Chapter 16. Using SmartArt, Shapes, WordArt, and Text Boxes

In this chapter

Using SmartArt 328

Using Shapes to Display Cell Contents 342

Using WordArt for Interesting Titles and Headlines 345

Using Text Boxes to Flow Long Text Passages 347

Images and artwork provide an interesting visual break from tables of numbers. Office 2007 provides four elements that can be used to illustrate a workbook:

• SmartArt—SmartArt is a collection of similar shapes, arranged to imply a process, groups, or a hierarchy. In former versions of Excel, SmartArt was known as Diagrams. As in the past, it is easy to add new shapes, reverse the order of shapes, and change the color of shapes. Office 2007 includes a text editor that allows for Level 1 and Level 2 text for each shape in a diagram. Many styles of SmartArt include the capability to add a small picture or logo to each shape.
• Shapes—You can add interesting shapes to a document. A shape can contain words; it is the only art object in which the words can come from a cell on the worksheet. You can add glow, bevel, and 3-D effects to shapes. In previous versions of Excel, shapes were known as AutoShapes. Microsoft has added some new shapes as well as several formatting properties.
• WordArt—You use WordArt to present ordinary text it in a stylized manner. You can use it to bend, rotate, and twist the characters in text. In Excel 2007, you can add glow, bevel, and material effects. WordArt has been completely redesigned from previous versions of Excel.
• Text boxes—You use a text box to allow text to flow in a defined area. This feature is excellent if you need to include paragraphs of body copy in a worksheet. A new feature in Excel 2007 is the ability to have text flow through multiple columns in a single text box.

Using SmartArt

You use SmartArt to show a series of similar shapes, where each shape represents a related step, concept, idea, or grouping.

SmartArt in Excel 2007 is an enhanced version of business diagrams from previous versions of Excel. In Excel 2007, Microsoft has addressed many of the shortcomings of business diagrams, including the following:

• Each shape has an associated text editor.
• Shapes can contain Level 1 text for headlines and Level 2 text for body copy.
• Some styles now allow shapes to include an image.
• Automatic settings in SmartArt can automatically resize the text in all shapes to allow the longest text to fit.
• Quick Styles allows you to apply glow and bevels to an entire SmartArt diagram.

The goal of SmartArt is to allow you to create a great-looking graphic with a minimum of effort. After you define a SmartArt image, you can quickly change to any of the other 84 styles by choosing the desired style from the gallery. Text is carried from one style to the next. Figure 16.1 shows four different SmartArt styles:

• Basic Process—In this style, all text is typed as Level 1.
• Accent Process—This style puts the Level 1 text in the background and highlights the Level 2 text in the foreground boxes.
• Picture Accent Process—This style gives equal weight to the Level 1 and Level 2 text. Pictures are added behind each shape.
• Picture Accent List—Unlike the process charts, a list chart does not include arrows to indicate a process.

Figure 16.1. Subtle differences in 4 of the 84 possible SmartArt styles give more weight to either Level 1 or Level 2 text.

If you want to fine-tune the text in a particular box, you can select SmartArt Tools from the Format ribbon to micromanage any element in the SmartArt. Use caution, as adjusting the built-in properties is a great way to very quickly ruin the look of the SmartArt.

Elements Common Across Most SmartArt

A SmartArt style is a collection of two or more related shapes. In most styles, you can add additional shapes in order to illustrate a longer process. A few styles are limited to only n items. Each shape can contain a headline (Level 1 text), body copy (Level 2 text), and a graphic. Some of the 84 styles show only Level 1 text. If you switch to a style that does not display Level 2 text and then back, the shape remembers the Level 2 text it originally had.

Some of the 84 SmartArt styles can include pictures. You should add pictures after you have selected your final style. Changing layout styles always causes pictures to be lost, so you should finalize a layout before adding the images. Some styles include arrows between shapes to illustrate a process.

While you’re editing SmartArt, a text pane that is slightly reminiscent of PowerPoint appears. You can type some bullet points in the text pane. If you demote a bullet point, the text changes from Level 1 text to Level 2 text. If you add a new bullet point, Excel adds a new shape to the SmartArt.

