Apply Preset Effects to Shapes in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

PowerPoint 2013 for Windows provides six types of Shape Effects, and more than one of these effects can be applied to a selected shape. It goes without saying that some combinations of these effects look better than others, and the restraint to not go overboard is always a good thing. On the other hand, trying out all the effect combinations may take a lot of time. Fortunately, the Presets option comes to your rescue. This option lets you use pre-combined combinations of the different effects, these work well almost always. Figure 1, below shows some Preset effects applied to the same shape.

Figure 1: Preset effects

To see a sample presentation containing Preset effects in PowerPoint 2013, scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Follow these steps to apply a Preset effect to a shape:

1. Open your presentation and select the shape that you want to format.
2. Alternatively, if you want to start from scratch, launch PowerPoint. Most of the time, PowerPoint will open with a new slide in a presentation. You can change the slide layout to Blank by selecting the Home tab | Layout | Blank option. Then, insert a shape and select it.
2. We selected a Rectangle shape, as shown in Figure 2. Selecting the shape brings up the Drawing Tools Format tab in the Ribbon, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2. Activate this Ribbon tab by clicking on it.
3. 
   Figure 2: Drawing Tools Format tab of the Ribbon
Note: The Drawing Tools Format tab is a contextual tab. These 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.
3. Within the Drawing Tools Format tab, click the Shape Effects button (highlighted in blue within Figure 3).
4. 
   Figure 3: Shape Effects button
4. This bring up the Shape Effects drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 4. In this gallery, select the Preset option to bring up the Preset sub-gallery (refer to Figure 4 again).
5. 
   Figure 4: Preset sub-gallery
6. The options within the Preset sub-gallery are explained below, as marked in Figure 4, above. You'll need to choose any one of these options for the effects:

A. No Presets

7. This is the option you can use to remove an existing preset effect that's already applied to a shape.

B. Presets

8. There are twelve preset effects which can be applied to a selected shape. All these presets are combinations of the other six effect types that PowerPoint provides: Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Soft Edges, Bevel, and 3-D Rotation.

C. 3-D Options

9. This option takes you to the Effects tab of the Format Shape Task Pane, and this is something that is covered as part of our Bevel and 3-D Options tutorial.
5. Move the cursor over any of the effects within the Preset gallery to see a live preview of the effect. Click on the effect to apply it to the selected shape. In Figure 5 you can see the previously selected Rectangle shape applied with a Preset effect.
6. 
   Figure 5: Shape with applied Preset effect
Tip: Place your shape in the area that is not covered by the Shape Effects drop-down gallery as shown in Figure 5 above, so that you can see the live preview.
6. Remember to save your presentation often.

Sample Presentation

Click below to view on SlideShare

Click below to view on YouTube