points at first glance. Text in the same color represents subcategories.

The procedure is very simple:

• First, write down all the necessary terms for a topic separately.
• Then you should think about color choices, fonts, visual impression, etc.
• Choose a central word – as a kind of topic heading.
• Then design the text accordingly in PowerPoint. By rotating, adjusting, and modifying individual text elements, an overall image is created, already positioned correctly on the left side of the image.
• Then group all the texts together – done! (right image)

You can now use this group for more new graphics of this type.

• Copy the group to preserve the original. As described in other blog posts, the group does not need to be dissolved.
• Then click on the separate text shapes.
• Change the text content individually to reflect the new topic. Start again with the longer texts.
• Once finished, simply delete text boxes from the group that you do not need, or copy new text by clicking and duplicating text boxes within the group.
• You will then see that there are empty spaces/gaps and text overlaps (red circles). You can now individually close these gaps and move text that is too close to the others by changing the font size, placement, or font type.
• After relatively few adjustments, the graph could end up looking like the one shown on the right.

• If you deliberately use several texts in an identical, weak color tone, you will direct the viewer's attention even more to the colored main text.

You can also use this graphic as a very original agenda:
A) Highlight individual texts within the group and add a hyperlink (e.g. to another slide) to them, in order to then proceed directly with further descriptions.
B) The mouse pointer changes from an arrow to a hand, indicating that a hyperlink is present.
C) The link took you to this slide, for example.
D) Place a significantly reduced version of the graphic on this slide. Link it to the (first) slide containing the graphic. This will allow you to navigate to other slides from there. TIP: By placing the small graphic on the slide master, you can jump to this agenda slide from any slide at any time.

9. “New” effects through groupings

NO – you can't actually create new effects. BUT by specifically placing objects in a group, visible elements suddenly behave "differently" during an animation. The trick is that you make one object in the group invisible, so the viewer only sees ONE object animated!
Both blue squares in the next image have been filled with the > entrance animation > wheel (8 spokes) , yet the effects look different.

A) This is how you know the effect: Starting from the center, the shape fans out radially like a wheel.
B) Here, the center appears to be laterally offset, and the rays only extend to one side.

The next image shows how the trick works.

A) On the left, the rectangle is shown again as a single object (animated).
B) In the middle (without animation) you can see that

• the rectangle was grouped with a circular area and
• in the background is this circular area (shown here in grey and with a contour for clarity).

C) The group is now fully animated. You can see that the wheel animation, as you are probably already familiar with, applies to the entire object – in this case, the group. The center of the wheel is logically located in the middle. If you later make the circular area virtually invisible with a white color, only the rectangle (which will be visible) will be animated.

9.1. Use of this processing method when displaying photos

Especially with two-dimensional objects, this approach can lead to truly new impressions. In the next example, a photo was inserted as the fill for the rectangle.

A) The normal animation with the single rectangle.
B) This is what it looks like when you apply the new technique with the group.

9.2. Many variations of this technique

Depending on the invisible object's position within the group, or which effect is selected for which object, there are numerous visual possibilities for creating almost entirely new animations. This applies regardless of whether the animations are for entry, highlighting, or exiting. With certain element positions within a group, the effects are minimal or nonexistent. You will need to experiment a bit, as the aforementioned dependencies have a very specific impact on the animation.

Here are a few effective options:

• For all two-dimensional objects: wheel, box, checkerboard, etc.
• Other forms may include: turning, oscillating, spiral wheel, etc.

However, the possibilities can be expanded even further. By combining these "new group effects" with other effects, you can achieve object movements that you previously couldn't have imagined.

In the next image, you can see the familiar standard effects in the left column. To the right of that, the squares are grouped together with the (not visible) circular area.

A) Entrance animation: Karo
B) Entrance animation: Wedge
C) Entrance animation: Box

10. More interesting tips & tricks

In addition to the many suggestions from the previous topics, we have compiled some tips and tricks that you may not yet know.

