Snap to Grid Settings in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

Once you have the gridlines visible on your slide in PowerPoint, you can use them to easily position and snap slide objects uniformly on a single slide, or even across successive slides using the Snap to Grid option.

To access the Snap to Grid option, and to make changes to the way it works, follow these steps in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows:

1. Open a presentation in PowerPoint and make the gridlines visible. Figure 1, below, shows the gridlines visible on a PowerPoint slide.
2. 
   Figure 1: Gridlines visible on slide in PowerPoint

Shortcut Key

Click the Shift + F9 shortcut key to toggle the visibility of gridlines in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.


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2. Right-click on an empty area of the slide to bring up the context menu, as shown in Figure 2, below. Select the Grid and Guides option from this menu.
3. 
   Figure 2: Grid and Guides option within context menu
4. Alternatively, choose the Home tab in the Ribbon, locate the Drawing group and click Arrange button. From the resultant menu, choose Align | Grid Settings, as shown in Figure 3, below.
5. 
   Figure 3: Grid Settings option
3. Either of these options summon the Grid and Guides dialog box, as shown in Figure 4, below.
4. 
   Figure 4: Grid and Guides dialog box
5. This dialog box includes options for working with both the grid and guides. Options pertaining to the grid settings and slide object snapping are explained below:

A. Snap objects to grid

6. This option snaps objects to the gridlines as soon as they are moved fairly close to them. You can also turn on this option even without accessing the Grids and Guides dialog box by using the (Ctrl + Shift + F9) shortcut key.
7. You will learn more about snapping objects to the grid in our Working with Snap to Grid in PowerPoint 2010 tutorial.

B. Snap objects to other objects

8. To position slide objects to any nearby slide objects, turn on this option.

C. Spacing

9. Under the Grid settings section, click the Spacing option to get a drop-down list, as shown in Figure 5, below, and choose any of the grid spacing values available.
10. 
    Figure 5: Spacing drop-down list

D. Display grid on screen

11. Select or clear the Display grid on screen check box to show/hide the gridlines on the slide. You can also turn on this option even without accessing the Grids and Guides dialog box by using the Shift + F9 shortcut key.

Set as Default

If you want the settings you changed to be the default settings for all presentations you create from now onwards, click the Set as Default button, as shown in Figure 4, previously on this page. Do note that the changed settings will apply for your active, current presentation and for any other new presentations you create hereafter on your installed version of PowerPoint. All settings may not work for existing presentations created previously on the same system or for presentations you have received from others, which have been created on other installations of PowerPoint. This setting is therefore a PowerPoint installation-specific change and not a PowerPoint file-specific change.
4. When done, click the OK button to apply the changes. Do remember that any changes you make in this dialog box are relevant to the active presentation.
5. Save your presentation often.