Tips and Tricks #47: Four types of Fill styles you can use in Show

Hi Everyone!

To add visual elements to our presentations, we often add shapes and apply a color fill, to match the presentation theme colors. Likewise, we apply a background to a slide to reflect our brand color, eliminate the white space, or accentuate the elements within it.

In this article, we'll tell you how to use Show's Fill options for its elements and slides.

Using Show, you can apply fill effects to Text boxes, Shapes, Smart Elements, Silhouettes, Tables, and Charts. You can also apply a fill to the Master slide or its layouts so that it reflects throughout your presentation or for specific layouts.

Note: Apply a unique fill to a slide in the Normal View to distinguish it in the presentation.

Using the Fill drop-down in the right pane, you can pick fill options like Solid Color, Gradient Colors, Image, or Pattern for a slide and its objects.

Apply a single color uniformly to the whole object or slide

When you use a theme or template, the slides and objects you add in the presentation will appear with the default color of that theme.

If you want to change the default color of your slide or shape to some other shade, you can easily do so using Show's wide-range of color options.

To apply a solid color fill in Show:

Select Solid Color from the Fill drop-down.
Tap the color palette icon next to Fill. In the window that appears, you will be able to access all the Theme Colors, Standard Colors, and other recently used colors.
Pick a color and the fill will reflect on the slide.

In the top-right corner of the color palette window, you can use the Color Wheel icon to customize your own colors. In this window, you can also view the code of the color you choose in the presentation.

In addition to this, Show offers the Advanced Color Palette option, using which you can adjust the RGB or HSV values of a Solid Color fill to find the precise shade you need.

Note: The Apply To All option lets you apply the same Solid Color fill throughout the slide deck.

Use multiple shades in a gradient fill

Sometimes, you may want to give your slide or object more variation or depth. In such cases, you can apply a gradient fill that smoothly blends two or more shades.

To apply a gradient color fill in Show:

Select Gradient Colors from the Fill drop-down.
Tap the color palette icon next to Fill and pick a shade from the Color presets.
Choose from Light Colors or Dark Colors for your gradient combination.
Pick an effect from the presets. This will reflect on the slide.

You can change the direction of the gradient fill using the Linear, Radial, and Angular options under the Style drop-down. If required, you can also adjust the positioning of the color fill using the combo box near the Rotate Wheel icon.

If required, you can further add new colors to the gradient fill.

Select the Stop in the Gradient bar (slider) after which you want to add another color.
Tap the Plus icon on top of the bar. This will add a new Stop.

Alternatively, you can also click on the area in the Gradient bar where you want to include a new Stop.

Select the Stop you added and click on the color palette icon below the Gradient bar. You can now pick a color of your choice for the Stop. This will reflect in the gradient fill in the slide as well.

Note: You can remove a Stop from the Gradient bar using the Minus icon on top of the slider. This will remove the color (applied to that Stop) from the Gradient fill.

You can further drag the Stops along the Gradient bar to adjust their positions and change the look of the gradient effect on the slide.

Note: The Apply To All option lets you apply the same Gradient Colors fill throughout the slide deck.

Tile your texture to use it as a fill effect

You can select Image from the Fill drop-down when you want to use the built-in textures as a fill type. This can help you add more visual interest or variation to a plain color fill.

You can further increase the clarity of the texture using the Tile Image option. You can enable this checkbox and adjust the arrangement of the picture using the Offset and Scale combo boxes.

Additionally, you can pick a relevant image and use it as a fill effect in your presentation. For this,

Click the Change Image button. This will open the Media tab.
Pick an image from Library, URL, Giphy, or Unsplash. The image will appear as a fill effect.
Disable the Tile Image checkbox and adjust the alignment of the picture using the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom combo boxes.

Note: The Apply To All option lets you apply the same Image fill throughout the slide deck.

Use two-color designs as a fill type to relate to your context

You may want to use simple patterns like stripes, dots, and checks as a fill style in your presentation to correlate with your subject. For example, if you are in the textile industry, you can use the "Dots" pattern to mirror the look of swiss dot fabric in the presentation to your audience. Using Show's Pattern option under Fill, you can pick a design from a variety of in-built options. For this,

Click the palette icon next to Fill. This will open the palette window.
Choose the Foreground and Background colors for your pattern.
Pick a design from the presets. This will reflect on the slide.

If required, you can also customize the colors for your pattern using the Foreground and Background color palette options.

You can further adjust the orientation and spacing of the Pattern fill using options like the Rotate combo box and Scale slider.

Note: The Apply To All option lets you apply the same Pattern fill throughout the slide deck.

In addition, Show lets you hide the visual elements added in the slide layouts. All you need to do is click the Hide Background Graphics toggle button in the right pane.

Note: You can uncover the visual elements added in the slide layouts again using the Show Background Graphics toggle button.

Similarly, for objects like Shape and Table in your presentation, you can pick a fill type from the presets in the right pane, and adjust its opacity using the Transparency slider.

Note: You can also set a percentage to control how opacity in the Transparency combo box.

We hope you found this article helpful! We'll be back with more interesting tips for Show.

In case you missed our previous posts in the Tips and Tricks series, you can find them here.

You can connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to learn more about how Show can help improve your business communications. You may also write to us at support@zohoshow.com or comment below.

Happy presenting!

—the Show team

France ZUGs

Topic Participants
Sadhana S

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