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I received an e-mail asking why objects flip over in PowerPoint (in Office XP or 2003) when you drag to move them on a slide. Technically, they don't ... but if this seems to have happened to you, that answer's not very satisfying -- so here's the scoop:

There is a new feature as of Office XP that enables you to flip objects (such as pictures or AutoShapes) by dragging any handle over it's opposite handle (this works in Word and Excel as well as PowerPoint). The key to making this feature work for you instead of frustrating you is just to keep an eye on the mouse pointer when you hover over the object:

- If there is a four-pointed arrow attached to your mouse pointer, you can click and drag to move the object.

- If there is a two-point arrow (a single line with arrows on both sides), it means that you are hovering over one of the object's handles, and you can click and drag to resize and\or flip the object.

The flip option is very cool and can be a timesaver, but keep in mind that dragging to resize or flip the object in this way won't constrain the object's proportions all by itself. To flip (or resize) proportionally when dragging a handle, hold down the Shift key before you click and drag on any corner handle. The Shift key will constrain the height of the object if you drag a left or right handle, and the width of an object if you drag its top or bottom handle.

Note: In Word, you can only flip objects that are floating -- and as you may know, one of the best things you can do for your Word documents is avoid floating objects at all costs! If that's news to you ... check out the post 'To Float or Not to Float' for more info.

Posted by Stephanie

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