Apply Glow Effects to Shapes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

PowerPoint 2011 for Mac includes the same Shape Effects that are part of PowerPoint 2007 and 2011 on Windows. We have already explored how you can apply Shadow and Reflection effects to selected shapes in PowerPoint 2011. In this tutorial, we move to the next effect, Glow that adds a hazed color perimeter outside the shape area. Yes, this is an Outer Glow and not an Inner Glow effect. To see a sample presentation containing Glow effects in PowerPoint, scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Follow these steps to apply Glow effects to a shape:

1. Select the shape you want to apply the Glow effect to (if there's no shape on your slide, learn to insert a new shape). Double click the selected shape to activate the Format tab of the Ribbon (highlighted in red with Figure 1). Within this tab, locate the Shape Styles group and click the Effects button that you can see in Figure 1 (highlighted in red).
2. 
   Figure 1: Format tab of the Ribbon
Note: Format tab is a Contextual tab. Contextual tabs are special tabs in the Ribbon that are not visible all the time. They only make an appearance when you are working with a particular slide object which can be edited using special options.
2. This brings up the Effects drop-down gallery. In this gallery, click on the Glow option to bring up Glow sub-gallery that you can see in Figure 2.
3. 
   Figure 2: Glow sub-gallery within the Effects drop-down gallery
3. The Glow sub-gallery includes the following options:

A. Glow Variations

4. Provides several glow variations based on color and spread:
5. Color: The six color variations are based on the six accent colors of the active Theme. Learn more about Themes here.
6. Spread: There are four glow width (spread) variations available.

B. No Glow

7. Use this option if the shape has a glow applied which you want to remove.

C. Glow Options

8. If you want to make further changes to the color or the spread of the glow, choose this option. You can learn more about these options in our Advanced Glow Effect Options in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial.
4. Click on the Glow effect preview thumbnail of your choice as shown in Figure 3 to apply it to the selected shape.
5. 
   Figure 3: Glow effect selected
5. Figure 4 shows a Glow effect applied to the Rectangle shape selected earlier (refer to Figure 1 above).
6. 
   Figure 4: Glow effect applied to rectangle shape
6. Remember to save your presentation often.

Sample Presentation:

Click below to view on SlideShare

Click below to view on YouTube