Whenever a new shape is inserted on a slide in PowerPoint, it is filled by default with a solid color (or something else depending on the Theme your presentation is based on). Other than a solid fill type, PowerPoint provides several more options that let you fill a shape with a picture, a gradient, a pattern, or a texture, and we have explored these other fill options in our Fills for Shapes in PowerPoint 2016 tutorial. In this tutorial, we'll show you how you can work with solid color fills.
Follow these steps to change the fill of a shape to a solid color of your choice in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac:
- Open your presentation and select the shape that you want to format.
- Alternatively, if you want to start from scratch, launch PowerPoint. You will see the Presentation Gallery. Select the Blank Presentation option to open a blank presentation with a new slide. You can change the Slide Layout to Blank by selecting the Home tab | Layout | Blank option. Then, insert a shape and select it.
- We selected a Cube shape, as shown in Figure 1. Selecting the shape brings up the Shape Format tab in the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1. Activate this Ribbon tab by clicking on it.
Figure 1: Shape Format tab of the Ribbon
Note: The
Shape Format tab is a
Contextual tab. These Contextual tabs are special tabs in the
Ribbon that are not visible all the time. They only make an appearance when you have selected a particular slide object that can be edited using some special options.
- Within the Shape Format tab, click the right-side portion of the Shape Fill button (highlighted in red within Figure 2). This brings up the Shape Fill drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Shape Fill drop-down gallery
- The options within the Shape Fill drop-down gallery are explained below, as marked in Figure 2, above. You'll need to choose any one of these options for the fill:
A. No Fill
- Choose this option to remove any fill from the selected shape.
B. Theme Colors
- Here you can select any of the colors which are from the active Theme of the presentation. You can also select any of the 5 tints or shades for any Theme color. Learn more about Themes here.
C. Standard Colors
- Here you can choose from any of the ten standard colors—these ten standard colors are just choices of colors that PowerPoint believes to be widely used. You don't have to limit yourself to either the Theme colors or Standard colors, as you'll learn in the next options, although it's a good design idea to use Theme colors as far as possible.
D. Recent Colors
- Here you can find the colors most recently used. If you have just launched PowerPoint and created a new presentation, the Recent Colors option may be entirely absent since you haven't selected any color recently!
E. More Fill Colors
- This option summons the Colors dialog box as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Colors dialog box
- In this Colors dialog box, you can chose any color from the wheel. Thereafter adjust the selected color's luminosity as well as opacity with the sliders at the bottom. You can also pick a color from within or outside PowerPoint interface. Once you are happy with the color attained, click OK to close the dialog box and apply the color to the shape.
F. Picture
- This option allows to use a picture as a fill for a shape. Learn more in our Add Picture Fills to Shapes in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac tutorial.
G. Gradient
- With this option, you can apply a gradient as a fill for a shape. Learn more in our Add Gradient Fills to Shapes in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac tutorial.
H. Texture
- Use this option to apply a texture as a fill for a shape. Learn more in our Add Texture Fills to Shapes in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac tutorial.
I. Pattern
- PowerPoint 2016 for Mac also allows you to add pattern fills to shapes. This option does not show in Shape Fill gallery you saw in Figure 2. Learn more in our Pattern Fills to Shapes in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac tutorial.
- Choose any color from the Theme Colors (or its shades and tints), Standard Colors, Recent Colors, or from More Fill Colors. In all cases, you end up with a shape that has a solid color fill, as shown in Figure 4 below.
Figure 4: Shape with changed solid fill
- Remember to save your presentation often.