Working with Office 2013 RT Graphics on the Microsoft Surface Tablet
- Working with Shapes
- Inserting Images
- Formatting and Editing Graphic Objects
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This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
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In this chapter:
- → Drawing lines, rectangles, and circles
- → Inserting photos, clip art, SmartArt graphics, and WordArt images
- → Selecting one or more graphic objects
- → Sizing, moving, and rotating graphic objects
- → Applying styles and effects to graphic objects
When most people think about using the Office RT applications, they generally think about text, whether it is writing sentences and paragraphs in Word, adding formulas and labels in Excel, creating slide titles and bullets in PowerPoint, and so on. It is certainly true that most of the work people do in Office RT—from papers to purchase orders to presentations—is and should remain text based.
However, if you only think text when you think of Office, you’re missing out on a whole other dimension. All the Office RT applications have extensive graphics tools that you can take advantage of to improve the clarity of your work or just to add a bit of pizzazz to liven up an otherwise drab document.
Even better, these graphics tools work the same across applications, so once you learn how to use them, you can apply your knowledge to any program. This chapter shows you how to create, edit, and enhance graphics in the Office RT applications.
Working with Shapes
A shape is an object such as a line or rectangle that you draw within your document. You can use shapes to point out key features in a document, enclose text, create flowcharts, and enhance the look of a document. In Office RT, you can use eight shape types:
- Lines—Straight lines, squiggles, free-form polygons, arrows, connectors, and curves
- Basic Shapes—Rectangles, triangles, circles, boxes, cylinders, hearts, and many more
- Block Arrows—Two-dimensional arrows of various configurations
- Equation Shapes—Two-dimensional images for the basic arithmetic symbols, such as plus (+) and equals (=)
- Flowchart—The standard shapes used for creating flowcharts
- Callouts—Boxes and lines for creating callouts to document features
- Stars and Banners—Stars, starbursts, scrolls, and more
- Action Buttons (PowerPoint only)—Buttons such as forward and backward that represent standard slide show actions
Inserting a Line
You can use lines to point out important document information, create a free-form drawing, or as part of a more complex graphic, such as a company logo.
- Select the Insert tab. In OneNote, select the Draw tab, instead.
- Select Shapes and then select the shape you want from the Lines section.
- On a touchscreen, position a finger or stylus where you want to begin the line. If you’re using a mouse, position the crosshair where you want to start drawing the line.
- Drag to where you want the line to end and then release. If you’re drawing a squiggle, drag in the shape of the line you want.
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Inserting Any Other Shape
You can use the other shapes either on their own—for example, to point out features with callouts or block arrows or to enhance text with stars or banners—or as part of a more complex graphic.
- Select the Insert tab. In OneNote, select the Draw tab, instead.
- Select Shapes and then select the shape you want to insert.
- On a touchscreen, position your finger or stylus where you want to begin the shape. If you’re using a mouse, position the crosshair where you want to start drawing the shape.
- Drag until the shape has the size and form you want and then release.
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