Draw shapes in OneNote - this is how!
Drawing shapes in OneNote - explained quickly and easily
How to draw shapes? OneNote, for example, in Microsoft Office 2021 Standard on Windows 11 is considered one of the best tools when it comes to making quick notes, records or sketches. For better illustration and overview, a circle or a triangle, for example, can be drawn in different ways – with the Surface Pen or freehand in OneNote. We show here how this works in the Microsoft 365 Family programme, for example, in the Windows 11 Home operating system.
Draw shapes easily with the graphics tablet
With a special graphics tablet or a tablet PC with the Windows 11 Pro or Windows 11 Pro N operating system, in which Microsoft Office 365 Home is installed, for example, you can freehand draw whatever comes to mind in OneNote. Simply draw a rectangle, circle or triangle with the Surface Pen next to, below or in the middle of the notes. Handwritten notes, stick figures or anything else you like can also be drawn on the screen just like on normal paper.
Draw a rectangle with your finger only? Of course!
If you don’t have a special pen to draw with at the moment, you can also simply put your shapes and notes „on paper“ with your finger or the mouse.
- First select the option „Drawwith mouse or finger“ in the „Draw“ menu.
- In the same menu you can now select the pen thickness. You can choose between a thin or medium pen shape.
- With the option „Freehand colour“ you can determine the drawing colour.
- Now you can draw on the touch screen with your finger or on any other PC with the mouse cursor.
If you don’t like it, just delete it
Anyone can make a mistake. No problem in OneNote, mistakes or unattractive drawings can be easily erased:
- Tap on „Eraser“ and select one of the following options:
- „Medium eraser“ manually erases certain parts of the drawing.
- „Brush stroke eraser“ deletes entire drawing gestures, i.e. sections of the drawing, with one tap.
Drawing shapes more neatly with the defaults
Of course, anything freehanded into shape with the Surface Pen in OneNote looks suitably wild. Especially if you want to show your notes or individual sections to others, you can draw neater shapes with the presets in the programme under Windows 11 Education or Windows 11 Enterprise in Microsoft Office 2021 Home and Business, among others. To do this, simply call up the „Shapes“ function. The menu then shows predefined geometric figures. Simply select the appropriate one and place it in the right place on the page in One Note. To do this, click with the cursor on the place where you want to draw a circle or a rectangle, for example. Then select the corresponding shape by holding down the left mouse button and it appears in the previously selected place. With the markings that appear around the shape, you can now draw everything larger or smaller. Moving the shapes and, of course, deleting them are also child’s play.
All in one with „Freehand in Shape
One of the most practical functions of OneNote in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, for example, under Windows 11 Pro for Workstation is „Freehand in Shape“. It is located on the Draw tab. A click on the button switches on automatic shape recognition.
- First, the function at the top of the menu is switched on.
- Now draw the desired shapes with the Surface Pen as usual.
- OneNote recognises the shape on its own and automatically converts it with clean, even edges.
- At the end, simply deactivate „Freehand to Shape“ in the menu again.
Tip: Right next to the „Freehand in shape“ function you will find the option „Freehand in text“. The selection automatically converts handwritten text passages into more legible print.
Header Image: ©monticellllo, stock.adobe.com
Crop PowerPoint image - this is how to do it!
Crop PowerPoint image - explained quickly and easily
Anyone who works with Microsoft Office 2021 Standard or Microsoft Office 365 Home under one of the Windows 11 operating systems, for example, will sooner or later also use the PowerPoint presentation programme. There are a few tricks and turns that make working with it much easier. For example, you can easily crop a PowerPoint image to highlight certain PowerPoint image sections. Our instructions show how this works.
Why do you have to crop a PowerPoint image?
You don’t have to – but you can! And that’s exactly the big advantage that Microsoft Office 2021 Home and Business, Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Microsoft 365 Family offer. After all, it is usually the case that in both the business and private spheres, you don’t necessarily want or need to see everything that can be seen on an image that you want to present. Or it is important to draw attention to only a single section of the picture. The possibility of highlighting image sections and cropping images with PowerPoint 2021, for example, is therefore ideal. After all, a presentation with images lives through appealing motifs, impressive image details and surprising shapes. This underlines the message of a text and arouses the viewer’s curiosity. If you can crop a digital photo and highlight it as a PowerPoint image section, you can greatly enhance your presentation on a PC with Windows 11 Pro or Windows 11 Pro N operating system.
Cropping images – this is how it works
You do not need a special programme to crop a PowerPoint image. With the tool under Windows 11 Education or Windows 11 Enterprise itself, you can easily crop a photo in just a few steps:
- Under tab „Insert→ Images“, the motif is first inserted at the appropriate place on the slide.
