Dividing a State or Country in Half, Part 2

Part 2: Dividing a State, County or Country in Half to Show Two Territories

This second of two lessons is about how to divide a state, county or country map in half and assign it different colors to show two territories. You can see Part 1 by scrolling down the page.

PowerPoint isn’t really a drawing program but we have found a couple of ways of doing this.


Option 2

1. Our second option is to use one of the Line tools located in the LINES Pop-Up box in the DRAWING TOOL BAR (I like the Freeform tool that uses straight lines the best) and trace the smaller half of the state over the outline of the map below.

2. Once you have it drawn you can give it a color and to the viewer it looks like you have split the state or county in half but in reality you have just drawn a new half of the state map on top.

3. Remember to bring the line back to the beginning point and you will have an object that can be filled with a new color.

This method works well with the simpler state outlines.

TIPS: Use the Zoom pop-up box in the Standard Toolbar to get in closer. 300% or 400% works well.

If you need to you can adjust the points by selecting the new object with your pointer and choosing EDIT POINTS from the DRAW pop-up menu on the far left of the Drawing Toolbar. Also make sure SNAP TO GRID in the DRAWING menu is not checked. This method isn’t perfect but will work pretty well and allows you to set up the partial territories.

If you are using the EPS Adobe Illustrator version of our maps you can use the SCISSORS tool and cut the border and then re-join the lines giving you two halves.

How Do I Set Up Hyperlinks on a PowerPoint Map?

Learn how to build a drill down sales and marketing presentation map using the Hyperlink and Slide Show features of PowerPoint for connecting states or countries on a national or world map to slides with individual states or countries. Great for presentations where you want to be able to move around inside the slide show, clicking on a state and having the slide jump to a different slide with a more detailed map.

For this example we used one of our USA color PowerPoint maps and a detailed Florida state maps and a New York detailed county map.

1. Set up a USA or World map on slide 1, set up larger individual states or country maps on additional slides, one state per slide.

2. Select the individual state on the national USA map with your pointer.

3. Choose the HYPERLINK option in the Formatting Pallet.

4. Select the kind of action you would like to have happen. Sometimes it is just jumping ahead, sometimes to a web site, in our case to a specific slide.

5. Choose the slide that you would like the presentation to jump to. Click OK.

6. Hyperlinks only work in the Slide Show mode. The Slide Show tools are located in the lower left corner of the PowerPoint screen and also in a pull down menu from the top. There are also a nice selection of Slide Show buttons that you can add to your presentation to help with internal navigation.

Coloring Complex PowerPoint County Maps

Coloring Complex PowerPoint County Maps

How to Video showing how to custom color a complex PowePoint map. Editable PowerPoint maps from http://www.mapsfordesign.com and http://www.bjdesign.com

How to Video Case Study: Watch over our shoulder as we solve a customer's problem coloring a complex multi state county map. Using grouping and ungrouping techniques we walk you through the steps to change the land color while keeping the map together. Do it wrong and you end up with hundreds of little pieces that become very difficult to make sense of. Using grouping you can keep the map together and end up with a great presentation.

How to Video on how to change a map color when it is part of a Grouped County Map.

1. Click on a single map say Ohio, Ungroup it, you will see that you now have two groups, text and land. Don't need to Ungroup any further.

2. Click off the map to De-Select it.

3. Click on just the Ohio counties to select the land and then choose a new color from the Fill Bucket in the Drawing Tool Bar

4. Once the color has been changed, drag around the entire state with your pointer to Reselect the two groupings, the text and the land and Regroup them together, that will keep that state whole and a single unit until you are ready to do something new.

5. Do the process for each state. Ungroup, Change land color, Regroup.

Learn more at http://www.mapsfordesign.com or http://www.bjdesign.com Sign up for FREE Tips Newsletter at http://mapsfordesign.blogspot.com/

PowerPoint Maps, Editable, Web Site Graphics, World, USA, States, County, Countries, Regions, Globes, Presentations, Illustrations, Downloadable, Web, Clip Art, Royalty Free, Sales, Marketing, Business, Territory, Graphic Design, America, Europe, Asia

How to Convert a PowerPoint Slide to a JPG File for a Web Site.

How to Convert a PowerPoint Slide to a JPG File for a Web Site.

How to Video showing how to use PowerPoint to make JPG graphics for your web site. Editable PowerPoint maps from http://www.mapsfordesign.com and http://www.bjdesign.com

1. Customize your map however you want. SAVE your project.

2. To create a JPG graphic for your web site choose SAVE AS from the FILE pull down menu. Click on the popup menu and select JPG format. This option saves each slide of your PowerPoint file as a JPG graphic file. Select the correct file and send to your web developer.

