Create the chart

Microsoft® Office drawing tools

Drawing tools, such as AutoShapes and Draw menu commands, are available in Microsoft Office PowerPoint®, Word, Excel®, and FrontPage®, and to varying degrees in Publisher and Project.

Prep the workspace

• Tear off the Flowchart and Connectors submenus (AutoShapes menu, Drawing toolbar).
• Display the grid and guides (View menu).

Add AutoShapes

1. Double-click the icon (shape type) on the Flowchart menu.
2. On the slide, click the crosshairs pointer to apply the shape. Click for more copies of the shape.

   To deselect the shape type on the menu, either click it; click another type; or press ESC.

1. Click the shape on the menu.
2. On the slide, drag the crosshairs pointer to draw the shape.
3. For copies of the shape, either point to the shape, press CTRL, and drag; or, press CTRL+D.

Size the shapes/add word-wrap

To make individual shapes uniformly larger or smaller:

• Select them and drag a corner sizing handle on one of the shapes as you press SHIFT.

To set word-wrap:

1. Type text in one of the shapes.
2. Select all the shapes, and right-click the border of one of them.
3. Click Format AutoShape.
4. On the Text Box tab, click Word wrap text in AutoShape.

Line up shapes

Select the shapes you want to align or space. Open the Draw menu (Drawing toolbar), and point to Align or Distribute. Then click a relevant command. "Alignment" relates to the horizontal or vertical evenness of the shapes in a row or column. "Distribution" evens out the space between shapes.

Replace a shape

Replace one AutoShape with another:

1. Select the shape you want to replace.
2. On the Draw menu, point to Change AutoShape, and click a different shape from the Flowchart menu.

Apply connectors

1. Double-click the connector on the Connectors menu.
2. Hover and click over all the hot points and shapes where you want this connector type, clicking a start and end point for each connector.

   If you click the starting point for a connector and then don't want it, press ESC. To also deselect the connector type, press ESC again or click the type icon. You can click another connector type without deselecting the first one.

To apply just one connector, click the connector type once when you select it.

Other tips

• To automatically reroute connectors using the shortest path: Click one of the shapes the connector goes to, and then click Reroute Connectors on the Draw menu.
• To move one end of a connector to a different shape, drag the end.

Size/move the chart as a whole

Size the chart:

1. Select all the shapes and connectors in the chart.
2. Right-click the border of a shape, point to Grouping on the menu, and click Group.
3. Point to a corner sizing handle on the chart, look for the two-headed arrow pointer , and drag. Press SHIFT to keep the aspect ratio consistent.
4. While the shapes are grouped, use the Font dialog box (Format menu) to change the font size as necessary.

Move the chart:

• With the shapes still grouped, point to the edge of the chart, look for the four-headed arrow pointer , and drag.

To ungroup the shapes:

• Right-click the border of the chart, point to Grouping on the menu, and click Ungroup.

Design it

Tools for designing

• Buttons on the Drawing toolbar—such as Fill Color and Font Color.
• The Font dialog box (Format menu).
• The Format AutoShape dialog box (right-click a shape).

Set a default design

1. Right-click the shape.
2. Click Set AutoShape Defaults on the menu.

Tip    Keep a copy of a shape with original default styles in case you want those as the default later.

Which charting tool is best?

Using Microsoft Office Visio® for your flowchart

Features that Visio provides include templates for a range of flowchart types; support for larger charts with complex layouts; and information storage—for example, the cost or duration of a step can be stored with its shape in the chart. Having the chart in an independent file also makes it easier to maintain if you're going to update it over time or you want to use it in multiple contexts.

Click these links to read more about:

• Creating flowcharts in Visio vs. PowerPoint.
• Including Visio diagrams in PowerPoint presentations.
• Designing a Visio diagram in the best colors for a PowerPoint slide.

Chart visibility in PowerPoint

However you author your chart, consider: Will the chart be projected? If so, shapes need to be big enough—and hence, few enough in number—for their text to be read at about 10 feet's distance from a computer monitor (this translates into a font size of about 18-20 points). If you want the chart to be readable in a handout only, a chart with more shapes is okay, as text can be as small as 8 points.