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When labels are set to Align Right, the text jumps out of the label

Problem

When you select text in a think-cell element and click Home > Paragraph > Align Right in PowerPoint, the text may jump out of its containing think-cell label or element, and may even leave the visible slide area. If a think-cell label uses Align Right by default, e.g., category labels in bar charts, this happens when you insert such a chart.

Explanation

The problem only occurs if the text box includes a tab stop. If PowerPoint's body text placeholder on the slide master contains a tab stop, think-cell is affected because it follows the body text placeholder's text settings.

The problem is caused by a bug in PowerPoint 2007 and later. PowerPoint 2003 behaved correctly. We have filed a case with Microsoft, but a fix for current PowerPoint versions was denied. If you want to contact Microsoft Office Support and ask them to reconsider, you may refer to case number 114071111611362. The problem can be reproduced without think-cell.

Reproduction without think-cell

Please perform the following steps:

  1. Start PowerPoint 2016/2013/2010/2007 with a new empty file.
  2. Insert a rectangle with Home > Drawing > Rectangle.
  3. Type a line of text into the rectangle. The line should be shorter than the width of the rectangle. Make sure that the text color differs from the slide background color.
  4. Select a character in the text.
  5. Add a tab stop close to the right-hand side of the rectangle.
  6. Right-click the rectangle and remove the check mark from Format Shape > Text Options > Text Box > Wrap text in shape.
  7. Reduce the rectangle's horizontal width until the tab stop is outside of the rectangle.
  8. Click Home > Paragraph > Align Right.

Solution

As a workaround until Microsoft fixes this bug, do not use tab stops together with PowerPoint's Align Right button if the shape has Wrap text in shape set to off. This includes think-cell labels because think-cell needs to control text wrap more accurately than Wrap text in shape can achieve.

If the tab stop is in PowerPoint's body text placeholder, you can fix the problem for all subsequently inserted think-cell labels:

  1. Open the Slide Master in PowerPoint: View > Master Views > Slide Master
  2. Go to the slide master's top level slide and remove any tab stops from the body text placeholder. You may have to increase the width of the body text placeholder in order to see the tab stop in PowerPoint's ruler.
  3. Click PowerPoint > Slide Master > Close > Close Master View.
  4. Delete and reinsert existing think-cell labels to fix them.

To fix the problem for individual think-cell labels without changing PowerPoint's body text placeholder:

  1. Select the label. Note that you need to select think-cell's currently empty label frame, which is highlighted in orange when you move the mouse over it. You cannot select the misplaced text.
  2. Change the label's alignment setting in PowerPoint: Home > Paragraph > Align Left or Align Center
  3. You can do this for several labels at once. Please refer to 3.5.1 Multi-selection in our user manual.

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