A Tour of the SmartArt Categories

The SmartArt gallery groups the 84 SmartArt layouts into seven broad categories:

• List—This category is designed to show a nonsequential list of information. Variations include horizontal, vertical, and bending lists. Some lists include chevrons, and some include pictures. In general, these styles do not include arrows between shapes.
• Process—This category is designed to show a sequential list of steps. Variations include horizontal, vertical, bending, equations, funnels, gears, and several varieties of arrows. Some process charts allow the inclusion of images. Most styles include arrows or other connectors in order to convey a sequence.
• Cycle—This category is designed to show a series of steps that repeat. It includes cycle charts, radial charts, a gear chart, and a pie chart.
• Hierarchy—This category is designed to show organization charts, decision trees, and other hierarchical relationships. Variations include horizontal, vertical, and with and without connecting lines.
• Relationship—This category is designed to show a relationship between items. Many of these layouts in this category are duplicated from the other six categories. The category includes one to five examples each of arrow, chart, cycle, equation, funnel, gear, hierarchy, list, process, pyramid, radial, target, and Venn chart layouts.
• Matrix—This category is designed to show four quadrants of a list. Only two options exist: either four quadrants and a central element or four quadrants.
• Pyramid—This category is designed to show containment, overlapping, proportional, or interconnected relationships.

Figure 16.2 shows one version of each of the seven categories.

Figure 16.2. SmartArt diagrams exist in seven broad categories.

Inserting SmartArt

Although there are 84 different layouts of SmartArt, you follow the same basic steps to insert any SmartArt layout:

1. Select a cell in a blank section of the workbook.
2. From the Insert ribbon, choose SmartArt from the Illustrations group. The Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog appears.
3. In the left side of the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog, select a category.
4. Click a SmartArt type in the center of the Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog.
5. Read the description on the right side. This description tells you whether the layout is good for Level 1 text, Level 2 text, or both. In Figure 16.3 the Vertical Chevron List layout is good for large amounts of Level 2 text.

   Figure 16.3. The description for each style provides information about whether a particular style is appropriate for more Level 1 or Level 2 text.

   

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you find a style suitable for your content. Then click OK. As shown in Figure 16.4, an outline of the SmartArt is drawn on the worksheet. The flashing insertion cursor is in the first item of the text pane. One element of the SmartArt is selected. When you type text at the flashing insertion point, it is added to the selected shape.

   Figure 16.4. When you type in the text pane, the text is added to the selected element of the SmartArt.

   

7. Fill in the text pane with text for your SmartArt. You can add, delete, promote, or demote items by using icons in the SmartArt Tools, Design, Create Graphic group. The SmartArt updates as you type more text. In many cases, adding a new Level 1 item adds a new shape element to the SmartArt.
8. Add longer text to the SmartArt, and Excel shrinks the font size of all the elements in order to make the text fit. You can make the entire SmartArt graphic larger at any time by grabbing the resize handles in the corners of the SmartArt and dragging to a new size. After you resize the graphic, Excel resizes the text to make it fit in the SmartArt at the largest size possible.
9. If you like, change the color scheme of the SmartArt, which initially appears in one color. To do so, select SmartArt Tools Design, SmartArt Styles, Change Colors. Excel offers several versions of monochrome styles and five styles of color variations for each shape.
10. Choose a basic or 3-D style from the SmartArt Styles gallery. The Inset or Cartoon styles have a suitable mix of effects but are still readable.
11. Move the SmartArt to the proper location. Position the mouse over the border of the SmartArt, avoiding the eight Resize handles. The cursor changes to a four-headed arrow. Click and drag the SmartArt to a new location. If you drag the SmartArt to the left side of the worksheet, the text pane moves to the right of the SmartArt.
12. Click outside the SmartArt. Excel embeds the SmartArt graphic in the worksheet and hides the SmartArt ribbons. The completed SmartArt is shown in Figure 16.5.

Figure 16.5. You click outside the SmartArt boundary to embed the completed SmartArt.

Changing Existing SmartArt to a New Style

There are a couple ways to change SmartArt to a new style:

• You can left-click the SmartArt and then choose the SmartArt Tools, Layouts from the Design ribbon to choose a new layout. As shown in Figure 16.6, the Layouts drop-down initially shows only the styles that Excel thinks are a close fit to the current style. If you want to access the complete list of styles, you have to select More Layouts. The advantage of this method is that Live Preview shows you the changes before you commit to a style. Figures 16.7 through 16.9 show other styles in Live Preview.

Figure 16.6. List Process 2 provides a new shape for each bullet point in Level 2.

