Ampler’s Magic Select selects every shape on the slide that resembles the one you picked, so you can format or edit a whole set of similar elements at once instead of clicking each in turn.
Quick answer: Select a shape that represents what you want, then click Magic Select on the Ampler ribbon to select all similar shapes — or press the down arrow for finer matching options.
How to use it
Pick one representative shape, then Magic Select grabs all similar ones.
- Select a shape that resembles the selection you need.
- Click Magic Select to select all similar shapes, or press the down arrow for more matching options.
Ampler matches shapes by their characteristics, so a whole set of similar elements is selected in one action.
Keyboard shortcut
Magic Select has no default shortcut. To assign one, open the Settings dropdown on the Ampler ribbon, choose Shortcuts, click Set shortcut on the function, and press your key combination.
Why use it
A complex slide can hold dozens of similar elements — every box in a framework, every marker on a map. Selecting them one by one to apply the same change is slow and easy to get wrong (miss one and the slide looks inconsistent). Magic Select grabs the whole set at once, so a single edit lands on all of them.
How consultants use it
Consulting exhibits are often built from many repeated elements, and they are expected to look identical down to the detail. Editing them as a set — not one at a time — is how that consistency is kept under time pressure. Three habits apply:
- Edit similar elements as a set: one selection, one change, applied everywhere it should be.
- Consistency across many objects: nothing is missed, so the exhibit stays uniform.
- Speed on complex slides: batch selection keeps a detailed exhibit fast to revise.
Magic Select turns a repetitive click-through into a single action.
Tips & best practices
- Pick the most representative shape first — the match keys off it.
- Use the down-arrow options to widen or narrow what counts as “similar”.
- Combine with an alignment or format function to update the whole set at once.
Availability
Included in Ampler for PowerPoint and the Ampler Suite, on Windows desktop PowerPoint.
Frequently asked questions
How do you select all similar shapes in PowerPoint?
Select one representative shape and click Magic Select on the Ampler ribbon. Ampler selects every shape on the slide that resembles it, so you can edit them together.
How do you edit many similar objects at once?
Use Magic Select to grab the whole set, then apply your format or alignment change once — it lands on every selected shape.
Can you control how similar the matched shapes must be?
Yes. Press the down arrow after Magic Select for options that widen or narrow the match.