SmartDraw^® For Dummies^®

Introduction

Welcome to SmartDraw For Dummies, the book written especially for those who are lucky enough to have discovered the best business graphics program on the market and want to find out how to use it in time to finish that report, sales presentation, or product brochure that was due yesterday.

Have you ever needed to create a graph of recent sales trends, but you didn’t want to create another cheesy, boring Excel graph that looks just like every other graph you’ve seen at every other sales meeting you’ve ever been to?

You need SmartDraw!

Have you ever been put in charge of a project and didn’t want to invest hundreds of dollars in sophisticated project management software, such as Microsoft Project, just to create a simple project schedule?

You really need SmartDraw!

Have you ever wanted to rearrange the furniture and equipment in your office and didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars on AutoCAD just to draw a simple floor plan?

You desperately need SmartDraw!

Whichever your business graphics needs, you’ve found the perfect book, and you’re holding it right now in your formerly magic-marker-stained hands. Help is here, within these humble pages.

This book talks about SmartDraw in everyday — and often irreverent — terms. You’ll find no lofty prose within these pages; the whole thing checks in at about the fifth-grade reading level. We have no Pulitzer expectations for this book; we leave that ambition for the Woodwards and Steinbecks among us.

Our goal here is to simply get you going as quickly as we can with the most powerful and easy to use business graphics software ever created. And hopefully, this journey of learning won’t be a tedious or miserable experience — in fact, maybe it will even be kind of fun.

About This Book

This isn’t the kind of book that you pick up and read from start to finish as though it were a cheap novel. If we ever catch you reading it at the beach, we’ll kick sand in your face. Or better yet, we’ll get Clint Eastwood and have him kick sand in your face. You’ll listen to him.

This book is more like a reference book than a novel. It’s the kind of book you can pick up, turn to just about any page, read for a page or two, and learn something useful. It has 22 chapters, each one covering a specific aspect of using SmartDraw, like printing, creating flowcharts, or transforming a SmartDraw graphic into a PowerPoint animation.

Each chapter is divided into self-contained chunks, all related to the major theme of the chapter.

For example, the flowchart chapter contains nuggets like these:

Looking at flowcharts

Understanding all the shapes used in flowcharts

Creating a basic flowchart

Splitting paths

Creating cross-functional flowcharts with swim lanes

You don’t have to memorize anything in this book. It’s a need-to-know book: You pick it up when you need to know something. Need to know how to create an organization chart? Pick up the book. Need to know how to create a table? Pick up the book. After you find what you’re looking for, put it down and get on with your life.

How to Use This Book

This book works like a reference. Start with the topic that you want to find out about: To get going, look for it in the table of contents or in the index. The table of contents is detailed enough that you should be able to find most of the topics that you look for. If not, turn to the index, where you find even more detail.

When you find your topic in the table of contents or the index, turn to the area of interest and read as much or as little as you need or want. Then close the book and get on with it.

This book is loaded with information, of course, so if you want to take a brief excursion into your topic, you’re more than welcome. If you want to know all about the techniques for creating floor plans, read the chapter on floor plans. If you want to know all about applying color to a shape, read the chapter on color and design themes. Read whatever you want. You paid good money for this book, so read every word if you want. (Just not at the beach.)

On occasion, this book directs you to use specific keyboard shortcuts to get things done. When you see something like “Press Ctrl+Z,” this instruction means to hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the Z key. (Don’t type the plus sign.) Then release both together.

Sometimes we tell you to use a command that resides on one of the main toolbar’s tabs. (SmartDraw uses a ribbon interface similar to those in Microsoft Office applications.) We tell you exactly how to find the command. For example, we might tell you something like this: On the main toolbar, click the Chart tab, find the Insert Chart group, and click the New Chart button.

Another nice feature of this book is that whenever we discuss a certain button that you need to click in order to accomplish the task at hand, a picture of the button appears in the margin. This way, you can easily locate it on your screen.

What You Don’t Need to Read

Some parts of this book are skippable. We carefully place extra-technical information in self-contained sidebars and clearly mark them so that you can give them a wide berth. Don’t read this stuff unless you just gots to know. Don’t worry; we won’t be offended if you don’t read every word.

Foolish Assumptions

We make only three assumptions about you:

You use a computer.

It’s a Windows computer — not a Mac.

You use or are thinking about using SmartDraw.

