Creating Semi-Circles in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

Just like PowerPoint 2007, PowerPoint 2010 for Windows also does not provide the semi-circle as a basic shape within the Shape gallery. In this tutorial you will learn how to draw a semi-circle in PowerPoint 2010 using the Pie shape.

Follow these steps to draw a semi-circle in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows:

1. Launch PowerPoint 2010 for Windows. Most of the time, PowerPoint will open with a new slide in a presentation. PowerPoint 2010 users can change the slide layout to Blank by selecting the Home tab | Layout | Blank option.
2. Within the Home or Insert tab of the Ribbon, click the Shapes button to access the Shapes gallery that you can see in Figure 1.
3. 
   Figure 1: Shapes gallery
3. In this gallery, select the Pie shape under Basic Shapes group (refer to Figure 1), and then drag and draw on your slide to place an instance of the shape, as shown in Figure 2.
   
4. 
   Figure 2: Pie shape
4. You'll see that the Pie shape, when selected shows two diamond shaped, yellow handles. Select the top handle and start dragging it leftwards as shown in Figure 3 below. The cursor changes to an arrow head, and you can see a line as well to indicate the manipulated shape that results from this dragging action.
5. 
   Figure 3: Drag the top yellow diamond handle of the Pie towards left
Tip: Any shapes that show diamond handles when selected can be manipulated by dragging those diamonds. Learn more in our Manipulating Shapes by Dragging Diamonds in PowerPoint 2010 tutorial.
5. Keep on dragging the cursor till you end up with a semi-circle, as shown in Figure 4.
6. 
   Figure 4: Semi-circle drawn using Pie shape
6. Remember that this semi-circle can be flipped or rotated, as shown in Figure 5.
7. 
   Figure 5: Flipped semi-circle
7. Once done, save your presentation.