Flip and Rotate Picture Fills for Shapes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

In PowerPoint 2011, you can easily flip a picture on your slide, as shown in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Picture flipping is easy and quick in PowerPoint

This same flipping becomes impossible when you want to flip a picture that has been used as a picture fill within a shape. Look at the examples, shown in Figure 2, below. The shape on the left is the original Pentagon shape from the Block Arrows category. It contains a picture fill. In our attempt to flip the picture, we tried flipping the container shape. The result is that the picture does get flipped, but so does the shape, as shown on the right.

Figure 2: Original and flipped versions of shape with a picture fill

Now, assume that you have a presentation to work upon which has a similar shape with a picture fill. You don't have the picture which has been used as a fill. What if you want to just flip the picture within the shape to end up with the result shown towards the right in Figure 3, below? How do you achieve this result?

Figure 3: Original and flipped versions of just the picture fill

Follow these steps to learn how to flip and rotate picture fills for shapes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac:

1. We assume that you already have a shape with a picture fill, as shown towards the left within Figure 3, above. Select the entire shape and copy it using the Command + C keyboard shortcut.


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2. Now, paste the copied shape. You can press Command + V anywhere within the slide or even on a new slide. Then change the copied shape (in our case, that's a Pentagon) to a Rectangle by applying the Mask to Shape option. You'll end up with something like what's shown in Figure 4.
3. 
   Figure 4: Copy of the shape changed to a rectangle
3. Flip the rectangle horizontally to end up with what you see in Figure 5, below. Compare with Figure 4, above.
4. 
   Figure 5: Rectangle flipped horizontally
4. Now right-click (Ctrl + click) the rotated rectangle. Then from the resultant contextual menu, select the Save as Picture option as shown in Figure 5, above.
5. This opens the Save dialog box, as shown in Figure 6, below. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the flipped shape as a picture, and click the Save button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 6.
6. 
   Figure 6: Save dialog box
6. Now, right-click (Ctrl + click) your original Pentagon shape. Within the contextual menu that appears, choose the Format Shape option, as shown in Figure 7, below.
7. 
   Figure 7: Format Shape option
7. Doing so brings up the Format Shape dialog box. Using the options within this dialog box, access the picture that you have just saved, and apply it as a picture fill to the selected Pentagon shape, as explained in our Add Picture Fills to Shapes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial. This fills the Pentagon arrow shape with the flipped picture, as shown in Figure 8, below.
8. 
   Figure 8: Shape filled with flipped picture
8. Use the Crop to Fill option so that the picture sets properly within the shape, as shown in Figure 9, below.
9. 
   Figure 9: Picture fill flipped within the shape
9. Compare the picture shown in Figure 9, with the before and after states of the same picture shown within Figure 3, previously on this page.
10. Save your presentation often.