How to Create a Progress Bar in PowerPoint?

A progress bar helps you track the stages of the process, and a quick glance at the progress bar can help you track how far the process has come. If you want to know how to create a progress bar in PowerPoint, make sure you are ready to invest some time into learning this amazing task.

In this guide, we will walk you through a step-by-step process of creating a progress bar in PowerPoint. Once you have mastered these steps, you will be able to use custom progress bars in any presentation.

Instead of other available tutorials on how to create a progress bar in PowerPoint, we will work on a progress bar that actually works with the slides. Every new slide will take the progress in the bar to the next position.

Creating a Progress Bar in PowerPoint

The process may seem complicated, but when you give it a try a few times, you will realize that the whole process does not take more than a minute.

Even if you feel lost at some point, keep reading, and you will eventually have an amazing workable progress bar in PowerPoint. Let’s start with the first step of “how to create a progress bar in PowerPoint.”

Step 1: Add Shapes to the Slide

Open the PowerPoint presentation and add a rounded rectangle as a shape. Adjust the corners of the shape according to your design, and once you have the desired shape, make copies and arrange them like the image below. Also, change color as needed.

Step 2: Arrange Shapes

Now, select all shapes and distribute horizontally from the Shape Format tab to space them evenly from each other. You can also align these shapes in the middle.

Step 3: Draw a Rectangle

Go to the Insert >> Shapes >> choose Rectangle and draw it on the entire slide. Once the rectangle is drawn, it will cover all the shapes on the slides.

Now, right-click the large rectangle and send the rectangle to the back. This is how your slide will look once the rectangle is on the back.

Now, change the color of the rectangle in the back.

Step 4: Merge Progress Bar Shapes

Select the shapes, small, rounded rectangles, and go to Shape Format >> Merge Shapes >> Union. It will turn all these shapes into one shape.

Make sure to place the cursor outside the slide boundary to select the shapes; otherwise, you will select the larger rectangle.

Step 5: Subtract Rounded Shapes

Select the background and the rounded shapes. Once all are selected, go to Shape Format >> Merge Shapes >> Subtract. You can also add a text box below a rounded shape.

Step 6: Create another Round Rectangle

Go to Insert >> Shapes >> Rounded Rectangle. Fix its corners, adjust colors, and it should look something like this.

Change the color of the newly added rectangle and send it to the back.

Step 7: Duplicate Slide

Your progress bar now looks like the image below. You need to create a duplicate of the slide and then move the newly added rectangle to the extreme left in the first slide, as shown in the image.

Keep creating duplicates and then move the progress rectangle one step forward. When you play the slideshow, it will look like the progress bar is also moving with every next slide.

For an even better experience, you can also add morph transitions to the slides. This is how your progress bar slides look in the Slide Sorter view.

How to Speed Up PowerPoint Tasks with AI?

Till this stage, you have realized that creating something meaningful and unique in PowerPoint requires some time. If you are not in the mood for such manual efforts, you can try Twistly to make amazing presentations in PowerPoint.

Twistly is an AI add-in for PowerPoint that automates PowerPoint presentations by offering a prompt and graphical user interface to create professional presentations.

Create Presentations with Twistly

Let’s say you need a complete presentation on any topic; you simply write the topic and select a template. Twistly will do the rest, including:

• Writing content for all slides
• Designing slides and creating a layout for maximum engagement
• Add visuals, images, tables, charts, and other elements as needed
• Generate complete, ready-to-present slides within a few minutes

Add Custom Slides

You want to add a slide with tables to compare different elements. No need to manually add and design tables. You just go to the Twistly work area in PowerPoint, click Add Slide, and then select any of the slide layouts from the available options.

Twistly will not only add the slide with a table but will also generate content for the table. It seems impossible until you personally try the magic of this custom ChatGPT for PowerPoint.

Conclusion

Creating a progress bar in PowerPoint requires an understanding of the Shape Format tabs and design skills. We have simplified the process for you. Follow these steps, and you will have a workable progress bar in PowerPoint.

You can try Twistly for free and start creating amazing presentations in PowerPoint without worrying about these small tasks. Elevate your PowerPoint experience with Twistly and generate AI presentations in no time.

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