Nothing else. We don’t assume that you’re a computer guru who knows how to change a controller card or configure memory for optimal use. These types of computer chores are best handled by people who like computers. Hopefully, you’re on speaking terms with such a person. Do your best to stay there for those times when you’re working with computer stuff that’s more difficult than SmartDraw.

How This Book Is Organized

Inside this book are chapters arranged in five parts. Each chapter is divided into sections that cover various aspects of the chapter’s main subject. The chapters have a logical sequence, so it makes sense to read them in order, if you want. But you don’t have to read the book that way; you can flip it open to any page and start reading.

The following sections give you the lowdown on what’s in each of the five parts:

Part I: Getting Started with SmartDraw

In this part, you review the basics of using SmartDraw. This is a good place to start if you’ve never used SmartDraw, or if you’ve used it a few times but feel lost every time. Its five chapters take you on a tour of the SmartDraw windows and controls, walk you through creating a simple drawing from start to finish, tell you how to create simple shapes and lines and add text to them, and tell you what you need to know about printing your drawing.

Part II: Embellishing Your Graphics

The chapters in this part show you how to make business graphics that look good. SmartDraw is actually pretty good at that, but it helps to know about its powerful features for applying color, fancy effects, and design themes, as well as how to add interesting things such as tables and images to your drawings. You also find out how to work with layers, one of SmartDraw’s most powerful features for more complicated drawings.

Part III: Creating Business Graphics

The chapters in this part focus on the most common types of graphics you can create with SmartDraw. We tell you how to work with charts, including bar charts, line charts, pie charts, flowcharts, organization charts, and project charts. We also give you instructions for creating floor plans, mind maps, and Live Maps.

Part IV: Using SmartDraw with Microsoft Office and the Web

One of the best features of SmartDraw is the way it integrates with Microsoft Office and the Internet. The first two chapters in this part show you how to use SmartDraw’s Office integration features, which let you easily transfer drawings from SmartDraw into Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. You also find out how to take your SmartDraw creations to the Web.

Part V: The Part of Tens

This wouldn’t be a For Dummies book without lists of interesting snippets. Thus, you find chapters with titles such as Ten SmartDraw Commandments, Ten Odd and Unusual SmartDraw Templates, Ten Tips for Creating Great Business Graphics, and Ten Things You Didn’t Think to Use SmartDraw For.

About the CD

The CD that comes with this book contains lots of stuff to help you be productive with SmartDraw. It includes a 30-day, fully functional trial version of SmartDraw 2009. There are also many example files that you can use as you go through the book. There are also some reference materials, including the Encyclopedia of Business Graphics poster in PDF format and a number of SmartDraw best practice PowerPoint presentations.

Icons Used in This Book

As you’re reading all this wonderful prose, you occasionally see the following icons. They appear in the margins to draw your attention to important information. They’re defined as follows:

Watch out! Some technical drivel is just around the corner. Read it only if you have your pocket protector firmly attached.

Pay special attention to this icon — it tells you that some particularly useful tidbit is at hand, perhaps a shortcut or a way of using a command that you might not have considered.

Danger! Danger! Danger! Stand back, Will Robinson!

Did we tell you about the memory course we took?

Where to Go from Here

Yes, you can get there from here. With this book in hand, you’re ready to charge full speed ahead into the strange and wonderful world of desktop drawings. Browse through the table of contents and decide where you want to start. Be bold! Be courageous! Be adventurous! Above all else, have fun!

Part I

Getting Started with SmartDraw

In this part . . .

Once upon a time, the term business graphics meant bar charts and pie charts. But now that you’ve decided to equip your software arsenal with SmartDraw, business graphics can mean so much more. With SmartDraw, you can create literally hundreds of different kinds of graphics — business or otherwise. SmartDraw can create a graphic to fill just about any need you can imagine — from flowcharts and organization charts to floor plans and mapping.

The chapters in this part comprise a bare-bones introduction to SmartDraw. You find out exactly what SmartDraw is and how to use it to create drawings and graphics. You discover how to create and edit simple shapes, how to work with text, and how to print your masterpiece.

More advanced stuff such as working with themes or using the advanced tools for creating specific types of graphics like flowcharts and floor plans is covered in later parts. This part is just the beginning. As a great king once advised, “It’s best to begin at the beginning and go on until you come to the end; then stop.”