Learn more at http://www.mapsfordesign.com or http://www.bjdesign.com FREE Tips Newsletter sign up at http://mapsfordesign.blogspot.com/

PowerPoint Maps, Editable, Web Site Graphics, World, USA, States, County, Countries, Regions, Globes, Presentations, Illustrations, Downloadable, Web, Clip Art, Royalty Free, Sales, Marketing, Business, Territory, Graphic Design, America, Europe, Asia

Favorite Customizing Tips, Use of Shift Key, Grouping and Ungrouping, Part 1

Favorite Customizing Tips, Part 1: Use of Shift Key, Grouping and Ungrouping

How to Video showing Use of Shift Key and Grouping and Ungrouping. Editable PowerPoint maps from http://www.mapsfordesign.com and http://www.bjdesign.com

Tip 1. Benefits of the Shift Key
Holding down the Shift Key allows you to select multiple objects with the pointer for customizing. If you select one two many objects, just click on the state or county again and it will deselect. It works like a toggle switch. Now when you select a color fill, all of the states or counties selected will fill at the same time with that color.

Tip 2. Grouping and Ungrouping
When working with complex graphics like a map, Grouping and Ungrouping becomes very helpful to keep your map organized.

After you have customized an area of the map you should group it together to keep the elements from getting moved around by accident. While holding down the Shift key, select all of the elements that you want with the pointer. GROUP is located in the DRAW popup menu in the DRAWING Tool Bar. Select GROUP, you will now see the many handles of the objects turn into just eight.

Grouping is also used when you want to Enlarge or Reduce several object. Group them first and then change size. Hold down the SHIFT Key to keep everything proportional

Learn More sign up for our FREE Tips Newsletter on customizing PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator EPS maps at http://mapsfordesign.blogspot.com

Favorite Customize Tips, Enlarge & Reduce, Snap to Grid, Part 2

Favorite Customizing Tips, Part 2: Enlarge & Reduce Objects, Snap to Grid

How to Video showing Enlarging & Reducing and How to Turn Off the Snap to Grid in PowerPoint. Editable PowerPoint maps from http://www.mapsfordesign.com and http://www.bjdesign.com.


Tip 3. Enlarging and Reducing Objects.
1. To enlarge several states or counties you need Select them first and then GROUP them together. Holding down the Shift key will allow you to select several objects at the same time or you can drag your pointer around the entire group.

2. Once the states are selected click on the DRAW popup menu in the TOOL BAR along the bottom and choose GROUP.

3. You will now see just 8 handles on your selected group. Place your pointer over one of the lower left or right corner handles. Click, and hold down the mouse button and drag the handle in a diagonal 45 degree direction. This will enlarge the group. Release your mouse button when you have the correct size. Pulling out, the group will enlarge, moving in towards the center it will reduce. Holding down the SHIFT key will keep things proportional.

4. Text elements will need to be re-adjusted manually, they will move to the correct place but in PowerPoint they do not scale up or down. You may also need to UNGROUP them and move them where needed. The text can be resized using the Font Tools along the top of the screen.


Tip 4. Snap To Grid
PowerPoint has an underlining grid that help you line up object. The default in PowerPoint is that it is on. When working on something like a map the grid can become very frustrating because it won’t allow you to move the map pieces where you want. They want to snap to the grid instead of lining up with their borders.

We turn the grid off in every map and advise you to also turn it off on any new project. The option is usually located in the DRAW popup menu but not always. It depends on the version of PowerPoint so search in the Help box to find it.

Learn More sign up for our FREE Tips Newsletter on customizing PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator EPS maps at http://mapsfordesign.blogspot.com

Editable PowerPoint and EPS Maps for Presentations

Editable MS PowerPoint and EPS clipart maps for sales and marketing presentations, illustrations, and websites. Royalty Free, World, USA, States, County, Countries, World Regions, and Globes.

Each state or country is an individual element that can be customized, changed, colored however you like.

Perfect for sales and marketing presentations, showing sales territories, advertising, graphic design, building maps for websites, anywhere a royalty free map is needed

Learn more at http://www.mapsfordesign.com or http://www.bjdesign.com

Available for instant download, or on CD-Rom.

How to Divide a PowerPoint Clipart Map In-half

How to Video showing how to divide a PowerPoint clipart state or county map into two territories and color them differently. Editable PowerPoint maps from www.mapsfordesign.com or www.bjdesign.com.

PowerPoint isn't really a drawing program but we have found a fairly effective way of doing this. There are two ways to handle this.

The first is to copy the state and paste it right on top or on the side so that you can work on it. Go to the DRAW Pop Up menu in the Tool Bar and select EDIT POINTS, you will see all of the drawing points or handles. You then click on each point with the mouse pointer, while you hold down the Control key on the PC or the Option key on the Mac, the selected point will then disappear. You work your way nibbling around the area you want to delete. You end up at some point with a part of a state. Give it its own color and stroke or line and place it on top of the other map. And presto you have a state that looks to the viewer like you have cut it in half. But in reality is made up of two pieces, a full state and half state.

The second way is to use one of the line tools (I like the one that just uses straight lines) and zoom in to 400% and trace over the outline of the state with the drawing tools. Moving around it, tracing the shape of the state and just the part you want to keep. Give it a color and now you have again what looks like a state cut in half.

The drawing tools are located in the AUTO SHAPES pop up menu in the DRAWING TOOL BAR. In AUTO SHAPES select LINES, (we like the middle line on the bottom row, the FREE FORM LINE tool). With this line tool selected you can now trace over the map, making a complete closed path by clicking point by point around th edge. Bring the line back to the beginning point and give two quick clicks and you will have an object that can be filled with a new color.

