Shape Locker icon OfficeOne Shape Locker

Shape Locker is supported on the following versions:
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2021 (32-bit, 64-bit)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2019 (32-bit, 64-bit)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 (32-bit, 64-bit)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 (32-bit, 64-bit)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 (32-bit, 64-bit)
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
It works with presentations that are stored in the following formats: .pptx, .ppsx, .potx, .pptm, .ppsm, .potm.
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Shape Locker supports locking all kinds of elements including:
  • Shapes
  • Lines
  • Connectors
  • SmartArt
  • Equations
  • 3D Models
  • Charts
  • Placeholders
  • Text Boxes
  • Pictures
  • Videos
These elements can be on Slides, Slide Masters or Slide Layouts.
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Shape Locker stores the lock information within the presentation file. When you open the presentation in PowerPoint on a computer that does not have Shape Locker, the lock information is still retained and the shapes remain locked.
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PowerPoint provides alignment commands like Align Left/Center/Right, Align Top/Middle/Bottom, Distribute Horizontally/Vertically. When any of the alignment commands are used, PowerPoint does the following 2 steps:
  1. Using the current position of the shapes, calculate the resultant positions for the alignment command.
  2. Reposition the shapes to their respective calculated positions.
When the selected shapes have some shapes that have Position lock applied, step 2 is not able to reposition such position-locked shapes. Effectively, you would find that PowerPoint repositions some shapes but not others.
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One of the locks supported by Shape Locker is the Selection lock. A shape that has this lock applied to it does not allow it to get selected. This makes it impossible for you to delete such a shape. Since such a shape cannot be selected, you cannot remove the selection lock from it too. This behavior makes it useful for elements that represent your brand in your presentations.
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There is one bug in PowerPoint that allows text to be edited in a shape that has text editing lock and/or selection lock applied to it. This bug exists consistently across PowerPoint 2013, 2010 and 2007.
A workaround is to create another shape (say, a rectangle shape) with 99% transparency and overlay it in front of the text box. Setup Text Editing lock on the new rectangle shape and group the rectangle shape with the text box. The text box should now not allow text editing.
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