Figure 16.7. Picture List 1 allocates a lot of space for images and minimal space for text.

Figure 16.8. Vertical List 1 is good for large amounts of Level 2 text.

Figure 16.9. Picture List 2 can handle a balance of text and pictures.

• A faster way to access the complete list of styles is to right-click between two shapes in the SmartArt and choose Change Layout from the context menu. This step is a little tricky because you cannot click an existing shape; you must click inside the SmartArt border, but on a section of the SmartArt that contains nothing.

Micromanaging SmartArt Elements

The are two ribbons for SmartArt tools. The Design ribbon allows you to change the overall design of the SmartArt. If you stay on the Design ribbon, Microsoft makes sure that your SmartArt looks good. It keeps the font for all Level 2 text consistent for all shapes. It keeps all the shapes proportional. If you have a particular need to override some aspect of one shape, however, you can do so on the Format ribbon.

Changing Text Formatting in One Element

In Automatic mode, Excel chooses a font size that is small enough to show the longest text completely. This can cause problems if you have one shape with long text and short text everywhere else. In this case, Excel chooses a small font size for the long text and then forces all the other items to have tiny text as well. In such a situation, you might want to override the text size for the shape that has the longest text. Excel then automatically resizes the font size in the remaining automatic shapes to be larger.

The mini toolbar is useful for making these changes. You select the text either directly in the shape or in the text pane. Immediately after you complete the selection, you should watch for an almost-transparent formatting box to appear. Then you immediately move the mouse to the box to prevent it from disappearing. You can then change the font size by using the drop-down in the mini toolbar. If you allow the mini toolbar to disappear, you can use the formatting tools on the Home ribbon to change the font size.

In Figure 16.10, the long Level 2 text in step 4 was resized. Excel then calculated the proper text size for steps 1 through 3, resulting in the text in the top three shapes automatically growing to a larger font size.

Figure 16.10. When you manually override the font size in the fourth shape, the text in the remaining three shapes automatically becomes larger.

Changing One Shape

There are many items you can edit for a SmartArt shape. To see how this works, click any shape in the SmartArt and then try the following:

• You can use the green handle to rotate the shape.
• You can use the resize handles to resize the shape.
• You can use the move handle to nudge the shape.
• You can choose Shapes, Change Shape from the SmartArt Tools Format ribbon to completely change the shape.
• You can choose settings from the Shape Styles group to change fill, outline, and effects for the shape.
• You can choose settings from the WordArt Styles group to change the text inside the shape.
• You can right-click the shape and choose Format Shape to have complete control over the shape.

In general, SmartArt created on the Design ribbon looks uniform and neat. When you move to the Format ribbon, the possibility for chaos arises. For example, the SmartArt in Figure 16.11 contains mixed effects, font sizes, and rotation; it was created in the Format ribbon.

Figure 16.11. After experimenting with the Format ribbon, you can choose Reset Graphic on the Design ribbon to turn the SmartArt back into something more uniform.

Controlling SmartArt Shapes from the Text Pane

The text pane represents a fantastic improvement over business diagrams in Excel 2003. By using only the keyboard, you can add or delete shapes and promote or demote items. Further, the text pane has proofing tools such as spell check. Using the text pane is similar to creating bullet points in a PowerPoint slide.

Figure 16.12 shows a newly inserted pyramid SmartArt in Excel. By default, most new SmartArt diagrams have three shapes, but you can change that number by using the text pane.

Figure 16.12. A default SmartArt includes three shapes. You can edit the number of shapes by using the text pane.

The following rules apply to the text pane for SmartArt:

• You press Up Arrow or Down Arrow keys to move from one line to another.
• You press the Enter key to insert a new line below the current line. The new line will be at the same level as the current line. Adding a new Level 1 line inserts a new shape in the SmartArt.
• You press the Tab key to demote Level 1 text to Level 2 text.
• You press Shift+Tab to promote Level 2 text to Level 1 text.
• You press the Backspace key on an empty line to delete the line.
• You press Delete at the end of any line to combine text from the next line with this line.
• You press End to move to the end of the current line.
• You press Home to move to the beginning of the current line.

As you add shapes, Excel continues to attempt to squeeze them into the default size. You can resize an entire piece of SmartArt by using the resize handles around the SmartArt.

