How to Wrap Text in PowerPoint

You’ve added an image to your slide, typed some text and suddenly you’ve realized PowerPoint doesn’t let text gracefully flow around pictures like Word does. If you’ve ever tried typing next to a photo and thought, “Why won’t this wrap,” you’re not alone. 

PowerPoint doesn’t support true text wrapping. That’s by design, but it can be a frustration for users that are expecting the feature. Still, there is something you can do, and we’ll some workarounds you can try out.

Why PowerPoint Doesn’t Wrap Text Around Images 

Unlike Word, PowerPoint treats text and images as separate objects. There’s no built-in option for wrapping text around images. You just have text boxes and images, which interact more rigidly than you might expect.  

While Microsoft doesn’t explicitly explain why this feature doesn’t exist in PowerPoint, the likely reason is that wrapping features would conflict with animation and layering features that are necessary for PowerPoint design. Yes, it’s annoying. But it also means presentation slides remain more predictable and controllable. 

Text Wrapping Options in PowerPoint 

1. Wrap Text in Word First

This may not be the most convenient, but it’s something you can try, especially if you’re familiar with text wrapping in Microsoft Word. Here are the steps you can use to wrap text in Word before putting it into PowerPoint: 

1. Open Word and paste your text. 
2. Place your cursor in the middle of your text, insert the image and click the Layout Options (upper right corner of the image) to apply Word-style wrap. 
3. Save the Word file and close it. 
4. In PowerPoint, go to Insert > Text > Object > Create from File, then attach your Word doc. 
5. Resize or reposition the embedded object as needed. 

Note: In Word Online, this process is slightly different. You’ll have to select the Wrap Text button in the ribbon display rather than at the corner of your image. See below. 

2. Pure PowerPoint Alternative: Multiple Text Boxes 

You don’t have to do it in Word though. There is a way to make this happen in PowerPoint, even if it isn’t as simple. But you might prefer not having to go from Word to PowerPoint and back. These are the steps you can take to group text boxes around your images in PowerPoint: 

1. Insert your image first and place it where you want. 
2. Use Insert → Text Box to add small blocks of text on each side. 
3. Copy-paste your paragraph, then trim each box to fit. 
4. Align everything so it looks like flowing text. 
5. You can also group the image and text boxes so they move together.  

It takes a bit of elbow grease, but you can manually control the layout and everything stays editable in PowerPoint. 

3. Manual Wrap with Line Breaks or Spaces 

For shaping around irregular edges, you can try these steps for add line breaks and spaces: 

1. Position your image on the slide. 
2. Paste your full paragraph into one text box. 
3. Manually add spaces or press Shift+Enter to push lines into place. 
4. Repeat until text slides cleanly around the image. 

This one is probably the least effective, but it is an option, especially for simple, single-column layouts.  

When to Choose Each Method 

Scenario	Best Method
Need true text around complex shapes	Word > Object import
Want clickable, editable PowerPoint objects	Multiple text boxes
Temporary fix for irregular image edges	Manual spaces or enters

Common Mistakes and Fixes 

Despite these solutions, don’t set your expectations too high. These are not perfect solutions, and really, there is no perfect solution for text wrapping in PowerPoint. With that in mind, keep some of these common mistakes in mind, as well as some fixes you can try. 

Expecting Word-level wrapping: Nope, that doesn’t exist in PowerPoint. If it’s critical, you’ll need one of the workarounds above. 

One giant text box and image on top: Text won’t reflow underneath the image. The image just covers it. 

Text boxes randomly overlapping: Group your elements so they stay aligned, especially if you move them later. 

Default text box issues: Checking “Wrap text in shape” in master slides doesn’t carry over unless you drag the text box manually. 

Final Tips for a Cleaner Look 

Still struggling to get the right look for your slides. Yeah, we get it… Without try text wrapping it can be a pain. But here are a few final tips you can try to really polish things off: 

• Turn off text box outlines for polish. 

• Use gridlines and guides (View > Guides) to align things precisely. 

• Group everything before saving to preserve the layout. 

• Save the slide as a custom layout in the Slide Master for future reuse. 

• If you wrap text often, save a template with a text box and dummy image ready to go. 

Keep Slideshow Planning Simple: Let Twistly Handle the Rest 

If you’re tired of doing the heavy lifting with slide design, you can let Twistly handle the hard work.  

Use the Twistly add-in for PowerPoint that uses artificial intelligence to auto-generate polished layouts. Thes are professional and modern, complete with images and text boxes already positioned. All you need to do is provide a quick prompt or information that you’d like to be included. The add-in can do the rest. 

No more fighting with text flows or rigid designs… Twistly gives you a smart starting point. 

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While PowerPoint doesn’t have a built-in text wrapping feature, it’s by design and there are some workarounds you can try. But for easier slide creation, skip the chaos and get Twistly.