SmartArt allows you to communicate information with graphics instead of
just using text.
There are a variety of styles to choose from, which you can use to illustrate
many different types of ideas.
In this example, I need to create a graphic to show the organization of the
people at my company.
To get started, click where you want you're SmartArt to appear,
then go to the Insert tab, select the SmartArt command and you'll see a list of
categories and graphics to choose from.
The type of SmartArt I'm looking for is under the Hierarchy category.
The graphic will appear in your document with the Text pane on the left.
Now if that's not visible just click this small arrow here to toggle it on and off.
Now all you have to do is start typing
and the text will appear in your SmartArt graphic.
It will also be resized to fit the shapes automatically.
See how each bullet corresponds to its own shape?
You can also enter your text in the shape themselves, which is fine for a
simple graphic like this. But for something more complex you'll probably
want to stick with the Text pane.
You can also rearrange these shapes from within the text pane using your keyboard.
Pressing the Tab key will demote (or move down) a shape,
while Backspace promotes (or moves up) a shape.
It's a lot like creating an outline with a multi-level list.
You can even add new shapes to the list by pressing Enter.
Since I don't need that shape though I'm going to go ahead and delete it.
Just select the bullet for the shape you want to delete,
then press Backspace on your keyboard.
I'm also going to get rid of these other shapes as well.
Now if you'd prefer not to use the Text pane
these tasks, just look to the Design and Format tabs that appear
whenever you have your SmartArt selected. From here you can easily add, rearrange,
and remove shapes in your SmartArt.
Now I'm going to customize the appearance of this graphic using SmartArt Styles.
Click the drop-down arrow here to see a full list and however each style for a preview.
There are also several color schemes to use with SmartArt.
Simply click the Change Colors command
and choose something you like.
if you decide you don't like the way your information is organized within a
SmartArt graphic, you can always change the layout to better fit the content.
Start by selecting the graphic you'd like to change,
then in the Layouts group, click the More drop-down arrow and choose the one you want.
You can also change
the formatting of individual shapes and the text inside.
Just select one or more shapes
switch to the Format tab
and take advantage of any of the options you see here.
In this example I'm just going to tweak the fill color for this shape.
SmartArt is a great way to incorporate more graphics into your document and
communicate complicated ideas with simple illustrations.