Change a Diagonal Line to a Horizontal or Vertical Line in PowerPoint for the Web

In PowerPoint versions on the desktop, you rotate shapes using the white rotation handle that appears when you select a shape. However, no such rotation handle shows up for selected shapes in PowerPoint for the Web. Look at Figure 1, where you can see a diagonal, straight line on the right and a rectangle shape on the left. We will explore rotating the line shape.

Figure 1: Open line shape without a rotation handle

Now, if you want to rotate any diagonal line such as the one shown in Figure 1, above, to make it either perfectly horizontal or vertical, how would you do so? Yes, you can right-click the line to bring up a contextual menu, as shown in Figure 2, below. Within this menu, select the Format Options, highlighted in red within Figure 2.

Figure 2: Right-click menu for a Line shape

Doing so brings up the Format Options Task Pane. Within this pane, you can find the Rotation option, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below. You cannot type in a value since it is grayed out. However, even if this box wasn’t grayed out, it wouldn’t help.

Figure 3: Typing a rotation value

As you can notice, the selected diagonal line has an initial Rotation value of 0°, even if the value is grayed out. So, you really have no clue currently to determine how much you must rotate to create a line that's standing vertically or sleeping horizontally! Even though it looks impossible, there is a workaround that can help you to make your Line shape a perfectly horizontal or vertical line using the Width and Height options, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 3, above.

Follow these steps to rotate a line to make it horizontal or vertical in PowerPoint for the Web:

Rotate a Line to make it Horizontal

1. Select your diagonal line and access the Shape tab of the Ribbon. Within this tab, locate the Width and Height options, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 4, below.
2. 
   Figure 4: Height and Width options

Contextual Tabs

The Shape 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.
3. Alternatively, right-click the line to bring up a contextual menu, as shown in Figure 2, previously on this page. Within this menu, select Format Options to bring up the Format Options Task Pane, as shown in Figure 3, previously on this page. Access the same Height and Width options, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 3, previously on this page.
2. With the line still selected, change the Height value to zero, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 5, below. You will notice that this will turn the selected diagonal line on the slide into a horizontal line, as shown again in Figure 5.
3. 
   Figure 5: Change the height value to zero

Reducing Line Length?

Do note that this option of setting the height value to zero will reduce the length of your line. To counter this reduction of length, you should first calculate or make a note of the length so that you can increase it subsequently. Learn more in our Finding Length of a Diagonal Line in PowerPoint tutorial.

Rotate a Line to make it Vertical

1. Select your diagonal line and access the Shape tab of the Ribbon and locate the Width and Height options, as explained in the preceding section on this page.
2. With the line selected, change the Width value to zero, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 6, below. You will notice that this will turn the selected diagonal line on the slide into a vertical line, as shown in Figure 6.
3. 
   Figure 6: Change the width value to zero

Yes, now you have rotated your diagonal line. But have you noticed something? Is your line shape retaining its original length even after getting rotated? Unfortunately, it is not! Check out Figure 7, below, which shows a PowerPoint slide containing 3 Line shapes.

• The line marked A is our original line.
• The line marked as B is the copy of the same diagonal line that resulted from changing the Height to zero.
• And finally, the line marked as C is the copy of the same diagonal line A, that resulted from changing the Width to zero.
• 
  Figure 7: Diagonal line rotated horizontally and vertically

Look closely at Figure 7, above, and you will notice that both the rotated lines have lost some length. None of them is of the same length as the original line A. To overcome this drawback, you should know the length of your diagonal line in the first place. But again, there is no specific option in PowerPoint to achieve this objective. The good news is that we have a workaround for this too.

Determine the length of your diagonal line by following our Finding Length of a Diagonal Line in PowerPoint tutorial. Once you have noted down the length value, you can get back the original length of the rotated lines by following these guidelines:

• Once your line is horizontal, select it, and change its Width value to match the length value you have noted down.
• Once your line is vertical, select it, and change its Height value to match the length value you have noted down.