This post relates to my previous post of pasting an object at the cursor location. This macro simply toggles the Insert Rectangle function, when added to the Quick Access Toolbar in PowerPoint, showing you the crosshairs to draw the rectangle at your current cursor location.
To set up: In the menu bar, click on PowerPoint>Preferences>Ribbon and Toolbar>Quick Access Toolbar. From here, select All Commands from the left column. Scroll to Rectangle and select the one that looks like a darker blue square. On my computer it's the middle one of the three available options.
Add this one to the Quick Access Toolbar as the first option (this is necessary - if it is not the first item in the Quick Access Toolbar, the Applescript code will not work). To test if you selected the right 'Rectangle' click on the rectangle icon next to the minimize button of the Powerpoint window. If crosshairs appear, allowing you to draw/drag the rectangle on the slide, it's correct.
Next, create new keyboard shortcut in BTT. Add an action: Run Apple Script (blocking). Add the following code:
tell application "System Events" to tell application process "Microsoft PowerPoint"
activate
tell window 1
click checkbox 1 of group 1 of toolbar 1
end tell
end tell
tell application "Microsoft PowerPoint" to activate
Now when you run the macro, the crosshairs for inserting shape will appear at your cursor location allowing you to insert the shape wherever your heart desires.