Strictly as an example of how the text pane works, you can use the following steps to customize Figure 16.12 into Figure 16.13. This example illustrates how quickly and simply you can change from the default SmartArt with three shapes to any number of shapes:

1. Type Shape 1 and then press Enter.
2. Type Subtext and then press Tab to demote the item. Then press the Down Arrow key to move to Text 2.
3. Type Shape 2 and then press Enter.
4. Type Point 1 and then press Tab and Enter.
5. Type Point 2 and then press Tab and the Down Arrow key.
6. Type Shape 3 and then press Enter.
7. Type Point 3 and then press Tab and Enter.
8. Excel wants the next item to be Level 2 text, so press Shift+Tab to promote this item.
9. Type Shape 4 and then press Enter, type Shape 5 and then press Enter, type Shape 6 and then press Enter, and type Shape 7 and then press Enter.
10. Type Point 4 and then press Tab, Enter, and Shift+Tab, and then type 8.
11. Using the mouse, resize the SmartArt so it is larger.
12. From the Quick Styles gallery on the Design ribbon, choose a color scheme.

Figure 16.13. You can add additional shapes and subpoints simply by using the text pane.

The result is shown in Figure 16.13. As this example shows, by using only the keyboard and the text pane, you can quickly expand SmartArt and add Level 2 subpoints.

Adding Images to SmartArt

Seven SmartArt layouts in the List category are designed to hold small images in addition to the text. In some of these styles, the picture is emphasized; in others, the focus shifts to the text, and the picture is an accent:

• Picture Caption List—This style includes a large picture and is designed to emphasize the picture.
• Horizontal Picture List—This style includes a large picture and a large space for text. It is good for a balance of pictures and text.
• Continuous Picture List—This style includes a large picture and minimal text.
• Vertical Picture List—This style contains a small square picture and text.
• Vertical Picture Accent List—This style contains a small round picture on the left and text.
• Bending Picture Accent List—This style contains a small circular picture.
• Picture Accent List—This style contains a small square picture in the upper right of each block.

When you select one of these styles, you first build the text and then add shapes as necessary. The SmartArt shows a picture icon in each shape, as shown in Figure 16.14.

Figure 16.14. In the SmartArt styles that include pictures, you should arrange the shapes before trying to add pictures.

You can click a picture icon to display the Insert Picture dialog. Then you can choose a picture and click Insert. You repeat this process to add each additional picture. The pictures are automatically resized to fit the allotted area, as shown in Figure 16.15.

Figure 16.15. Pictures have been added to each shape. Only seven SmartArt styles are prebuilt with placeholders for pictures.

Special Considerations for Organizational Charts and Hierarchical SmartArt

Hierarchical SmartArt can contain more than two text levels. As you add more levels to the SmartArt, Excel continues to intelligently add boxes and resize them to fit.

Figure 16.16 shows a diagram created in the Hierarchy 1 style. In this style, each level is assigned a different color.

Figure 16.16. Hierarchical SmartArt can contain more than two levels.

The first style available in the Hierarchical category is the Organization Chart style. This style is used to describe reporting relationships in an organization. There are a few extra options in the ribbon for organization charts. For example, if you select the SmartArt Tools Design ribbon, the Add Shape drop-down includes the option Add Assistant, as shown in Figure 16.17. You can select this option to add an extra shape immediately below the selected level.

Figure 16.17. The Add Assistant selection adds a box for an administrative assistant below the selected shape.

In the Create Graphic group of the Design ribbon, the Org Chart drop-down offers four options for showing the boxes within a group. First, you select the manager for the group. Then you select the appropriate type from the drop-down to affect all direct reports for the manager. Figure 16.18 illustrates the four options for Org Chart:

• VP of Sales—This option shows a standard organization chart. The regions are arranged side-by-side.
• VP of Manufacturing—This option has a Right Hanging group. The departments are arranged vertically to the right of the line.
• VP of Engineering—This option has a Left Hanging group. The departments are arranged vertically to the left of the line.
• CFO—This option has a Both group. The direct reports are listed in two columns under the manager, on both sides of the vertical line.

In each group, the assistant box is keyed a different color and is set off from the other boxes.

Figure 16.18. Organization charts include additional options to control the arrangement of direct reports.

Using Limited SmartArt

Most of the SmartArt examples in the previous section are expandable: As you add Level 1 text, new shapes are added to the SmartArt. However, some SmartArt styles cannot be expanded:

• The top-left image in Figure 16.19 shows a gear chart. Both the gear and funnel charts are limited to three items. If you add additional items to the text pane, each appears with a red x. These items do not display in the SmartArt, but they are stored in case you later change to another SmartArt layout.

