Location in PowerPoint
Select your objects, then: Drawing Tools Format Tab > Merge Shapes
Adobe-based tool
There is a technical difference between Shape Modes and Pathfinders. Shape Modes create new polygons of a single color. Pathfinders break existing shapes into distinct paths using the colors of the original objects.
Shape Modes:
- Unite
- Minus Front
- Intersect
- Exclude
Pathfinders:
- Divide
- Trim
- Merge
- Crop
- Outline
- Minus Back
PowerPoint equivalent
PowerPoint may seem to have many fewer pathfinder options than Illustrator. However, only two Illustrator functions don’t exist in PowerPoint.
Merge Shapes:
Union = Unite
Combine = Exclude
Fragment = Divide
Intersect = Intersect (whoa!)
Subtract = Minus Front & Minus Back
Examples of use
Original Shapes
Resulting shape(s) & their respective tool command
| Result Image | PPT icon | ppt caption | Adobe icon | adobe caption |
 |  | union |  | unite |
 | | subtract, select square first | | subtract front |
 | | subtract, select circle first | | subtract back |
 | | combine | | exclude |
 | | fragment | | divide |
 | | intersect | | intersect |
 | | NO EQUIVALENT | | trim |
 | | NO EQUIVALENT | | merge |
 | | NO EQUIVALENT | | outline, third shape added to show results |
 | | NO EQUIVALENT | | crop |
Potential Gotchas
Watch out for this. Why is the merge tool not the same as the union tool? Maybe it's like grouping