MICROSOFT POWERPOINT & OFFICE 365: Three Cheers for Editable Icons

Microsoft is constantly updating the applications that make up Office 365. After a recent update, I was delighted to see that PowerPoint (and Word and Excel for that matter) not only include icons, the icons can be modified (change colors at will), ungrouped, and then edited as needed.   I'll be focusing on using icons in PowerPoint during this article, but the same functionality exists if you're using the other Office 365 tools.   First, create a new PowerPoint presentation (or open an existing presentation). Working on any slide, select the Insert tab on the Ribbon. You'll find the Icons tool in the Illustrations group.

After clicking Icons, the Insert Icon dialog box opens.

I was specifically looking for a crab icon so I selected the Animals category from the list at the left. I selected the crab icon and then clicked the Insert button. (You can also double-click an icon to add it to a slide.)

Once the icon was inserted onto the slide, changing its Fill color was as simple as right-clicking. (In the image below, I've changed the color from its default black to red.)

I also needed to modify the crab's claws (I wanted each claw to be a bit longer). I ungrouped the icon by right-clicking it and choosing Group > Ungroup. (I clicked Yes to the alert that appeared.)

I right-clicked the icon again and chose Edit Points.

I zoomed closer to the slide and then dragged the points making up the claw until I had the length I wanted. How cool is it that you can easily edit these icons?

Note: If you don't see an Icons icon on the Insert tab of the Ribbon, or you're unable to ungroup/edit the icons, check your PowerPoint version (it's possible that your version is older than mine). To check your PowerPoint version, click the File tab and then choose Account. Click the About PowerPoint button. The version number is listed at the top of the About dialog box.

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