TIP 1: Photos will be cropped at the edges

Often you have photos or graphics that you apply a picture style template using > Picture Tools / Format to make the photo more visually appealing. However, with almost all picture style templates, the edges are cropped or partially removed, so details or text in the border area are no longer visible. This usually isn't noticed (immediately) because you automatically look at the overall image, but details at the edges are missing.

• Insert a rectangle behind the photo that is slightly larger than your graphic. Set the rectangle to "No Fill" and "No Border" .
• Then both objects are grouped and placed in the cache.
• Immediately afterwards, you can reinsert your group via > Start > Insert as Picture (e.g. jpg) and thus use the various image tools.
• Because the photo has become larger, the cropping at the edges no longer matters and the image is now completely visible!

A) In the image, you can see the original photo in the upper left corner. It has a thick red border.
B) From this point on, you will see various selected image format templates in the series, and the red border is not visible. If you had included a small text at the edge, such as copyright information, this text would not be visible or would only be partially visible.
C) Now a rectangle has been placed behind the photo. To illustrate the problem, the rectangle has exceptionally been given a blue border here.
D) From this point on, the same formatting templates as in the row above have been used. As you can see, the red border is always visible.
E) In this version, you can still see a bit of the blue border of the rectangle. This means that the width of the cropped border can vary depending on the image format template. Therefore, you may need to modify the rectangle or adjust its size slightly.

TIP 2 Placeholders cannot be grouped

Placeholders cannot be grouped in any way! If you need to create a group for specific reasons, you must design a separate object. Objects cannot be grouped with placeholders on the slide master either.

TIP 3: Be careful when selecting objects using a frame.

Be careful when selecting objects using a frame with the mouse! Occasionally, you will work with shapes that are the same color (white) as the background, for example, to cover other objects.

Since a white rectangle on a white slide is not visible, it can happen that you surround several objects with a border, and these "invisible" elements are also "accidentally" included in the group. Often, you only notice your mistake later, and then it is more difficult to correct.

TIP 4 Unusual working methods within a group

With some experience and various group work scenarios, you will master and utilize the many possibilities effectively. An unusual approach is to carry out the steps for creating a graphic within a group from the very beginning, rather than waiting until all tasks are completed.

The advantages are obvious:

• All assembled parts are immediately in the group.
• If you need to interrupt your work, you can immediately see which elements belong together.
• Modifications for other, similarly designed drawings or the like are easier to implement.
• Animations can be performed even on a group that is not yet fully completed (e.g., for testing), and individual group parts can potentially be better adapted to the effect.
• Using photos, scanned graphics, or similar materials, you can work directly "on the template".

The following short example is intended to illustrate the basic procedure. Once you have successfully implemented this method once or twice, you will find that it can also be applied to other areas of your daily work.

In the next picture:

A) You quickly made a small sketch, photographed or scanned it, and sent it to your computer.

B) Now, in PowerPoint, design only THREE elements: text, a line, and an arc (highlighted in blue). Then group these three objects.

C) Now copy each of the three objects mentioned within the group individually and place them in the appropriate position in your drawing. You can already see the finished graphic here. All new elements are colored red.

• To ensure your sketch is to scale from the start, the first step is to adjust the bottom (blue) line to its actual length (here 5 cm) in the menu > Format Shape > Size .
• You can see that the inserted hand sketch is too large. Reduce its size so that the bottom line is almost identical to the line in your sketch. This will make it easier to continue working.
• You can easily change the position of the first line below by copying it and rotating it 90 degrees to the right.
• In the menu under > Format Shape, you can then enter the length again. Proceed similarly with the other lines.
• In the text field "Room", only the room number is added and the frame is slightly reduced so that the number is placed below "Room".
• Copying and resizing the text field results in "Main House".
• After copying, the sheets are placed at their respective corners by rotating or tilting them horizontally.

• If you wish, you can very quickly insert the dimensioning elements into such a basic model and then duplicate or adjust them as needed (see Part 2, last point).

TIP: Rotate 5 subgroups

Often, a group contains one or more subgroups. Unfortunately, it's not possible to click on and rotate one of these subgroups (in its entirety).

Only one element is selected and rotated (see the next image on the right).

