Delete multiple points (vertexes) in powerpoint

I want to modify a powerpoint figure (a chromatogram) imported from another application. The figure is made of hundreds/thousands of points. I want to delete some sections of the figure.

I can delete points one by one with right-click -> delete point but when the line section to delete is large and has many points it takes hours.

Is there some way to delete groups of (consecutive) vertexes in one only action ?

joaquin

Posted 2013-08-05T08:27:42.583

Reputation: 111

None that I know of; faced with the problem, I'd copy/paste the shape into CorelDraw or Illustrator or some other capable vector editing program and modify it there. Draw even has a feature that automatically simplifies complex curves for you (by deleting unnecessary points). It's not infallible but it generally works VERY well. – Steve Rindsberg – 2013-08-05T19:00:58.533

@SteveRindsberg Thanks Steve. I will try that – joaquin – 2013-08-06T19:45:59.863

Answers

I figured out a cool hack to solve this. When there are tons of points in the middle of a shape, I just draw another simple shape on top of the giant mess and then do a union of both shapes. The simple shape's points then delete the mess underneath. It's kind of like using an raster eraser on a vector image.

Dave

Posted 2013-08-05T08:27:42.583

Reputation: 21

1Can you explain exactly how to do a “union” between two shapes in PowerPoint, and how “doing a union” causes vertices to be deleted? (I hope you aren’t just talking about hiding part of an object by putting another object on top of it.) Please do not respond in comments; [edit] your answer to make it clearer and more complete. – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica' – 2019-08-05T01:36:21.407

This won't delete multiple points at once but, if you hold the CTRL key down while hovering over a point, you will see a small "x". Left Click to delete the point then continue to move to the next point and the next "x" to delete.

Richard

Posted 2013-08-05T08:27:42.583

Reputation: 11

thanks, actually this is what I do to delete point by point. the question was how to delete several at the same time. – joaquin – 2014-03-10T22:35:29.183