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Create A Shape or Text Box and Format It

By Chris Newman •  Updated: 02/22/14 •  3 min read
Create A Shape or Text Box and Format It

What This VBA Code Does

This VBA macro has a ton of great stuff!  First it creates a shape and adjusts its size and location on the active slide.  After that, the macro tackles the main formatting commands that I personally use the most in PowerPoint. Enjoy!

Sub Create_A_Shape()

'PURPOSE:Create a Text Box Shape and Reformat it
'SOURCE: www.TheSpreadsheetGuru.com

Dim Sld As Slide
Dim Shp As Shape

'ERROR HANDLING
    If ActivePresentation.Slides.Count = 0 Then
        MsgBox "You do not have any slides in your PowerPoint project."
        Exit Sub
    End If

Set Sld = Application.ActiveWindow.View.Slide

'Create shape with Specified Dimensions and Slide Position
    Set Shp = Sld.Shapes.AddShape(Type:=msoShapeRectangle, _
        Left:=24, Top:=65.6, Width:=672, Height:=26.6)

'FORMAT SHAPE
    'Shape Name
        Shp.Name = "My Header"
    
    'No Shape Border
        Shp.Line.Visible = msoFalse
    
    'Shape Fill Color
        Shp.Fill.ForeColor.RGB = RGB(184, 59, 29)
    
    'Shape Text Color
        Shp.TextFrame.TextRange.Font.Color.RGB = RGB(255, 255, 255)
    
    'Text inside Shape
        Shp.TextFrame.TextRange.Characters.Text = "[Header]"
    
    'Center Align Text
        Shp.TextFrame.TextRange.Paragraphs.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = ppAlignCenter
    
    'Vertically Align Text to Middle
        Shp.TextFrame2.VerticalAnchor = msoAnchorMiddle
    
    'Adjust Font Size
        Shp.TextFrame2.TextRange.Font.Size = 14
    
    'Adjust Font Style
        Shp.TextFrame2.TextRange.Font.Name = "Arial"

End Sub

Using VBA Code Found On The Internet

Now that you’ve found some VBA code that could potentially solve your Excel automation problem, what do you do with it? If you don’t necessarily want to learn how to code VBA and are just looking for the fastest way to implement this code into your spreadsheet, I wrote an article (with video) that explains how to get the VBA code you’ve found running on your spreadsheet.

Getting Started Automating Excel

Are you new to VBA and not sure where to begin? Check out my quickstart guide to learning VBA. This article won’t overwhelm you with fancy coding jargon, as it provides you with a simplistic and straightforward approach to the basic things I wish I knew when trying to teach myself how to automate tasks in Excel with VBA Macros.

Also, if you haven’t checked out Excel’s latest automation feature called Power Query, I have put together a beginner’s guide for automating with Excel’s Power Query feature as well! This little-known built-in Excel feature allows you to merge and clean data automatically with little to no coding!

How Do I Modify This To Fit My Specific Needs?

Chances are this post did not give you the exact answer you were looking for. We all have different situations and it’s impossible to account for every particular need one might have. That’s why I want to share with you: My Guide to Getting the Solution to your Problems FAST! In this article, I explain the best strategies I have come up with over the years to get quick answers to complex problems in Excel, PowerPoint, VBA, you name it

I highly recommend that you check this guide out before asking me or anyone else in the comments section to solve your specific problem. I can guarantee that 9 times out of 10, one of my strategies will get you the answer(s) you are needing faster than it will take me to get back to you with a possible solution. I try my best to help everyone out, but sometimes I don’t have time to fit everyone’s questions in (there never seem to be quite enough hours in the day!).

I wish you the best of luck and I hope this tutorial gets you heading in the right direction!

Keep Learning

Chris Newman

Chris Newman

Chris is a finance professional and Excel MVP recognized by Microsoft since 2016. With his expertise, he founded TheSpreadsheetGuru blog to help fellow Excel users, where he shares his vast creative solutions & expertise. In addition, he has developed over 7 widely-used Excel Add-ins that have been embraced by individuals and companies worldwide.

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