Tame your computer - round it off

This week’s tip is inspired by a question raised in the chat during one of my recent PowerPoint webinars … “How do you make a rectangular photo into a round one with a frame? “ (Thanks for this week’s tip inspiration, Jen!) 

Well, Microsoft Office’s built-in Picture Styles on the Picture Tools ribbon provide a quick way to add fancy borders to your pictures. But what if you want to have more control over the corners and shape of your picture? 

Here’s how:

1. Insert or select the picture, as normal.
2. On the Format tab, in the Size group Crop the picture to a square, keeping an eye on and working towards the same Height and Width.
3. On the Format tab, in the Size group, click on the Crop’s drop-down arrow, select Crop to Shape and select Oval. (Which obviously will be a circle because of step 2.)
4. To resize the picture, drag any of the corner sizing handles, so that both the height and width change and you won’t end up with a distorted photo.
5. Click on Picture Border in the Picture Styles group and change the width (Weight) of the border.

By the way, Microsoft wouldn’t be Microsoft if there wasn’t a different way, starting off selecting the shape rather than the picture.

Here’s how:

1. On the Insert tab, click on Shapes and select Oval.
2. Click (don’t drag) where you want to insert the circle. (If you drag the oval shape, you’ll have to hold down your SHIFT key to turn it into a circle.)
3. On the Format tab, in the Shape Styles group, click the Shape Fill drop-down arrow and click on Picture.
4. Navigate to the folder where the picture is stored and double-click it to insert.

What’s your preferred method?

Related tips

• How to change the shape of a picture
• Resize and position photos in SmartArt
• Draw a perfect square or circle

Can I help?

So Cambridge is in Tier 2 and I can welcome you back for face-to-face training. But as you know, since the outbreak of COVID-19 I have also developed a range of popular 60-minute webinars. Check out the schedule and I look forward to seeing you soon – virtually or “for real”.

14 December 2020

Karen Roem offers software training and support through her company Roem Ltd.  Contact her by email (Karen@roem.co.uk) or visit her website at www.roem.co.uk