However, you can solve this problem very quickly with a simple trick:

• Ungroup the items.
• Now rotate the (now independent) subgroup.
• The group is then immediately reunited using > Restore grouping .

(LINKS) The group has been dissolved. The subgroup can be seen below.

This subgroup is now rotated 90 degrees and placed on the right side.

RIGHT) After the rotation, the group is restored.

TIP 6: Present photos as "Polaroid photos"

Although printed photos, and especially Polaroid photos, are becoming increasingly rare, presentations of all kinds often feature photos with a white border. Grouping can be helpful here as well. If you integrate the white border directly into a group, you only need to insert the respective photo, and you'll quickly achieve the "Polaroid look."

A) A white square was designed. A second square was placed exactly in the center on top of it. Then both elements were grouped together.

B) A photo was inserted as a fill into the inner square. As shown here, you can still change the size of the inner square without having to ungroup it.

C) The group has now been enlarged and additional text has been inserted, which is also located within the group.

TIP 7: Quickly delete a group with many subgroups

Occasionally, you'll have groups on your slide that consist of many subgroups and further subgroups. Ungrouping them might initially seem like a lot of clicking, as you might think you have to click and ungroup each individual group.
However, PowerPoint offers a quick solution by default: You only need to click the group once and then repeatedly click the > Ungroup button, without having to select further (sub)groups with the mouse on the group itself.

A) First, a square was created, duplicated, and grouped. Then the group was copied, and circles were created from the squares.
B) Groups 1 and 2 were copied and regrouped. Additionally, a third group was created.
C) Then all three groups were combined into one group.
D) If you were to remove the grouping just once in group C), the two subgroups with their further subgroups would still remain.
E) Simply click the "Ungroup" button several times in succession and all elements will be displayed individually.

BUT BEWARE: If you want to restore the large overall group (C), unfortunately, it's not possible to revert to the original state in the same way. You can only restore a group to its "last state," meaning in this example that you can only create the three groups 1, 2, and 3, but all further subgroupings or pregroupings are no longer possible!

TIP 8: Group parts outside the slide

You can create groups even if individual elements within a group are located outside the slide. Sometimes it's helpful to save preliminary or intermediate versions of complex graphics. These should be included in the same presentation so they can be easily found at any time.

You could place these separately in the gray area outside the slide. With a large number of groups, it's sometimes helpful to put two or more versions into one group and position the previous versions within the group so that they are outside the slide. This way, they are not visible in the presentation and are not printed, but are easily accessible for later editing.

As an example, a triangle was transformed into a circle. To ensure the original shape remains available, it is grouped with the new (circular) shape. This maintains a clear connection, especially important for complex groupings on the slide.

TIP 9: Restore grouping after slide change

When working intensively with groups, you sometimes need to dissolve a group and then duplicate the slide, perhaps to continue working on a different slide as a precaution. However, if you then want to restore the group, you can't. Unfortunately, there's no workaround for this.

However, if you go back to the original slide, the identical group can be restored.

TIP: 10 TRIGGER FIELDS in a group

WARNING! If you have assigned a trigger to a form, this trigger function will no longer exist after the form is grouped with other objects!

Interestingly, you can select an object within a group as a trigger to animate the entire group. For example, you might want to rotate two rectangles using the Rotate effect, and one of the two objects could serve as the trigger for the animation.

A) Two rectangles were given the > Highlight effect > Rotate . The right rectangle was chosen as the trigger field, meaning: clicking it will run the animation.
B) Since both rectangles have the > Rotate effect , both objects rotate separately around their own center simultaneously after clicking the trigger.
C) Here, both rectangles are grouped together. The group also receives the > Rotate effect . Now select one rectangle and apply the trigger function to it.
D) After clicking the trigger in presentation mode, the entire group is rotated.

The process ultimately applies to the group as a whole. If you duplicate this trigger field within the group, you can create new trigger fields, but they are not selectively clickable, and all selected animations are simply executed sequentially. A single trigger field within a group makes the entire group a trigger!

This concludes this series on groupings.

Have fun and good luck trying it out!

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