How to Create a Semi-Circle in PowerPoint? [The EASY Way!]

Every once in a while you will come across a situation where you need to either create a semi-circle on the slide or add a half filled circle in PowerPoint. The problem is, there doesn’t seem to be a direct way to create a half circle in PowerPoint! So, how do you create a semi-circle in PowerPoint?

To create a semi-circle or half circle in PowerPoint, you can insert a pie shape on your slides and adjust the angle to 180 degrees. You can also insert a circle and rectangle on the slide, and use the “Subtract” or “Fragment” shapes options under the “Merge Shapes” tool to create a semi-circle.

All this might seem a bit difficult at first, especially if you are not well-versed with some of the advanced tools of PowerPoint.

But, don’t worry, I will cover this process in a detailed step-by-step process with visual references so that you can learn and replicate the process on your presentation as well! My goal with this article is to explain it in a manner that you can understand the process even if you are just starting out with PowerPoint.

So, let’s get started!

A Quick Note Before We Begin – If you don’t have time or if the process seems daunting, I highly recommend downloading presentation templates from Envato Elements. With Envato Elements, you get access to thousands of presentation designs with unlimited downloads so you never run out of options again. Not only is Envato Elements very affordable, but also the best in the business when it comes to templates!

1. How to Make a Half Circle in PowerPoint?

Let’s get straight to the point. How can you make a semi-circle in PowerPoint? Well, I will be sharing 2 different methods below. Feel free to choose the one which is more convenient for you.

However, in my opinion, 2nd method is probably the fastest and the easiest. So, here we go.

All the steps below will need you to have a basic understanding of how to insert and format shapes in PowerPoint.

Method 1 – Using Subtract Tool in Merge Shapes

Now, this is a bit of an advanced method in that it uses tools that you probably don’t use on a daily basis. But with the steps mentioned below, you can easily get through it.

Step 1 – Insert a Perfect Circle on the Slide

The first step is to insert a “Perfect” circle on the slide. To do that, click on the “Insert” ribbon. Then, click on the “Shapes” button. A dropdown will appear. Click on the “Oval” shape option (as shown in the image above) as there is no direct option to insert a circle.

Then, press down the “Shift” key, and drag the mouse cursor in any one direction (preferably diagonally). You will end up with a perfect “Circle“.

Step 2 – Insert a Rectangle

Now using similar steps, insert a rectangle on the slide. Click on the “Insert” tab. Then, click on the “Shapes” icon. From the dropdown, choose the “Rectangle” shape option (as shown in the image above).

Then, drag your mouse cursor on the slide to insert a rectangle.

Step 3 – Align the Rectangle Exactly with the Centre of the Circle

As the next step, align the rectangle exactly with the center of the circle. For reference, you can use the points on the side of the circle when you click on the circle. Make sure that one side of the rectangle covers this diameter of the circle thereby covering half the circle.

Step 4 – Select the Circle and Rectangle

First, make sure that the circle is above the rectangle. To ensure that this is case, “right-click” on the rectangle. Then, from the menu, click on “Bring to Top” option. This will send the circle back and bring the rectangle on top!

Now, first click on circle then hold the “Shift” key and click on the “Rectangle”. It is important you do the steps in the exact same sequence as described here!

When you do the step 4 mentioned here, you may not notice anything different and you may feel like nothing happened. But, make sure that you do this!

Step 5 – Subtract Rectangle from the Circle using Merge Shapes Tool

When you select both the shapes, “Shape Format” ribbon will appear. Click on it. Then, to the left part of your screen, you will see the option to “Merge Shapes“.

Click on the merge shapes option, and from the dropdown, click on “Subtract“.

Voila! You now have your half circle or semi-circle!

Method 2 – Using the Pie Shape

This next method is a bit different from the previous method. It does involve inserting shapes, but the process of creating a semi-circle is a bit different. Let me show you what I mean.

Step 1 – Insert a Pie Shape

The first step is to insert a “Pie Shape“.

To do that, click on the “Insert” ribbon. Then, click on the “Shapes” option. From the dropdown, locate and select the “Pie” option (as indicated in the image above).

If you are unsure what the shape is, you can place your mouse cursor over the shape for a couple of seconds and PowerPoint will show the name of the shape.

Step 2 – Use the Shift Key to Insert a Perfect Pie Shape

Next, as we did in the previous method, use the “Shift” key to create a perfectly symmetrical pie shape.

Hold the shift key and then drag the mouse cursor in one direction (preferably diagonally). You should end up with a perfect pie shape (as shown in the image above).

Step 3 – Use the Handles to Adjust the Pie Shape

The last thing that you need to do is create a half circle by adjusting the shape handles denoted by the yellow dots.

To do so, click on the shape first. Then, drag any one of the yellow dots on the shape either direction. Finally, adjust the two yellow dots such that they are diagonally opposite to each other.

The end result should look something like shown in the image above. If so, you should have a semi-circle shape in front of you!

I prefer this method over the above. The beauty of this method is that you can even create infographics using this type of pie shape. But, that’s a topic for another article!

