Grouped objects - Adding/Removing objects to a group

select the group and the object and press ctrl+g

Amazing.  This tool is great, it is just getting used to all the little things that help in productivity.  Thanks Phil!!

Yes this seems to work, but sometimes the grouping and ungrouping don't work as expected.  One thing is if you group items in a drag and drop, they all lose their reference to the target, I learned the hard way and had to reassociate.  Thanks for your help.

right click ungroup

Just a small point of clarification as to why ungrouping may not work as expected after including a new item in a "previous" group. You've actually formed a new group.

So, if you group two circles and a rectangle, you'll see in the time line (or in PowerPoint's selection pane) Group 1. If you then add another shape, say another rectangle to the first group with Ctrl+G and look in the timeline or selection pane, you'll see Group 2.

And if you collapse Group 2 in the timeline, you'll see that Group 1 is no nested inside. (I've attached a screenshot)

So, when you ungroup the first time, you're ungrouping Group 2. And when you ungroup the 2nd time, you're ungrouping Group 1.

Right click what?  I have a group with 3 objects and need to add a fourth. 

I have tried to right click each item, control clicked all three and right click,  right click the boxes to the left for each in the group and the group box itself.

Your answer is simple but lacks detail as to what and how to right click. 

Sorry I if I seem frustrated...but I am.  

But thanks for your help!

Hi Joseph,

You don't necessarily need to right-click to add an item to a group, although that is one way to do it. Instead:

To add an object to a group:

1. Click (regular left-click) the group of 3

2. Hold the shift key down while clicking the 4th object. By holding shift down you're telling the computer you want all objects to be active (or selected).

3. Release the mouse, and on the keyboard press Ctrl+G.

As Phill stated, right-clicking allows you to easily ungroup.

To ungroup:

1. Right-click the group

2. From the shortcut menu, select Group >Ungroup

As I mentioned above, if you've added items to a previous group, the first time you do this you'll be ungrouping Group 2. To ungroup Group 1 you'd need to repeat the process.

Hi,

Sorry if I'm late to the party, but a point of clarification.  Is it the case that if you select an existing group and then an item not currently in that group and then hit CMD-G, a new, second group is created which contains the first group and the item?  That appears to be the behavior.

Is there no way to add an item to a pre-existing group?  Seems like that is what you'd want more often.  I know you can do it by ungrouping all the items and then re-grouping, but I'd think on complex slides, that could get tedious and/or tricky.

Having the same problem with this - very frustrating. Is there no way to add objects to an existing group without creating another grouping level?