Merge text and pictures in PPT 2019

You can merge text and a picture in PPT. The use of the different options is much more limited than merging with shapes. In the examples below I merged a picture and a text box.

You can merge in 5 different ways: unite, combine, fragment, intersect, subtract.

After selecting the overlapping objects, you can merge them by clicking on the Format tab under Drawing Tools, Insert Shapes group, Merge Shapes button.

If you select the picture first and merge with the text box unify, combine, intersect and subtract will result in one picture if you fragment several pictures. Text is no longer editable of course.

If you select the text box first then the picture all methods will result in one or several shapes.

In the example below, in the fragment column I used a colored outline with a suitable thickness so you can clearly see that every single letter is a picture. You can see this when you click on an individual letter, the context menu picture tools will be active in the ribbon. 

Merged objects get the colour of the object you select first. Only combine, fragment and intersect are useful.

If you select the picture first and you have a background on your slide other than white, combine and subtract will show that background through the letters. See the example below.

If you select the text box first and you have a background other than white combine will show that background through the letters. See the example below.