How to Turn Off AutoFit in PowerPoint

How to disable autofit in PowerPoint? PowerPoint automatically fits text into text boxes and placeholders. If you want to disable this feature, learn how to disable AutoFit in PowerPoint here.

When you create a blank presentation in PowerPoint, you are usually presented with two text boxes — one for the title and one for the subtitle. However, if your title is too long, it may be too big to fit in the text box.

This is where something magical happens. PowerPoint uses the Automatic Adjustment feature to resize your text and ensure your title fits inside the text box, no matter how big it is. While this can be helpful, there are some good reasons why you might not want this to happen.

We'll explain how to turn off AutoFit in PowerPoint and why you might want to do so below.

What is AutoFit in PowerPoint?

Automatic Adjustment is a feature in PowerPoint that automatically resizes text when the text's current size means it won't fit in the current text box or placeholder. As you enter text, it will remain at the selected size until the point where the text box is completely full.

With AutoFit turned on, instead of any additional text leaving the text box, the text automatically resizes. This ensures that all text remains within the text box.

If you decide to delete some of the text in your text box, AutoFit will increase the size of the text again. It should not be larger than the original size of your text.

Why might you want to disable AutoFit?

This seems like a very useful feature at first glance. After all, why would you want text to come out of your text boxes? However, AutoFit can make it very easy to commit one of the cardinal sins of creating good PowerPoint presentations: adding too much text to your slides.

A small amount of text in a large font is easy for people to read, even if they are a reasonable distance away from the presentation screen. Too much small text, however, becomes very difficult to read. This makes your presentation difficult to follow, even for people who are relatively close to the presentation screen.

The problem with AutoFit is that you can easily get carried away typing text. You may not notice that your text is getting smaller and smaller the more text you add. With AutoFit turned off, you get a clear indication that you've added too much text because it will no longer fit in the text box.

This is a hint that you need to reduce the amount of text or spread it across more slides. Turning off AutoFit can prevent you from adding too much text to your slides and ensure they are easy to read for everyone.

How to access auto-fit options on your slide

If you just want to turn off AutoFit for the text box or placeholder you're currently working on, you can easily access the AutoFit options on the slide.

To disable AutoFit through the AutoFit options menu:

1. Click the text box or placeholder that contains your text.
2. Next to the text box, click the button Auto-tune options button.
   
3. Select Stop fitting text to this placeholder.
   
4. The text will return to its original size. This may cause the text to spill outside the placeholder.
   
5. If the text continues outside the placeholder, consider using less text. You can also move part of it to another slide.
6. To reactivate AutoFit, click the button Auto-tune options button again and select AutoFit Text to Placeholder.
   

How to disable autofit via shape format options

You can also turn off AutoFit using the Format shape to placeholder options.

To disable AutoFit through the Format Shape options:

1. Right-click the placeholder you want to edit.
2. From the context menu, select Format shape.
   
3. At the Format Shape panel, click Text Options.
   
4. click on the Text box icon.
   
5. Select Do not adjust automatically.
   
6. To re-enable automatic tuning, repeat steps 1 to 4 and select Shrink text on burst.
   

How to turn off auto-adjustment for your entire presentation

If you don't want to turn off autofit for each placeholder in your presentation, you can choose to turn off the feature for your entire presentation. This is done through the AutoCorrect options, which can be accessed in several different ways.

To disable AutoFit for all of PowerPoint:

1. Click on one of your placeholders.
2. click on the Auto-tune options icon next to the placeholder.
   
3. Select Control AutoCorrect Options.
   
4. You can also access AutoCorrect Options by clicking the button File menu.
   
5. Select options at the bottom of the left menu.
   
6. click on the Proof tab in the left menu.
   
7. click on the AutoCorrect Options button.
   
8. Once you are in the AutoCorrect Options, uncheck Auto-fit title text to placeholder It is AutoFit body text to placeholder.
   
9. Click OK.
   
10. Autofit is now turned off by default throughout the document.
11. To turn it back on, repeat steps 1 to 7 and check again Auto-fit title text to placeholder It is AutoFit body text to placeholder.
    

Creating PowerPoint Presentations – How to Disable Auto-Fit in PowerPoint

Learning how to turn off AutoFit in PowerPoint ensures that your text only changes size when you want it to, not when PowerPoint decides it should. This can help you ensure that you don't add too much text to your slides or make the font too small to be readable.

With PowerPoint presentations, the mantra of 'less is more' is always a good rule of thumb. It applies equally to the amount of text and the number of fancy animations and transitions you want to add.

Want to personalize your presentation even more? You can learn how to remove animations from your PowerPoint presentation if you have forgotten to follow the 'less is more' rule. You can learn how to make all images the same size in PowerPoint to give your presentation a more uniform look.

Or you may want to learn how to embed fonts in PowerPoint to help you avoid using the same fonts over and over again.