Excel is not all about data analysis, as it is also a great tool for data displaying assessment, especially when it comes to a business process. Many people have mistaken that the Flowchart feature is only available in Word or PowerPoint, but it is not true at all.
This tool, in fact, also allows you to build flowcharts within your spreadsheets. Scroll down for a tutorial on how to make a flowchart in Excel now! If you want to get back to the basics, creating a flowchart from scratch with pen and paper or a flowchart maker like Zen Flowchart is much easier.
Why Should You Use A Flowchart?
A massive number of thousand-word documents can make readers overwhelmed, as they can’t thoroughly comprehend the main ideas of word-stuffed documents.
In this case, the visual flow chart as a connected process can help. Anyone would prefer to see a procedure or a process described in the form of a visual and clear flow chart rather than spending hours reading tedious documents.
Excel flowcharts can be beneficial in different cases and purposes. Even when you want to design a discipline or formula for your life, a Flow chart is still a noteworthy option. You can have full control over design of your flowchart.
How To Make A Flowchart In Excel?
Using SmartArt Tools Design
Excel offers you preset flowcharts in the SmartArt Tools Design section. This is the fastest way you can have a flow chart for your presentation. Indeed, the first step of doing anything with Excel is opening the Worksheet.
In the Excel working screen, find the “Insert” section near the top left corner of your computer screen. Then, click it.
Once you get into the “Insert” section, pick the “Insert a SmartArt Graphic” in the “Illustrations” box.
A pop-up box of various preset graphical patterns will show up. On the left side of the box, you can see many groups of designed flow chart templates used for different purposes.
The optimal choice to make a flow chart is the “Process” group. Click here and opt for the pattern you want. Next, click “OK” to finish.
If you are not satisfied with the already made flowchart templates, create your own by following the below guide.
Creating Your Own Flowchart
1. Setup Grid
Skip this step if you are a professional in Excel. The role of formatting the worksheet grid is to alter the column width to the default heights of the row, so you can design the flow chart shapes more precisely and properly.
Firstly, select the whole Worksheet by clicking the shadowed triangle on the left of the letter “A”. After that, right-click on any spot of the Worksheet, and a list of commands will appear. Choose “Column Width”.
Type “2.14” in the “Column width…” box. Click “OK” to finish. Why does it have to be “2.14”? The default font on Microsoft Office applications is always the sized-11 Calibri.
Your Excel Worksheet will have 15 points or 20 pixels row height with this option. The “2.14” column width will change width to 20 pixels.
2. Choosing “Snap To Grid”
This feature assists in resizing, replacing, and aligning the flow chart shapes effortlessly and precisely. You can save much time customizing the basic shape to snap to the grid because the “Snap to grid” feature will automatically do the job for you.
To activate this function, choose the “Page Layout” option. In the “Arrange” group, you will find the “Align” command. Move the computer pointer to the “Align”. Then, a command box will show upbringing different choices. Click “Snap to grid”.
3. “Landscape” Page Layout Is The Best
The default page layout for your document and Excel Worksheet in Microsoft Office is “Portrait”. However, the “Portrait” option is not suitable when you want to create a process flowchart with shapes.
The vertical paper setup can’t cover all the flow chart shapes you add in, especially when you make a thorough flowchart.
You can change the “Portrait” layout into the “Landscape” layout by choosing the “Page Layout” section. Click “Orientation”, and choose “Landscape”.
There are additional functions in the “Page setup” section, such as modifying margins, paper sizes, print titles, etc.
4. Go For The Shape You Like
The “Illustrations” section in the “Insert” tab is the place keeping all the preset format shapes for your flowchart. You can easily recognize the “Shapes” there. Click the “Shapes”.
Subsequently, a shape gallery or a collection of shapes will drop containing various flowchart symbols and shape effects for many themes and purposes. If you are forming a flowchart, you should take shapes in the “Flowchart” area.
Once you finish picking the appropriate flowchart symbols, use the computer mouse to draw them on the Worksheet. The “Snap to grid” feature will help to align the shapes to the gridlines.
5. Insert Text Into The Shape
All you have to do is to double-click the shape you have drawn to create a dialogue box. Next, start typing on it.
6. Add Flow Lines To Connect Shapes
You can make the shapes more relevant by adding connector lines among them. The arrows between shapes are also in the “Lines” row of the “Shapes” section.
Drawing the linking lines is as simple as creating the additional shape. The manipulation is all about dragging, aligning, and releasing the lines with your computer mouse.
7. Insert Text Near The Linking Lines
The arrow line shape normally requires content for a better interpretation. In this case, you can add text beside the connector lines.
Choose the “Insert” tab, and click the “Text box” near the right corner of the tab. You can pick many text box themes, but the most optimal one for a connector link of your entire diagram must be the “Simple Text Box”. Hence, click the “Simple Text Box”.
After inserting the text box, you can type words in it immediately. A detailed tutorial on how to drag the box to the specific place of the Worksheet is included in the box when you add it.
8. Apply Notes If Needed
The “Shapes” section also consists of format shapes for placing notes in. In the “Callouts” group, you can find a bunch of shapes to quote notifications.
Drawing and inserting text into the callout shapes are similar to the procedures of the “Flowchart” shapes.
9. Format The Flowchart
To format elements of the flowchart, you can do the following tutorial:
- Shapes: Click the categories of shapes you want to format. Next, go for the “Shape Format” section in the top ribbon. Otherwise, left-click the shape and choose the “Format shape” option at the bottom of the dropdown menu.
- Text: Click the text and “Ctrl + A” to choose the whole text. Then, click the “Home” section in the top ribbon. All the word-formatting features are there.
Bottom Lines
Excel is a wonderful tool for analyzing and displaying data. Getting to know how to make a flowchart in Excel can help you interpret your business’s procedure and process more smoothly.
We hope that our tutorial efficiently equips you with all the essential information to build a flowchart with Excel.
