The Shapes sub menu introduces functionality relating to the manipulation of the shapes on the slides.

• Clone Shapes: See below.

• Set Shape Order: See below

• Arrange/Stack Shapes: Easy way to arrange the selected shapes.

• Size: Select a set of shapes, the first shape in the selection determines the dimensions that are set on the other shapes.

• Group/Ungroup Shapes: You cannot group placeholders with other shapes, however you can quickly group all the other shapes on the slide. Ungroup lets you ungroup any groups present in the presentation.

•  Delete non-titles. Delete notes page shapes to erase all contents from the notes pages.

• Change Text Language: This is available only in 2000 and above. Set the language of the the selected text/shapes on the slide.

• XP introduced a new Comment shape which is more versatile however this new comment is not backward compatible and hence will not show up when the files are opened in 97/2000. The comment converter permits quick conversion both ways.

Quickly arrange the shapes on the slide in their desired position using the ‘Set shape order’ tool.

The first shape in the list will be the topmost shape on the slide. The last shape in the list will be the bottommost shape on the slide i.e. on the slide the first  shape in list will be positioned above the shapes appearing below it in the list. This may or may not be apparent depending upon whether the mentioned shape is physically positioned on top of the other shapes or not. 

A quick way to create duplicates of selected shapes on other slides. All you need to do is to select the shapes and set the slides on which they should be cloned.