I love using Microsoft Powerpoint. I love experiment with all the many features. So one day when I opened PowerPoint and realized it was updated with new features, I was giddy. This has to be my favorite update because I use it the most: Lock objects in Powerpoint.

This feature is great, especially if you want to send your students drag and drop activities. No more worrying about deleting shapes or text. Locking down objects keeps important things like images and backgrounds in place.

To do this, first open PowerPoint. Next, on the Home Tab, go to the “Editing” section at the right. Choose “SELECT” and click “SELECTION PANE”. Check out this post about using the Selection pane.

Here you will see all the shapes on the slide. Each object is label “Shape 1” or Text Box 1”. Next to each shape is an eye (for disappearing/reappearing shapes) and a lock. You will see a square around the object with no circles.

Click on this to lock shapes in place. Open locks means the shape is moveable. Closed Locks means shapes do not move. They are still selectable. You can modify them and add text, but they will not move.

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