Text wrap is an important concept in PowerPoint that allows you to position images and text boxes neatly around each other on a slide. When you apply text wrapping to an object, the text on your slide will flow around that object rather than overlapping or covering it. Mastering text wrap makes your PowerPoint slides look cleaner, more professional, and easier to understand.

When to Use Text Wrap

There are two main situations where you’ll want to use text wrap:

Adding images to slides with existing text – Rather than plopping an image down on top of your text boxes causing things to overlap, you can wrap text so it neatly frames the image.

Positioning multiple images/text boxes – When you have several visual elements on a slide, text wrap lets you move them around without having them block each other.

How to Apply Text Wrapping to Images

Applying text wrap to images is easy:

Insert your image onto the slide and resize/position it appropriately.

Select the image so the yellow frame appears around it.
Go to the “Format” tab on the ribbon toolbar.
Click the “Text Wrapping” button and select either “Square”, “Tight”, or “Through” from the dropdown menu.

“Square” will wrap text in a box shape around your image.
“Tight” wraps text closely around the edges.
“Through” wraps text within the empty spaces of non-rectangular images.

Once you select a text wrapping style, you’ll see your text automatically flow around the framed image!

Wrapping Text Around Shapes and Text Boxes

The text wrap principles also apply to shapes, text boxes, and other visual elements:

Select your shape/text box.

Go to Format > Text Wrapping and pick an option.
The text will now wrap around that object.

This lets you position multiple elements on a slide and have text neatly frame them all.

Adjusting Text Wrap Formatting

Once you’ve applied text wrapping, you can further refine things:

Resize the text wrap box – Drag the circular sizing handles to make the text wrap area larger or smaller.
Move the wrap area – Click inside the wrap box and drag the whole thing around the slide to adjust positioning.

Make adjustments – Use the “Format Shape” pane to make changes like adding margins, aligning the wrap box, and more.

Removing Text Wrapping

If you want to delete the text wrap effects later on:

Select the image/shape/text box.

Go to Format > Text Wrapping > “In Line With Text” to remove any wrapping.

Now your text will return to a normal layout without curving around objects.

Text Wrap Tips and Tricks

Here are some addition tips for mastering text wrap in PowerPoint:

Make sure to apply text wrapping before adding other slide elements and text. It’s harder to do it later.
You can wrap text to multiple objects on the same slide. Position them appropriately first.
Use Shift + arrow keys to nudge wrap boxes pixel-by-pixel for precise alignment.

Copy text wrap formatting to other objects with the Format Painter tool.
For complex slides, group related items so they move together if you need to make layout changes.
Text wrap is great for making infographics and visual data displays in PowerPoint.