2. How to Make a Half-Filled Circle in PowerPoint?

Now that you’ve learned how to make a half circle in PowerPoint, creating a half filled circle is actually quite easy.

Here’s a step by step process on how to create a half-filled circle in PowerPoint –

Step 1 – Insert a Perfect Circle

First, insert a perfect circle using the steps described in method 1 above.

Simply, click on the “Insert” tab. Then, click on “Shapes“, and from the dropdown choose the “Oval” shape.

Then, hold the “Shift” key and drag the mouse cursor on your slide in any direction. This will result in a perfect circle.

Step 2 – Insert a Pie Shape

Now, let’s insert a perfect pie shape in a similar manner.

Again, go back to the “Insert” tab and click on the “Shapes” option. Then, from the dropdown, click on the “Pie” shape.

As before, hold the “Shift” key and drag the mouse cursor in any one direction. This will insert a perfectly symmetrical “Pie Shape” on your slide.

Then, adjust the “Pie Shape” to make it a semi-circular shape (as per the process mentioned in method 2 above).

Step 3 – Match the Shape Size of the two Shapes

In the next step, we want to make sure that the size of both the shapes i.e. the circle and the pie are equal in size.

To do that, select both the shapes. Then, click on the “Shape Format“, and adjust the height and width of the shape to 4 cm each. This will ensure that the pie shape matches perfectly with the circle.

If you want a bigger shape, you can increase or decrease this value but make sure that height and width should be the same for both shapes.

Step 4 – Create the “Half-Filled Circle” effect

You can now see that the half-filled circle is already taking shape (pun intended!). The next thing that we need to do is polish the designs a bit so that the shapes can look liked a half-filled circle.

To do that, make sure that the circle has “No Fill”, and only has an “Outline”. Next, for the “Pie“, make sure that it is “No Outline”, and the fill color is the same as the outline color of the circle. (check the image above for your reference.

You can make all these changes from the “Shape Format” menu by selecting the shape.

Step 5 – Align the Shapes

The last thing that we are left to do is to align both the shapes perfectly in order to create a semi-circle.

To do that, select both the shapes. You can do that by holding the “Shift” key on the keyboard and then clicking on each of the two shapes one by one.

Then, click on the “Shape Format” option. From the ribbon, click on the “Align” tool. Next, from the dropdown that appears, click on the “Align Center” option. Click on the “Align” tool once again, and then choose the “Align Middle” button.

This will ensure that both the shapes are perfectly aligned with each other.

Once you have created the shape, you can also copy and paste the shape or create a duplicate shape by using the “Ctrl+D” option. Finally, you can adjust the handles of the semi-circle to make the shape look like a partially filled pie chart!

3. Circle PowerPoint Templates

If all this is a bit too much for you, a better option is to go with a PowerPoint template. Envato provides several different PowerPoint templates to choose from.

Below, I’ve listed 3 of the top circle based presentation templates. They are reasonably priced so you can get any one of them. Plus, they provide a ton a different circle designs and you get all of them instantly!

1. Circles PowerPoint Infographic

This template provides a ton of different circle layout options. To me, it looks quite modern and clean for most presentations. The interesting part is the circle designs used can actually be applied to more than just infographics.

This template is available at just $10, which is one of the cheapest price points to find a good template like this!

2. Circle Diagram Infographic Template

This template is great when you want to use circles to illustrate infographics. One downside of this template is that the circle infographic used in this templates can not be used individually for other slides.

Plus, this templates costs almost twice the 1st option provided. But all-in-all, a good template to go with if you are looking for circle based infographics!

3. Circle PowerPoint Infographic V3

So this template is also quite good. In fact, this is the 3rd version (more advanced) of the 1st option presented in this list. It is designed by the same creator.

It comes with a different set of designs as compared to the first option listed here. Both the templates look good. This template is priced at $12. So, it is quite reasonable too.

You do get upto 33 slide design options and it is easy to edit the shapes.

4. Envato Elements Subscription (Unlimited Download!)

Another option can be to use the Envato Elements. Basically, this provides you with unlimited presentation templates to be downloaded at a fixed price per month! You heard that right, you get UNLIMITED presentation template downloads. No questions asked!

The subscription is priced starting at $16.5 per month if you go for an annual plan. But, you can also go for a monthly plan for $33/month. Use the subscription for a month, download as many templates as you want, and then cancel the plan! (FYI – there are over 27,000 templates available for PowerPoint alone!)

That way, you potentially get hundreds of presentation at just $33! I think that’s a great deal!

Check out the various presentation templates available for PowerPoint on Envato Elements.

More PowerPoint Related Topics

1. How to Use a Presentation Clicker to Deliver Presentations Effectively!
2. How to Crop a Picture in PowerPoint? [Complete Step-by-Step Tutorial!]
3. How to Give a Presentation on Zoom? A Helpful Resource!
4. How to Convert a PowerPoint to PDF? [A Simple Guide!]
5. PowerPoint vs Google Slides: Which is Better? [ULTIMATE Test!]
6. How to Change Bullet Style in PowerPoint? A Complete Guide

Credit to KamranAydinov (on Freepik) for the Featured Image of this Article (further edited)