Goodwill Community Foundation
creating opportunities for a better life
one of the best ways to add more
interest to your documents is to add
shapes word gives you lots of different
shapes to choose from and they can be
customized to suit your needs using your
own color palette preferences and more
to get started go to the insert tab
click the shapes command then take a
look at the menu and see if there's
anything you like in this example we're
going to start with the ribbon shape
here now to draw your shape click hold
and drag your mouse roughly where you
want it to go the shape will appear with
your current default color scheme we're
going to talk about how to change that
in a minute right now I'd like to add
one more shape before we move on the
great thing about shapes is the fact
that they can be combined and customized
to create your own unique graphics
mastering this element can take time but
with a little practice and a little
creativity you can create almost
anything when you're working with
multiple shapes you may reach a point
where you want to change the order so
the correct shape is in front this comes
up a lot in word so it's a good
technique to know just right-click one
of your shapes then go down to bring to
front and send to back you may need to
experiment with these options to make
sure your shapes are arranged the way
you want in this example I've selected
the heart and I want to move it behind
the ribbon so I'm gonna choose send
backward and that'll do it
now we can make some adjustments to our
shapes the first thing I'm going to do
is make the ribbon a little smaller
using the sizing handles here these can
be found on the sides and the corners of
any shape or object in word every shape
also has a rotation handle that you can
drag in any direction see how it changes
the position if your shape has any
yellow handles like the ones you see
here you can use those to make other
adjustments in this case they change the
proportions of the ribbon but it just
depends some shapes don't have this
option at all next let's take a look at
the format tab which appears anytime you
have a shape selected from here you can
change the fill color outline and
basically anything related to the shapes
appearance the quickest way to change
the look of your shape is to use one of
the predefined shape styles these
options depend on the colors and shape
effects that are part of your current
theme just mouse over each one for a
preview and see if there's anything you
like you can also use the commands on
the right to choose your own formatting
options in this example I'm going to
change the outline color and then apply
a shadow using the shape effects command
you can even change the shape itself if
you want to try something different this
option is good if you've already applied
some formatting and you don't want to
lose it by starting over from scratch
just click the Edit shape command on the
far left of the format tab then you can
choose a new shape from the menu I'm
going to go with a slightly different
ribbon
I've gone ahead and finished tweaking
the size color and placement of my
shapes now I'd like to add a bevel
effect to the heart and show you a
couple different ways to use 3d
formatting to get started select the
shape you want to format then click the
shape effects command and look to the
two options at the bottom of the menu
bevel adds thickness and a sculpted edge
to the shape while 3d rotation makes it
look like you're viewing the object from
a different angle 3d rotation works best
when the shape has some depth so we're
going to apply a bevel first which gives
the heart a subtle 3-dimensional effect
let's go back to 3d rotation and mouse
over some of the options for a preview
now we can really see the effect of the
bevel notice how the edges catch the
light and the shape looks truly
3-dimensional I'm looking for something
fairly subtle so I'm going to choose an
option from the middle section of the
menu how about this one now it's time
for the finishing touch adding some text
to the ribbon to add text to a shape all
you have to do is select the one you
want then start typing this instantly
turns the shape into a text box you can
even format the text using the options
on the Home tab here it is with a
different font there are lots of things
you can do with shapes in Word
this graphic is just one example so give
it a try and see what you can come up
with you can use just one shape at a
time or you can try combining them to
create something new