PowerPoint is a great tool to create interesting and informative presentations. It is one of the easiest applications in Microsoft Office to get into and run with. But it has many lovely tools and functions that some might not know about because no one has shown them how to use them or even that they exist. As a trainer I found that PowerPoint was the least taught application. Which is such a shame. Here I will show you how to create a complicated image from several items and group it so that is stays the way you intended when ever you duplicate it or move it.
Draw some objects
Working in a blank slide, from the home tab, in the Drawing section you will see a host of tools to use. 
I shall select the rectangle tool.
- Move you mouse to the centre of the slide.
- Hold down the mouse and drag diagonally for about 5 cm then let go.
Your slide will look something like this. 
- Select a new tool such as the oval tool.
- Move you mouse pointer towards the bottom left corner of the rectangle.
- Hold down the mouse key and drag to the right, making use the ellipse you draw overlaps the rectangle above it.
Your slide should look something like this. 
- Select another tool such as the arrow.
- Move to the centre of the rectangle and hold the mouse down and drag upwards.
- Then let go
Your slide will look something like this. 
If you do not group these items together, when you try to move them a little in any direction you may find that you have not selected all of them and so your image will not remain the same.
How to group
- Select all the items.
The quickest way is to click, hold and drag your mouse pointer from just above and to the left of any drawn item to wards the bottom right beyond any drawn item. Your slide should look something like this. 
When you let go of the mouse the slide will look like this. 
Or you could use just the keyboard by holding down the Shift key then clicking each item required. This second approach is useful if you already have text or other images embedded within the diagram but do not want to copy those.
There are markers at every corner and in the centres of each item. There will also be the circle arrow at the top centre of each item indicating that you can rotate this item.
- Once all the items are selected, from the Drawing section on the Home tab, select the Arrange dropdown arrow, to reveal a list.
- Select Group.
Your slide will look like this.
So now you can move this whole image to a new location, and it will stay as it is. Or you can resize it, but the three images will stay as they were. 
Have fun and now you will not get frustrated with items not resizing or moving as you would like.
Other tips that may be of interest
