Excel: Rotate a Shape

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Problem: How do I rotate a shape? Can I morph a shape?

Strategy: When you select a shape, a green circle appears. Grab the green circle, click, and rotate the shape. This is a free rotation; you can rotate the shape in 360 degrees.

Additional Details: If you need to rotate exactly 90, 180, or 270 degrees, you can use the Rotate dropdown in the Arrange group of the Format tab.

  1. Drag green handle to rotate.

    Most shapes have yellow inflection points. This shape has two such inflection points. Dragging an inflection point will change the size of one portion of a shape.

  2. Drag the right-side diamond up.

    For even more flexibility, right-click the shape and choose Edit Points. You now have a black handle at each corner of the shape. You can drag any handle in any direction to change the shape.

    Gotcha: Dragging a point will remove the yellow inflection handles from the shape.

    Using these tools, you can morph any of the 175 shapes into thousands of variations.

  3. Drag one corner of the shape.