Creating SmartArt
SMARTART OBJECTS ARE professionally designed graphics that combine shapes and text to show relationships, cycles, processes, and workflows. The graphics get their name because of the intelligence built into their design. As text is added into the SmartArt shapes, the text is automatically resized to fit the shape, and the text in all of the other shapes in the graphic are resized to match.
There are dozens of these SmartArt graphics included in Excel in seven categories, as described in Table 12-1. Several of these objects also allow you to add images to the selected graphic type.
| Categories | Purpose |
|---|---|
| List | Show non-sequential items |
| Process | Display steps that occur sequentially |
| Cycle | Demonstrate steps in a repeating, or continual, process |
| Hierarchy | Describe the relationship between two or more items, as in an organization chart |
| Relationship | Illustrate how items are connected |
| Matrix | Show how parts relate to a whole |
| Pyramid | Show proportional relationships with the largest component at either the top or the bottom of a pyramid |
To insert a SmartArt object into your worksheet, choose Insert > Illustrations > SmartArt from the Ribbon to open the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box, as shown in Figure 12-16. Click a category from the pane on the left to see the graphic objects that best illustrate that type of relationship and then click on the object you want. Excel includes the object on your worksheet and adds two new tabs under a SmartArt Tools category (see Figure 12-17).
Excel provides a number of opportunities to customize these objects:
Add text to your objects: Choose SmartArt
Tools Design > Create Graphic > Text Pane. Excel opens an editing pane to the left of the SmartArt graphic with the insertion point positioned at the first bullet (see Figure 12-18). Simply type your content into the bullet and press the down arrow, or click the next line, to move the insertion point.
Tip
Pressing the Enter key after you type the SmartArt entry will add a new section to the graphic. Delete unwanted sections by selecting them and pressing Delete.
Change the color of your SmartArt objects Choose SmartArt Tools Design > SmartArt Styles > Change Colors and select a color option from the gallery (see Figure 12-19).
Figure 12-19. SmartArt color gallery.
Choose another SmartArt layout Choose SmartArt Tools Design > Layouts and open the Layouts gallery (see Figure 12-20). Click More Layouts to open the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box. Select another layout from the options and Excel will convert your existing text and images to fit the new layout.
Adding Pictures to SmartArt
Imagine using a SmartArt graphic to record a list of related items. You’ve chosen a list graphic type and added the text to each shape, but you still don’t feel like you’ve conveyed the full message. Now imagine how much more clear the difference between the items becomes if you could add pictures of each of the items (see Figure 12-21).
The Pictures category of the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box contains several SmartArt graphics that include the option for adding a picture. You can add any image stored on your computer to these graphics. To add pictures to a SmartArt graphic, follow these steps:
1. | Select your Picture SmartArt from the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box and add the text as usual. |
2. | Double-click the picture icon on the SmartArt graphic. Excel opens the Insert Picture dialog box. |
3. | Select the picture you want to add and press Insert. Excel adds the picture to the SmartArt graphic. |
Changing SmartArt Shapes
SmartArt graphics come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but you may find that the predefined shape does not suit your content. You can use the Shapes tool you discovered earlier in this chapter to change the shape of one or all of the SmartArt graphics. Because different shapes can be applied to each graphic object, each object in the SmartArt graphic must be selected individually. To select more than one object at a time, hold the Ctrl key as you click each shape.
Select the objects you want to change and choose SmartArt Tools Format > Shapes > Change Shape to open a gallery of available shapes (see Figure 12-22). Choose a new shape from the gallery and Excel will update the SmartArt graphic to reflect that choice, as illustrated by Figure 12-23.
