I hate PPT

March 11, 2025 8:12 AM

I want to distort a font so it is expanded by 150%. Is there a place to manually set that? This is different than letterspacing. I see where to do that but this is to distort the letterforms/characters. Although I'd rather select a font that is extended, I am forced to use standard fonts that my client has pre-installed on their PCs. I am working on a Mac – PPT v.16.94
posted by pmaxwell to Computers & Internet (15 answers total)

You need to rasterize the letters first. This is probably better done in some non-powerpoint tool where you can have save the words you want as a PNG with a transparent background. But if you only have powerpoint, then write whatever you want to write (just the part you want to distort), then "save as" "png". Use a separate file to do this so it just has the one slide.

Then in the file you want the distorted text, do insert/picture and put the picture in. Then you can pull distort the image with the proportions unlocked.

If you have photoshop, I would do it there. Create the text. Right click on the layer and select "Rasterie" and then you can distort it.

In either case, if you're going to rasterize the font I would start with the maximum font size you can fit on the page/text box just so it doesn't end up as pixelated when you distort it. Then you can shrink the size in the power point if you want it smaller.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:39 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]

Here is a screengrab of two slides. The first has a text box at max font size that will fit. I exported that as a png then placed in the second slide three times. One shows it distorted vertically, one distorted horizontally, and the other is the original image scaled down, just to be nearby for comparison so you can see the lettershape distortions.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:52 AM on March 11

I just added another image (same link) that shows the original font in the upper right and then the distorted 150% and 300% by height or by width lined up, so you can see that the width remains the same (when distorting height) or the height remains the same (when distorting width).
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:00 AM on March 11

If rasterizing the text as above doesn't work, what about using PowerPoint's built-in WordArt? There's a sort of plaintext-ish looking option, rather than the really wild stuff. Once it's created as WordArt, you can apply all sorts of tweaks and distortions to it.

What I've done in the past is use the regular text tool, for example 150pt Arial, make your desired text. Then, use the WordArt tool, create the same text, move it over your original text, and stretch/scale it to fit the regular 150pt Arial you previously created. Your WordArt is now more or less the same as standard text would be, so you have a fairly good starting point for your distortion.
posted by xedrik at 9:15 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: A PNG or image file wont work. This is a client template – So the expanded type needs to be editable. I understand PPT is not a design program but it Seems like most apps have some sort of way to manually condense or expand the type. Does PPT have that?
posted by pmaxwell at 9:40 AM on March 11

In general, mechanically stretched or squished fonts are unpleasant and hard to read anyway. Can you find a font that's designed to be wide? Google Fonts offers Michroma, Krona One, possibly others I didn't spot.
posted by zadcat at 9:50 AM on March 11

I don't think I understand the feature you're thinking of in other programs. Can you explain how you'd do the thing you want in some other program?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:50 AM on March 11

Response by poster: In indesign and illustrator there are type controls for letterspacing, baseline shift, kerning/tracking, etc. I know those are design programs that offer more typographic controls but I think Word has that 'extend' option... @zadcat – I agree but I dont have the option of having my clients start installing new fonts on every machine in their offices...
posted by pmaxwell at 9:55 AM on March 11

Can't you embed the font in the template file?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:58 AM on March 11

As far as I can tell, Powerpoint just doesn't let you stretch fonts the way you want.
posted by adamrice at 10:00 AM on March 11 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ive never been able to get that to work properly. We design on a Mac then sent to our client that work on PC.
posted by pmaxwell at 10:01 AM on March 11

I think WordArt in PowerPoint will do what you want, with a bit of fiddling. How to insert WordArt. Then play with the text effects.
posted by danceswithlight at 10:10 AM on March 11

If you're on a Mac, it's possible that Keynote has that functionality -- although you'd probably have to export your file to a PDF if you'd want to ensure that it persists in a Windows environment.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 10:17 AM on March 11

Is this the sort of function you're wanting? Done in Inkscape, but hoping to make sure we're correctly understanding your request. I don't have MS Office anymore, so I can't test.
posted by xedrik at 4:39 PM on March 11

Response by poster: @ xedrik yes but need it as editing type in ppt
posted by pmaxwell at 6:33 PM on March 11