Question

PowerPoint has two kinds of shadows – shape and text. Shape shadows may be set by right-clicking on a shape (including a text box), choosing Format Text, then selecting Shadow or using VBA via the Shadow property on each shape:

For Each Slide In ActivePresentation.Slides
  For Each Shape In Slide.Shapes
     Shape.Shadow.Size = 100
     ''# etc
  Next
Next

How do I set text shadow’s properties using VBA? In the UI, these may be accessed by right-clicking on text, choosing Format Text Effect, then selecting Shadow. I’ve done a bit of digging online and have been unable to find where these properties may be accessed via PowerPoint’s VBA API.

Answer 1

You’ll want the TextRange2 object to do so. You can get this through it’s parent of TextFrame2. Here’s an example of how you can set shadow’s on text:

Sub setTextShadow()
Dim sh As Shape
Set sh = ActivePresentation.Slides(4).Shapes(1)
Dim tr As TextRange2
Set tr = sh.TextFrame2.TextRange
    With tr.Font.Shadow
        .OffsetX = 10
        .OffsetY = 10
        .Size = 1
        .Blur = 4
        .Transparency = 0.5
        .Visible = True
    End With
End Sub