Smart Art re-sizing issue

Anonymous
2010-02-16T20:44:14+00:00

I often need to use hierarchies in presentations and documents (word or powerpoint). The smart art function seems like a dream for this sort of thing, however, it never works. Anything more than the simplest graphic is hopelessly mis-sized.  The problem is, as you add more layers, the boxes and the size shrink. When you attempt to change the size on one box (eg make it bigger), the other boxes change (become even smaller) relative to the first box. It is like some sort of cruel joke: the more you try to fix one box, the more jumbled the other boxes become. A hierarchy would be far more useful if you could adjust the sizes of individual boxes to show their relative importance or to emphasize a particular part.

There must be some way to lock the the size/position of part of the graphic or to adjust only specific parts without effecting the others. If not, then this "tool" strikes me as completely useless and I wonder if anyone anywhere in the world ever uses it? I have not been able to find any help any place else, so this is my last hope.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2010-02-18T00:29:09+00:00

Yeah, I read that help article before I posted here. It does not answer the question.

Let me restate the problem. When you change the size of one box, the others change as well. I suppose that it is intended to be relative size change (as discussed in the help article), but it does not work with hierarchies of more than three levels or when resizing several boxes. I guess the algorithms which are meant to auto adjust the relative size where not constructed to handle anything more than the most simple graphic.

So, again, the question is: **is there a way to disable the auto re-sizing of shapes.**In other words, to prevent powerpoint (or word) from auto re-sizing boxes and only change the size of a single box.

This problem seems to be worse in powerpoint, but is easily demonstrated in word as well.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-12-07T08:42:49+00:00

    Using Standard Shapes is a poor second choice. It becomes very manual.

    Don't forget that SmartArt exists in all of the applications, so if you need to, you can create the org chart in Word or Excel, then copy the chart to any other Office application.

    There are also quite a few dedicated charting applications that can be used to create org and hierarchy charts. 

    2010 Office-Identify which program to use to create an organization ...https://support.office.com/en-US/article/Identify-which-program-to-use-to-create-an-organization-chart-273B88B7-5EDF-440F-9B26-C657148B07C1

    Organization charts show the reporting relationships between individuals and groups. Determine which Office 2010 program to use to create your org chart.

    2010 Office- Open the Organization Chart Add-in for Microsoft Office Programs (not SmartArt) http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/open-the-organization-chart-add-in-for-microsoft-office-programs-HA010377231.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA010377203

    The Organization Chart Add-in for Microsoft Office programs, previously called Microsoft Organization Chart 2.0, is an add-in for Microsoft Office 2010 programs that you can install and then add to your Office documents. Organization Chart is not installed automatically when you install Office 2010, and you must install it manually before you can use it. You can create an organization chart without installing the Organization Chart Add-in by using Visio or by creating a SmartArt graphic. For more information

    How toBuild a PowerPoint Organizational Chart With Excel Datahttps://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/build-powerpoint-organizational-chart-excel-data-3230.html

    Microsoft Office 2013 allows you to illustrate and export your chart data to different programs. Create an organization chart in Excel and then insert this chart in a PowerPoint presentation for your clients’ analysis. Starting with the Excel program offers the advantage of making Excel’s editing tools available in the PowerPoint slide. Apply the format and layout options to make your chart’s data stand out in a presentation.

    Most of my tips show that you can create many variations of Org Charts by importing data into Visio

    Use Visio, It has a Better Range of Shapes and Options

    Visio has better shapes collections that the other Office Apps. You can create your org chart in Visio, then paste it into Word or Excel.

    Containers and callouts in Visio 2013

    http://blogs.office.com/b/visio/archive/2012/11/05/containers-and-callouts-in-visio.aspx

    Containers are a convenient way to visually group your shapes together and then easily work with that group.   Callouts provide a simple mechanism to attach text to a shape.  We’ve improved both in the new Visio. Specifically, there are more shapes to give you increased flexibility to express your information. We also updated our old and new shapes with themes, so you have many choices for customizing the look and feel of your diagram to your audience.  Lastly, we streamlined the insert menus and the heading styles menu to make it easier to find, select and customize the shape you want.

    by Jason Morrill    on November 05, 2012

    2016 2013 Visio-Create an organization chart automatically from employee data  https://support.office.com/en-US/article/Create-an-organization-chart-automatically-from-employee-data-8f2e693e-25fc-410e-8264-9084eb0b9360

    An organization chart (org chart) is a diagram that shows relationships among employees, titles, and groups. If you have all the employee information in a document ...

    Creating a diagram - In Visio from Excel Data

    http://blogs.office.com/b/visio/archive/2013/04/18/data-linked-diagrams-creating-a-diagram-in-visio.aspx

    Visio offers over 60 types of professional templates to build compelling diagrams, and organization charts are among most the frequently created. Visio organization charts are simple and visual, but what if you want to connect them to key business indicators tracked by your organization, such as sales by region, budget by department, vacation status, or training progress? Sometimes this information is located in another source, like Excel or  a complex database. Data-linked diagrams let you add data to Visio diagrams--no code required--and anyone in an organization can quickly create such dashboards to get better insights into data using Visio Professional 2013 or Visio Pro for Office 365.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-03-09T17:20:50+00:00

    This you can fix by right clicking on the smart art, then go to More Layout options, and then go to size and then you unlock the hight and width ratio lockunder scale

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-12-06T07:09:34+00:00

    I've just done some work in Excel 2010 so sorry if doesn't work in Office 2007 or doesn't help when working in Word or Powerpoint... hopefully it helps a little....

    VBA solution to re-size the smart art shape and leave it as a smart art

    Set oshp = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets("YourWorkSheetName").Shapes("YourShapeName") 'Note: smartshape can be renamed in the 'Smartart Tools > Arrange > Selection Pane' ribbon

    'make the smartart shape really small so we can resize it later

    oshp.Height = 70

    oshp.Width = 130

    '...add your build the org chart code here....

    'now resize the org chart

    Set NodeFirst = oshp.SmartArt.AllNodes(1).Shapes(1)

    If NodeFirst.Height > 100 Then

    factor = NodeFirst.Height / 100 ' calculate a factor to resize the smart art

    Else

    factor = 100 / NodeFirst.Height

    End If

    oshp.ScaleHeight factor, msoFalse, msoScaleFromTopLeft ' now resize the entire shape height by the same factor

    oshp.ScaleWidth factor, msoFalse, msoScaleFromTopLeft ' now resize the entire shape height by the same factor

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