Diagrams made of loose shapes fall apart the moment you move them. Grouping keeps them locked together, so your layout stays pixel-perfect however much you rearrange.
Step by step
- Select the first object, then hold Shift and click the others (or press Ctrl+A for everything on the slide).
- Press Ctrl+G to group them.
- Press Ctrl+Shift+G to ungroup when you need to edit one piece.
- Press Ctrl+Shift+J to regroup them.
Tips & troubleshooting
- Nudge a selected group into position with the arrow keys.
- Tab cycles through the objects on a slide if they're hard to click.
Align first, then group
Grouping fixes objects in whatever positions they are in, so tidy them first. Select the objects and use Shape Format, Align: Align Middle puts them on one line, Align Left gives a common edge, and Distribute Horizontally spaces them evenly. Then press Ctrl+G. The group now moves, copies and resizes as one object.
Working inside a group
- Click the group once to select it, then click an object inside it to select just that one. You can recolour it, edit its text or nudge it without ungrouping.
- Hold Shift while dragging a corner to resize the group in proportion. Shapes scale; text keeps its font size, so check labels afterwards.
- Groups can contain other groups, which helps with complex diagrams.
- Open the Selection Pane with Alt+F10 to see every object and group on the slide, rename them and hide the ones in your way.
When Group is greyed out
- Only one object is selected. You need at least two.
- A placeholder is in the selection. Title, content and other layout placeholders can't be grouped. Cut the text and paste it into an ordinary text box first.
- A table or an embedded worksheet is selected. These can't be grouped either.
Groups and animation
An animation applied to a group moves the whole group at once. If you ungroup, that animation is removed and the individual pieces have none. Decide on grouping before you spend time on animation.
The same Group command is on the Shape Format tab in Word and Excel, though Ctrl+G does something different in those apps. In PowerPoint for Mac the shortcut is Cmd+Option+G.