Excel Shapes

How to use Excel as a Drawing Tool

for pop, sizzle, and clearer communication with pictures and images

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Training

 

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Shapes

Working with Shapes

help

Help for any Systems2win shape

RIGHT-click the shape (anywhere there is no text) > Size and Properties > Alt Text

There in the Alt Text, you will find an explanation of what each shape is used for.

FindShapes, addShapes

Where to find shapes

Excel's standard palette of shapes

Excel Ribbon bar > Insert tab > Shapes

Systems2win shapes

Excel Ribbon bar > Systems2win tab > Copy Shapes

Tip: The training video for the To Do List template demonstrates how to copy shapes

How?

Assuming that you are person assigned the Systems2win Leadership Role to personalize your master templates...

1. Open a copy of your Shapes.xlsx file

   Excel Ribbon bar > Systems2win tab > Copy Shapes

2. Save it to any temporary location
3. Copy your shapes to the clipboard,
   and then paste (CTRL+V) them to the User-Defined Shapes section

   If you need more space, simply insert rows above the thin gold line

4. Properly format your shapes

   Right-click > Format Picture or Size and Properties

   1. Properties should be set to Move and size with cells
      (this enables your shapes to be hidden and unhidden
      when hiding and unhiding rows and columns)
   2. Size > Lock Aspect Ratio should be unchecked
      (this allows shapes to be easily restored to original size if they ever become distorted)
   3. Alt Text should contain your description and/or help for each shape

   If you want your icons to be perfectly sized and formatted for the Standard Work templates, then you will want them to be no more than 36 pixels wide and 31 pixels tall (.38" x .32")

   
5. When everything is perfect... overwrite your master Shapes.xlsx file in your master portal

   following the same instructions that you use when you personalize any master template, overwrite the master Shapes.xlsx file located in the \tTemplates\ folder of your master portal.

6. Send the email to advise each of your users to Sync Now

   following the same instructions that you use when you personalize any master template and use your Training Matrix to ensure that people actually do it (the same as always)

logo

DrawingToolbar

 

Where to find Drawing Tools

select

How to select a shape

To select a Shape, hover your mouse cursor over any part of the Shape that contains no text, until your cursor changes into a four-sided cross-arrows figure (like this )

Then either:

1. Click the left mouse button to select the shape
2. Right-click to open a pop-up window to format the Shape
3. Right-click and drag to copy or move the shape

If you click in the middle of a Shape that contains text it will assume that you want to edit the text.

You need to click an area of the shape with no text to select the entire shape.

To enter text in a blank Shape — right-click > Edit Text.

SelectObjects

How to mass select a group of shapes

Option 1) Hold down the CTRL key as you left-mouse-click multiple objects

the same way that you select multiple objects in most other Windows applications

Option 2) Toggle the Select Objects arrow "on" and draw a box around the group of shapes

Home tab > Editing group > Find and Select > Select Objects

Because it is so frequently used...

we highly recommend adding the Select Objects arrow to your Quick Access Toolbar.

copy

How to copy & paste shapes and connectors

move

How to move shapes

Select the object, then drag.

Or use the arrow keys on your keyboard to "nudge" selected objects.

Tip: To prevent vertical or horizontal movement, hold down the Shift key while dragging.

resize

How to resize a picture or shape

Right-click the picture or shape > Size and Properties > Size tab

To keep the proportional ratio of height and width:

1) In Size tab, check Lock aspect ratio, then enter new value for either height or width.

2) To manually resize, keeping proportional ratio:

for a picture: left-click the image to select it, then left-click and drag the lower right corner of the image — keep holding down the left mouse as you drag to resize the image.

for a shape: left-click the image to select it, hold down the Shift key, then left-click and drag any corner of the image, while holding down the left mouse and Shift key as you drag to resize the image.

To make the picture or shape wider, thinner, shorter or taller:

1) In Size tab, UNCHECK Lock aspect ratio, then enter new value for either height or width, or both.

2) To manually resize, NOT keeping proportional ratio:

Left-click to select the image, then left-click and drag one of the white circles that appear in the middle of each edge of the shape.

 

resetPictureSize

reduce

How to reduce image sizes

To reduce the total megabytes size of your Excel file, you will want to reduce the size of large images that you paste into Excel.

This is especially useful for the Work Instructions and A3 Report templates.

Option 1) Resize the picture

If you don't already own Photoshop or some other image editing software, you can always use Irfanview (free image editing software) or the Paint program that comes free with Microsoft Windows

(Start > All Programs > Accessories > Paint)

How? Open your large image file in Paint.

Select Home tab > Image group > Resize.
Enter the percent (or pixel values) to which you want to shrink the image.

If you want to keep both a large and small size of the image, use File > Save As — and give your smaller image another name.

You will usually want to save your files as bmp, jpg, or png.

And then in Excel, select Insert > Picture, and browse to select your (smaller) image.

Option 2) Crop the picture

In MS Paint: Select, then Crop

Although Irfanview or Paint have better cropping fearues, Excel does have its own Crop feature:

Select an image. The Picture Tools / Format tab appears above your Ribbon menu.
Click on the Picture Tools / Format menu tab and select Crop > Crop.
8 short bold lines ("handles") appear along the image border (at each corner and along each side).
Carefully select any of these (cursor will change to look like handle) and drag to crop the image.