Figure 16.19. Arrows, gears, funnels, and matrix shapes have certain limitations on the number of shapes they can contain.

• Many of the arrow layouts in the Relationship category are limited to two shapes.
• The Matrix layouts are limited to four quadrants. Grid Matrix offers four quadrants plus a title, as shown in the center of Figure 16.19.
• The Segmented Pyramid style can be expanded, but it must contain 1, 4, 9, or 16 shapes. As soon as you add a fifth style to the SmartArt in the upper-left corner of the display, an entire row is added to the bottom of the pyramid, resulting in the SmartArt shown in the lower right of Figure 16.19.
• The Equation style can be expanded, but the answer is always the last Level 1 item in the text pane.

All in all, SmartArt is a great addition to the Office family. The one real drawback related to SmartArt in Excel 2007 is the inability to link cell content to the text in SmartArt. To do that, you have to use shapes, as described in the following section.

Using Shapes to Display Cell Contents

Shapes were known in previous versions of Excel as AutoShapes. Microsoft has added new shapes to the already long list of shapes available in AutoShapes. In addition, Excel 2007 shapes have some new formatting options, such as shadow, glow, and bevel.

Perhaps the best part of shapes is that you can tie the text on a shape to a worksheet cell. In Figure 16.20, for example, the shape is set to display the current value of cell B26. Every time the worksheet is calculated, the text on the shape is updated.

Figure 16.20. Shapes can be set to display the current value of a cell.

You follow these steps to insert a shape into a worksheet:

1. Select a blank area of the worksheet.
2. From the Insert ribbon, open the Shapes drop-down.
3. Select 1 of the 160 basic shapes, as shown in Figure 16.21.

   Figure 16.21. Choose from these shapes.

   

4. The mouse pointer changes to a small crosshair. Click and drag in the worksheet to draw the shape.
5. Choose a color scheme from the Shapes Styles drop-down.
6. Select Shape Effects, Preset and select an effect.
7. Look for a yellow diamond on the shape. It allows you to change the inflection point for the shape. On the rounded rectangle, for example, sliding the yellow diamond controls how wide the rounded corners are.
8. Look for a green circle on the outside of the shape. Drag this circle to rotate the shape, if necessary.
9. To include static text in the shape, click in the middle of the shape and type the text. You can control the style by using the WordArt Styles drop-down. You can control text size and color by using the formatting buttons on the Home ribbon. The shape can include text from any cell, but it cannot perform a calculation. If you want the shape to include a calculated value, skip this step and follow steps 10 through 12.
10. If desired, add a new cell that will format a message for the WordArt. As shown in Figure 16.22, add the formula ="We are at "&TEXT(B13,"0%")&" of our goal!" to an empty cell to convert the calculation in Cell B13 to a suitable message.

    Figure 16.22. This shape picks up the formula from Cell B14 to show a message that changes with the worksheet.

    

11. Click in the middle of the text box as if you were about to type some text.
12. Click in the formula bar and type =B14 and then press Enter. As shown in Figure 16.22, the shape displays the results from the selected cell.

Working with Shapes

The Drawing Tools section of the Format ribbon contains sections to change the shape style, fill, outline, effects, and WordArt effects.

In the Insert Shapes dialog, you use the Edit Shape, Change Shape command to choose another shape style.

If you right-click a shape and choose Format Shape, Excel displays the Format Shape dialog, with the fine-tuning settings Fill, Line, Line Style, Shadow, 3D Format, 3D Rotation, and Text Placement.

Using the Freeform Shape to Create a Custom Shape

Despite my friendly relationship with Microsoft, I have not convinced them to add the MrExcel logo to the Shapes gallery (yet). However, you can build any shape by using the Freeform line tools in the Shapes gallery.

After you create a shape, you can add 3-D effects, glow, and so on to make a cool-looking version of your company logo, as shown in Figure 16.23.

Figure 16.23. This shape was created with the freeform shape tool and then enhanced using the Drawing Tools section of the Format ribbon.