To make this easier locate the Zoom Box in the upper right hand corner of the top tool bar and select 300 or 400% so you can really see what is going on. If you need to you can adjust the points by selecting the new object with your pointer and choosing EDIT POINTS from the DRAW popup menu on the far left of the tool bar. Also make sure SNAP TO GRID is not checked. This method isn't perfect but will work pretty well and allows you to set up the partial territories.

If you are using the EPS Adobe Illustrator version of our maps you can use the SCISSORS tool and cut the border and then re-join the lines giving you two halves.


About the Maps
Editable MS PowerPoint clipart maps for sales and marketing presentations, illustrations, graphic design, and websites. Royalty Free, World, USA, States, County, Countries, World Regions, and Globes. In PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator EPS

Each state, county, country, text block is an individual element that can be customized, changed, colored however you like.

Perfect for sales and marketing presentations, showing sales territories, office locations, project progress.

Learn more at www.mapsfordesign.com or www.bjdesign.com

Available for instant download, or on CD-Rom.

How to Add Text to a PowerPoint Slide

How to Video showing how to add text to a PowerPoint clipart state or county map slide. Editable PowerPoint maps from www.mapsfordesign.com or www.bjdesign.com.

To add text select the TEXT INSERTION tool in the DRAWING TOOL BAR, usually located along the bottom of your slide window. Click anywhere on the slide and begin typing.

Use the FORMATING PALLET or the pull down menus at the top or your screen to customize with fonts, size, and color. Text blocks can be moved around the screen by clicking, holding and dragging on the grey box that surrounds the text. This box is visible after you have clicked on the text.

To delete a text box, select is with the pointer and then click on the gray box surrounding the type. Hitting the DELETE key on your keyboard will delete the text.

Our maps can be completely editable in PowerPoint. Every state, county, country or text block is an individual editable element. They can be colored, customized, move or deleted elements as you want. PowerPoint has a very nice collection of editing and drawing tools, located either along the bottom or along the side of your screen.


About the Maps
Editable MS PowerPoint clipart maps for sales and marketing presentations, illustrations, graphic design, and websites. Royalty Free, World, USA, States, County, Countries, World Regions, and Globes. In PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator EPS

Each state, county, country, text block is an individual element that can be customized, changed, colored however you like.

Perfect for sales and marketing presentations, showing sales territories, office locations, project progress.

Learn more at www.mapsfordesign.com or www.bjdesign.com

Available for instant download, or on CD-Rom.

How Do I Enlarge or Reduce an Object in PowerPoint?

How to Video showing how to enlarge or reduce a group of clipart state, country or county PowerPoint maps from www.mapsfordesign.com or www.bjdesign.com.

To enlarge several states or counties you need to GROUP them together.
1 Hold down the Shift key and using the pointer CLICK using the right button on the PC mouse and the regular click on the Mac mouse, on the states you want to enlarge together.

2 Once the states are selected click on the DRAW popup menu in the TOOL BAR along the bottom and choose GROUP.

3 You will now see just 8 handles on your selected group. Place your pointer over one of the lower left or right corner handles. Click, and hold down the mouse button and drag the handle in a diagonal 45 degree direction. This will enlarge the group. Release your mouse button when you have the correct size. Pulling out, the group will enlarge, moving in towards the center it will reduce. Holding down the SHIFT key will keep things proportional.

4 Text elements will need to be re-adjusted manually, they will move to the correct place but in PowerPoint they do not scale up or down. You may also need to UNGROUP them and move them where needed. The text can be resized using the Font Tools along the top of the screen.


About the Maps
Editable MS PowerPoint clipart maps for sales and marketing presentations, illustrations, graphic design, and websites. Royalty Free, World, USA, States, County, Countries, World Regions, and Globes. In PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator EPS

Each state, county, country, text block is an individual element that can be customized, changed, colored however you like.

Perfect for sales and marketing presentations, showing sales territories, office locations, project progress.

Learn more at www.mapsfordesign.com or www.bjdesign.com

Available for instant download, or on CD-Rom.

How Do I Color an Object in a PowerPoint Slide

How to Video for customzing an editable PowerPoint clipart map from www.mapsfordesign.com or www.bjdesign.com.

Select the state or country with the pointer by clicking on it. On the PC use the right button of the mouse, on the Mac just click with the mouse. You will see 8 little handles appear around it, this tells you the object has been selected. Choose a color from the Fill Bucket in the Drawing Tool Bar usually located along the bottom of the PowerPoint slide.

About the Maps
Editable MS PowerPoint clipart maps for sales and marketing presentations, illustrations, and websites. Royalty Free, World, USA, States, County, Countries, World Regions, and Globes.

Each state, county, country, text block is an individual element that can be customized, changed, colored however you like.

Perfect for sales and marketing presentations, showing sales territories, office locations, project progress.

Learn more at www.mapsfordesign.com or www.bjdesign.com

Available for instant download, or on CD-Rom.