At this point you also may want to compress the image to reduce file size.

Option 3) Compress the picture

As great as Excel's Crop and Compress features sound...

the truth is that Excel is not ideal for image editing.

Your primary strategy for reducing image file sizes should be to use image editing software to get those images down to a reasonable file size before you ever paste them into Excel.

editText

How to edit text within a shape

To edit text that already exists in an Shape simply left-click and start typing

To enter text in a blank Shape right-click > Edit Text

format

How to format a shape or picture

If you right-click...

on a Shape anywhere there is not text and select Format Shape,

or on a picture and select Format Picture

then a pop-up window will appear with many window tabs for different formatting options.

If you right-click within the text area of a Shape that contains text, and select Format Shape

then a pop-up window will appear with only one window tab — to format text.

MatchFormat

How to format a shape
to match the formatting of another shape

Format Painter, ( on the Home tab can be used to apply the same formatting to match another Shape.

Click the shape with the desired formatting, then click the Format Painter button, then click the shape to which you want to apply the formatting.

Or to format a new Shape...

Right-click an existing Shape that has your desired formatting, and select...

Set As Default Shape

Then copy and paste any new Shapes from Excel's standard palette, and your new Shapes will be formatted to match your default shape.

ChangeToAnotherShape

How to change a shape to another shape

Drawing Tools > Insert Shapes group > Edit Shape > Change Shape

rotate

To rotate a shape

Simply use the green rotate handle.

Tip: You might need to zoom to a higher resolution for the rotate handle to appear.

bring Forward

How to bring an object forward or backward

Some objects appear in front of other objects.

For instance, a shape might be in front of a line, or a line might be in front of a shape.

To bring an object forward or backward...

Select one or more Shapes then right-click the edge of one of the selected Shapes, then select Order, and choose Bring to Front or Send to Back.

group

How to group shapes

so that they are treated as a single shape

To group shapes...

Select all objects that you want to group together then right-click and select Group > Group.

To ungroup shapes...

right-click the grouped shape, then select Group > Ungroup.

Tip: Whenever you group, ungroup, or regroup, you need to reset Properties if you don't want the shapes to move and size with cells.

name

How to Name a shape

Properties

To change the Properties of a shape

to move or size with cells, or to lock or unlock the shape

Right-click > Size and Properties > Properties tab

SnapToGrid

Snap To Grid

Toggle it on or off...

Drawing Tools > Align > Snap to Grid

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Connectors and attachConnectors

Working with Arrows and Connectors

How to attach connectors to shapes

so that the connectors move with the shape

How to:

1. Copy your chosen connector from the Systems2win palette of shapes.

   Tip: Straight connectors sometimes paste as a tiny dot if you use regular copy & paste.

   If this happens, use our 100% method to copy.

2. Drag an end of a Connector to the place where you want it to connect to the Shape.

   Tip: You can connect to any of the blue dots that appear when you hover a connector line near an object.

   Or use the special Systems2win Connector Diamond to create additional connectors anywhere on any shape.

3. When the end of the Connector turns red and the Shape lights up for a moment the Connector is now connected to the shape.

ConnectorDiamond

Connector Diamond

Systems2win menu > Copy Shapes includes a tiny Connector Diamond

Perhaps you want your connector arrow to terminate in "open space",

or to connect to a place on an object other than the blue connectors that are part of every shape.

Tip: Consider grouping your Connector Diamond with a shape.

elbow

Change a Connector between straight, elbow, or curved

Right-click the Connector > Connector Type > select your choice.

bendShapes

How to bend shapes

to create curved arrows or free form circles

How?

Systems2win menu > Copy Shapes

Right-click a shape that is already formatted the way you want your new shape to be, then select...

Set As Default Line

then ...

a) To create a bent arrow or line, select...

Drawing Tools > Curve

Left click to start your line, and for each corner position. Enter to finish.

b) To create a free form circle, select...

Drawing Tools > Freeform

Draw your circle

(or easier yet — just copy & paste the pre-formatted circle — and resize it — and maybe change the color)

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ViewingAndPrinting

Viewing and Printing

View in Page Break Preview

ChangeSizeDrawingSpace

How can I change the size of my drawing space?

Systems2win has defined your drawing canvas to automatically print on a single page, and has defined your Shapes to scale appropriately... so you can simply hide, unhide, delete, or insert rows and columns.

a) Rather than deleting

it is usually better to hide and unhide rows and columns.

b) To insert rows or columns, use Insert Copied Cells

(Get out of the novice bad habit of using Insert > Rows)

c) Change row height or column width

(This is rarely your best option)

To resize a drawing in Word or PowerPoint

Word: Drawing Tools > Size

Caution: Don't just "pull the corners" of your drawing canvas, or you might be in for some rude surprises.

To resize the drawing space of an Excel Organization Chart

Refer to Org Chart training

Printing

File > Print

More printing tips

 

More Excel Training