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