PowerPoint 2010

Adding callouts to images

In our lesson on Inserting Images, we showed how to add images and screenshots to your slides. Sometimes you may want to draw attention to a specific part of the image by adding a callout. A callout can be any shape, and PowerPoint even has some shapes that are specifically designed to be used as callouts.

A slide with various callouts

To add callouts to an image:

1. From the Insert tab, select the Shapes command. A drop-down menu will appear.
2. Select the desired shape.
   Selecting a shape
3. Click and drag on the slide to create the shape. You may need to move or resize the shape so that it points to the desired part of the image.
   Creating a shape
4. If you want your callout to contain text, start typing while the shape is selected.
   Typing text into the callout
5. From the Format tab, you can use the options in the Shape Styles group to customize the appearance of the shape. You can also adjust the font from the Home tab.
   After applying new colors and effects to the shape

The callouts should appear in front of the image. If they appear behind it, you can use the Arrange command on the Home tab to adjust the ordering. For more information, check out our lesson on Arranging Objects.