- Leave the image activated and then go to the „Image tools“tab
- In the „Size“ group, click on „Crop“
- Now the photo can be cropped – to a specific shape or according to a desired aspect ratio.
- The marked section in the picture can now be enlarged, reduced or moved to the desired size with the help of the crop marks.
- When everything is the way you want it, all you have to do is click next to the shape so that PowerPoint saves the changes.
With the Image Format → Reset Image → Reset Image and Size tab, the whole process can be undone.
Crop more than one PowerPoint image at a time
Sometimes it is practical to be able to crop not just one, but several images at the same time with PowerPoint under Windows 11 Pro for Workstation, for example. For example, when two images are placed next to each other on the slide but are too large or too small. Then simply hold down the CTRL key and drag the side crop marker inwards or outwards accordingly. If you want to crop all four sides of the PowerPoint images, you again hold down the CTRL key and then drag one of the crop marks at a corner accordingly.
The special shape creates atmosphere
If pictures are always displayed in a rectangular or square shape, they can become a bit boring. However, you can create a special atmosphere if you not only crop PowerPoint pictures, but also give them an unusual form of presentation.
- To do this, select an image and clickon the upper half of the “ Crop“button in the „ Image format“ tab
- Select „Crop toshape
- Select the appropriate shape such as an ellipse, a circle, a hexagon or similar. The photo now automatically appears with the outline of the selected shape.
- Then click on the upper half of the „Crop“ button to make the crop marks appear.
- Now adjust the size and proportion of the shape.
- Within the shape, the image can be moved to find the right crop.
- A mouse click outside the marks saves the picture in its chosen shape.
- With the keyboard command „Ctrl + Z“ the result can be undone.
Header image: ©vladim_ka, stock.adobe.com
Cropping an image in Photoshop - how to do it!
Cropping an image in Photoshop - here's how!
You don’t have to be a professional graphic designer to crop an image. Even when compiling a digital image collection, great effects can be achieved with a „crop“ and an appropriate background. How to crop objects in photos is shown here.
Why you should crop an image
In the past, you simply took a few photos, chose the best ones and then stuck them in a photo album. Today, pictures have taken on a different meaning. For example, for social media profiles, job applications or just for fun. It is very practical to be able to „cut out“ individual elements from the overall picture – and that is what cropping a picture means when editing photos. It is especially important to be able to crop individual objects as a basis for photomontages. For example, it is possible to take a photo of your girlfriend at home in the living room and then crop her on the computer using the cropping tools Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021 or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. With a few clicks, the sofa is gone, as is the coffee table next to it and the wall in the background. In the next step, the girlfriend can then be mounted, for example, in a hammock on the beach in Hawaii or on the summit of Mount Everest.
Image cropping: Edit photos like a pro
Adobe makes image cropping a breeze with its cropping tools. There are just four steps to edit photos with them:
1: Select motif
First, of course, open the image in Photoshop on the computer that is to be edited with the corresponding cropping tool. With a key click on „W“ or the quick selection tool in the menu bar, the object in the picture (for example the girlfriend) can now be selected. Simply move the mouse over it.
2: Set the edges of the object
When cropping objects, now click on the tab „Enhance edges“. In order to cut out the motif precisely, the parameters „Radius“, „Round off“ and „Reduce/Enlarge“ must be adjusted until the motif has been completely captured and the edges are where they should be.
3: Mount photos
Once the motif has been cropped exactly as you want it, simply copy it with the shortcut „Ctrl + C“. Now open a new picture with the desired background and paste the cropped object. Normally, unsightly, unsmoothed edges should still be visible now. Press the „E“ key to open the eraser function in Photoshop. Select the hardness „0“ and carefully erase the edges around the subject.
4: Edit the finest details when cropping the picture
Depending on how large the radius of the eraser is, retouching usually results in the loss of interesting details such as small hairs or a striking shadow. In this case, simply press the „B“ key, which opens the brush in Photoshop. First enlarge the areas of the photo that are to be corrected. Then, while holding down the „Alt“ key, move the cursor over the part of the picture you want to improve. Now press the left mouse button to copy the colour and structure of the selected part of the picture. With a few mouse wipes over the corresponding spot, hair or other details can now be faithfully reproduced where they should be.
This is what the "magic wand" is all about
The Magic Wand tool is selected with a left click from the toolbar. If it is clicked on a simple, preferably single-coloured background, this area is activated – recognisable by the dotted line. The motif to be cropped remains unaffected because it normally has a different colour and structure. With the key combination „Ctrl + X“ or the „Remove“ key, the marked area – the boring background – is simply cut out. However, a clipping made this way is much less clean than with the above method.
Header Image: © monticellllo, stock.adobe.com