Drawing Tab in Office 2010

The Drawing Tools tab will not show up until a line or shape has been drawn.

Create the Shape

Go to the Insert tab and click on Shapes in the Illustrations group. Click on the shape desired and click and drag in the Word document to form the shape. If you hold down the Shift key while drawing a polygon, a regular polygon will be formed.

Move the Shape

Click on the shape to select it. Move your cursor over the shape until you see a crosshatch. Click and drag the shape to move it to a new location.

Format or Adjust the Shape

Once the shape is on the page, click it to select it. It will show handles on the ends or sides.

For lines, click and drag one of the circles to resize or redirect the line.

For rectangles and other geometric figures, clicking and dragging a corner circle will resize the shape proportionally. Clicking and dragging one of the side squares will make that width larger or smaller.

When the shape is double-clicked the Drawing Tools tab will open.

Insert Shapes
Notice that you also have an Insert Shapes group on this tab, if you need to insert additional items.

Shape Styles

• Line Styles - click the bottom down-arrow In the Shapes Styles group to see more style options.

• Line Color – click the Shape Outline button

• Shape Fill -  If the shape selected is two dimensional, you will see options for styles that include Shape fill.

• Line Thickness – click Shape Outline and Weight

• Shadows or 3-D Effects – click Shape Effects

• Text – You can type on any shape. With it selected, start typing. If your text is too large, you can change the size on the Home tab.

WordArt – On the Insert tab, choose WordArt in the Text group. To format it, select it, go to Drawing Tools tab and choose items in the Word Styles group.

TextBox - On the Insert tab, choose Textbox in the Text group. You will usually choose Simple Textbox.  To format it, go to the Drawing Tools tab and choose items in the Text group.

Arrange

Options include Bring Forward, Send Backwards, Wrap Text, Rotate, Group, Align

Wrap Text – I usually choose Square or Tight so I can easily reposition the item on the screen, whether it is a textbox, shape or image.

Align

If you have several items that you want to line up, select them all by holding the shift key while you click on them. Then on the Drawing Tools tab in the Arrange group, click the Align button.

Group

If you want several items to be treated as a unit, select them all by holding the shift key while you click on them. Then on the Drawing Tools tab in the Arrange group, click the Group button. 

Transparency

On the Drawing Tools tab in the Shape Styles group, click the corner arrow to open a menu that lets you change the transparency of the item.