To create a custom shape, you follow these steps:

1. Insert a picture of the shape that you can use as a guide to trace.
2. From the Insert ribbon, choose the Shapes drop-down. In the Lines section, the last two shapes are Freeform and Scribble. Select the FreeForm shape.
3. Click one corner of your logo.
4. Move the mouse to the adjacent corner of the logo and click again.
5. Repeat step 4 for each corner. If your logo has a curve, click several times around the perimeter of the curve. The more often you click, the better the curve will be.
6. When you arrive back at the original corner, click one final time to close the shape and complete the drawing.
7. Use the effect and fill settings to color and stylize the logo.

Using WordArt for Interesting Titles and Headlines

WordArt has been rewritten in Excel 2007. As in previous versions, WordArt is best used sparingly—possibly for a headline or title at the top of a page. It is best used for impressive display fonts to add interest to a report. You would probably not want to create an entire 20-page document in WordArt.

To use WordArt, you follow these steps:

1. Select a blank section of the worksheet.
2. From the Insert ribbon, choose the WordArt drop-down.
3. As shown in Figure 16.24, choose from the 30 WordArt presets in the drop-down. Don’t worry that these presets seem less exciting than the WordArt in prior versions of Excel. You will be able to customize the WordArt later.

   Figure 16.24. Excel offers 25 WordArt presets.

   

4. Excel adds the generic text Your Text Here in the preset WordArt you chose. Select this default text and then type your own text.
5. Select the text. Choose a new font style by using either the mini toolbar that appears or the Home ribbon.
6. Use the WordArt Styles group on the Drawing Tools Format ribbon to color the WordArt. To the right of the Styles drop-down are icons for text color and line color and a drop-down for effects. The Effects drop-down includes the fly-out menus Shadow, Reflection, Glow, Soft Edges, Bevel, and 3D Rotation.
7. To achieve the old-style WordArt effects, from the Format ribbon, select Drawing Tools, WordArt Styles, Text Effects, Transform and then select a shape for the text. Figure 16.25 shows the WordArt with a Wave 1 transformation.

Figure 16.25. WordArt includes the Transform menu to bend and twist type.

Using Text Boxes to Flow Long Text Passages

WordArt is perfect for short titles. However, it is not suitable for long text passages that you want to fit in a range. Figure 16.26 shows a series of sentences in a column. The sentences are of different lengths. You would like to have them fit in a range from Column A through Column D.

Figure 16.26. There are times when you need Excel to act like a word processor.

You can solve this particular problem by following these steps:

1. Select a range to include the sentences and extend the range out to Column D.
2. Select the Home ribbon and then select Editing, Fill, Justify. Excel word wraps the sentences to fit the current widths of Columns A:D, as shown in Figure 16.27.

Figure 16.27. The Justify command wraps the text to the width of the range that was selected before the command was invoked.

This solution is not perfect. It was written over a decade ago, when a cell could not contain more than 255 characters.

If you subsequently resize Column A, the text does not reflow. You have to use the Justify command again. In addition, if you change the font size of the text in Column A, you have to use the Justify command again.

If any cell in the input range contains more than 255 characters, the cell is truncated. This is the fatal flaw that causes Justify to fail most often. To solve this problem, you use a Text Box object. This object has been improved in Excel 2007 to easily allow multiple columns in the text box.

To use a Text Box object to create two columns of text, you follow these steps:

1. Select a blank section of the worksheet.
2. From the Insert ribbon, choose Text, Text Box.
3. Drag in your document to draw a large text box on the worksheet.
4. Either type your text here or switch to Word, copy the text, and then switch back to Excel and paste the text.
5. Right-click the text box and choose Exit Edit Mode.
6. Use the Font group on the Home ribbon to adjust the font size and face.
7. Right-click the text box. Choose Format Shape. The Format Shape dialog appears.
8. In the Format Shape dialog, choose the Text Box category.
9. Adjust the margins and alignment, if desired.
10. Click the Columns button. The Columns dialog appears.
11. Choose two columns with nonzero spacing between them, as shown in Figure 16.28.

    Figure 16.28. You can change the number of columns.

    

12. Click OK to close the Columns dialog. Click Close to close the Format Shape dialog.

The result, as shown in Figure 16.29, is a text box that has two columns of text. As you change the size of the text, it automatically reflows to fit the desired columns.

Figure 16.29. A text box can hold long passages of text.

The SmartArt, WordArt, and Shapes tools in Excel 2007 allow you to add visual interest to your workbooks. In Chapter 17, “Using Pictures and Clip Art,” you will learn about Excel’s picture-handling abilities.