Drawing diagrams and organization charts

You can use the Insert Diagram or Organization Chart button on the Drawing toolbar to quickly add an organization chart or diagram to your worksheet (one place where a graphic object actually conveys the information instead of just embellishing the worksheet data or embedded chart already there). Here's how:

1. Click the Insert Diagram or Organization Chart button to open the Diagram Gallery dialog box.
2. Select the style of diagram or the organization chart you want and click OK.

The Diagram Gallery dialog box offers you a Auto Format choice between an organization chart (the first picture) and five different types of diagrams (Cycle, Radial, Pyramid, Venn, and Target).

After you click OK, Excel inserts a blank chart or diagram into the worksheet as a new graphic object.

You can then click the different parts of the chart or diagram and replace its dummy text with text of your own. (Organization charts or diagrams created with the Insert Diagram or Organization Chart button act like big text boxes with a bunch of graphics with little text boxes inside them.)

When you create a new organization chart, Excel opens an Organization Chart toolbar containing buttons for editing the shape and layout of the chart as well as for adding new levels and branches. When you create a new diagram (in any of the five available styles), the program opens a Diagram toolbar that contains its own tools for formatting and editing the diagram.

You can use the options on the Insert Shape dropdown list to add new text boxes at the subordinate and assistant levels of the chart. You can use the options on the Layout drop-down list to select a new style for the different levels in the org chart. Finally, you can use the options on the Select drop-down list box to select all the text boxes at a particular level in the org chart.