5 Important Tips For Using Smartart In Ms Office 2010

By Author: Brooke M. Perry
Total Articles: 84
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Communicating your ideas through visual presentation always proved to be more effective and informative. What paragraphs of content can’t explain clearly, a simple diagram can do effectively. Diagrams have the capability to portray varied information on the same pallet with a force of conviction and clarity. Especially for drafting information like organizational charts, relationship among departments, process in action, diagrams are more readable than words from the reader’s perspective.

If you are a professional or a student, who often creates informative content, then learning SmartArt will be beneficial to you to make your work easier than ever. It’s a diagramming tool in MS Office 2010 and MS Office 2013 that offers you numerous options to create simple yet highly demonstrative diagrams to better explain the concept of your content. The more you will explore and practice with this tool, better you will learn how to use it. To start off, you can refer to the following important tips for using SmartArt in MS Office 2010.

1. First Think

SmartArt is really a smart tool that has pre-drawn graphical ...
... layouts grouped under different categories like ‘List,’ ‘Process,’ ‘Circle,’ Hieracrchy,’ ‘Relationship,’ ‘Matrix,’ ‘Pyramid’ and others. You can use these diagrams to best communicate your ideas in a way that will be eaiser for the reciever to percieve. But these diagrams can be effectual only if you, as a creater, know what you want to portray.

Hence, the first step of learning SmartArt is to generate the power of conceptualization. You must first think what you want to create; idea must be clear in your head. Now with that idea in your mind, check out the different diagrams under SmartArt and try to figureout which of these diagrams will best corelate with your idea.

To check the diagram, open any Word document and go to its upper taskbar to click on ‘Insert’>’SmartArt.’ A window will oppen showcasing all the diagrams available. Take your time and click through all the diagram styles and just think how you can best potray your ideas through those diagrams.

2. Improvise As Needed

You may not get the exact diagram that you are looking for. But that is not at all an issue as you have the complete flexibility to improvise any of the diagrams. You can add or delete shapes and structures from any of the diagram and can even alter their sizes and shapes. Remember, to launch the ‘SmartArt Tools’ it is important that first you select a diagram from the ‘Choose a SmartArt Graphic’ dialogue box after clicking on Insert>SmartArt.

Once you have decided the layout for the visual presentation, click on it and it will appear on your Word document or MS PPT page. Once the diagram is on your page, it will automatically launch the SmartArt tools under ‘Designer’ tab as the primary task bar at the top of the page.

The ‘Designer’ tab in MS 2010 and MS 2013 has three sections: ‘Create Graphic,’ ‘Layouts’ and ‘SmartArt Styles.’ Using the tools of these three sections you can alter shape and content in the text box included in your diagram at an individual level.

Furthermore, as per your need you can add shapes, pictures, text messages and do much more to expand the diagram. Tools for performing all kinds of actions are available under the ‘Designer’ tab.

3. Tighten The Text

These diagrams can’t be made informative without the use of text, but at the same time you can’t be using long and detailed texts. Hence, to create a good and informative diagram it is important that you choose crisp and compact text that should be concise and to the point. Both MS Office 2010 and MS Office 2013 have different tools dedicated to the enhancement of the text, like you can try changing the size, color, and font of the text. Also, you can add special effects to them. The rule of thumb here is to keep the text as simple as possible.

4. Special Touches

Once you are done with the arrangement of the structure and positions of the shapes and text boxes of your diagram and also finalized the text, its font, shape and size, then it’s time to add the special touches to it. MS Office 2010 has all sorts of special formatting tools such as WordArt styles, special effects like shadows, glows, and reflections. Also, there are designer touches that can be used to change the layout, shadow, color and add 3D effects to your diagram.

5. Animation For SmartArt Graphics

Animation is available for SmartArt graphics of MS PowerPoint 2010 and 2013; however, in a Word document you will not get the option to insert the animation. To incorporate additional emphasis on your information, you can add animation to your graphics. Using the animation, you can let your shapes move within the page, turn around, fade and likewise there are different animation effects available. But you get the number of animation options depending on the layout you chose. However, any of the layouts will allow you to animate one shape at a time or even all of the shapes at once.

There is lot to explore and try out with the different graphics and styles of SmartArt in order to enhance the visual representation of your information. It applies to MS Excel, Outlook, MS PowerPoint and MS Word. Try your hands on this diagramming tool and effectively communicate your messages or ideas.

About the Author: He is a Technology writer working with Qresolve as a Technical Support Engineer. Brook M. Perry has been offering online tech support to global customers for issues related to laptops, desktops, Mac and devices including iPods, tablets, iPhones. online computer support . and more. She caters to the segment of core technology and provides viable solutions to any issues related to technology and software. Her expertise and skills in handling key technology issues is immaculate and quick result bearing.