Chapter 2. Modifying SmartArt Graphics
Beyond adding text and additional shapes to SmartArt graphics, Office 2007 offers nearly an infinite variety of control over the look of the graphics.
Microsoft promises that “professional-quality” graphics are a few clicks away, and this is true. You can use the controls on the Design ribbon to apply quick styles and color variations to your SmartArt to produce a wide variety of excellent-looking combinations.
Note
In Dave Gainer’s blog about Excel 2007, he notes that the Office team looked at a wide variety of documents created in previous versions of Office and compared these to “professional” output drawn from textbooks, business journals, scientific journals, and professional design firms. He notes that their goal is to include professionally designed content in the box and to make it possible, with no more than 3 or 4 clicks, to create professional-looking charts and graphics.
If you want more control, you can venture over to the Format ribbon, where you can micromanage settings for the shape color, outline color, shadow, reflection, glow, soft edges, bevel, and 3-D rotation. You can even change the shapes to one of 148 different shapes in Word and Excel or 160 different shapes in PowerPoint.
Modifying Using Themes
Microsoft Office ships with 20 different built-in document themes. Each theme controls color, font, and effects used throughout the document. Changing the theme of the document affects all the SmartArt graphics in the document.
Note
Customers using Word or Excel will be most likely to change themes to change the look of SmartArt graphics. Changing the theme affects all elements in the document. If you think about a Word document, it contains mostly text and few figures. An Excel document typically contains mostly tables and a few charts or diagrams. In Word and Excel, you can get away with changing the document theme to change the look of the diagrams without dramatically altering the content of the document.
However PowerPoint has far more graphic elements. Every slide has a background and text boxes. If you attempt to change the theme merely to update the look of your SmartArt graphic, you introduce dramatic changes to the rest of the document. Thus, customers using PowerPoint are less likely to change the theme specifically to change the look of the SmartArt graphics.
To apply a different theme, use the Themes group on the ribbon:
- In Excel and Word, use the Themes drop-down in the Themes group of the Page Layout ribbon.
- In PowerPoint, use the Themes gallery in the Themes group of the Design ribbon.
As you hover the cursor over various themes in the drop-down, the SmartArt graphic automatically picks up the colors, fonts, and effects built in to the theme (see Figures 2.1 through 2.8).
Figure 2.1 Hover the cursor over a theme in the drop-down to preview the SmartArt graphic. Here is Opulent…
Figure 2.2 …Deluxe…
Figure 2.3 …Concourse…
Figure 2.4 …Aspect and.
Figure 2.5 The same trick works in Excel. Here is Civic…
Figure 2.6 …Module …
Figure 2.7 …Metro…
Figure 2.8 …and Opulent.
Although there are 20 different themes, each theme actually introduces 10 new colors to the document. Use the theme drop-down in conjunction with the color drop-down on the Design ribbon to be able to produce 760 combinations of color.
Note
Customers using Word, PowerPoint, or Excel might wonder why the Theme drop-down is not on the SmartArt Tools ribbon. Microsoft decided to distance the Theme drop-down, because changing the theme also changes the appearance of SmartArt graphics, charts, and shapes in the document.
Modifying Using the Design Ribbon
When a SmartArt diagram is selected, two new tabs appear in the ribbon. Under the heading of SmartArt Tools are a Design ribbon and a Format ribbon.
Think of the Design ribbon as the place to make global changes to the entire diagram. On this ribbon, you can change the color scheme and apply a quick style. You can also change the right/left orientation of the entire diagram. This is also the place to reset all tweaks and reset the graphic to defaults.
To access the SmartArt Tools ribbons, you must click inside the SmartArt diagram.
One of the key players behind the design of the ribbon at Microsoft is Jensen Harris. I met Jensen at the 2005 MVP Summit in Redmond, and I have been following his blog about the new interface.
Jensen tells a story about going to customer sites to observe how they use Office. One customer was working in Office and kept having to work around the floating Picture toolbar. There wasn’t a picture in the document. Upon questioning, the customer indicated the toolbar had been annoying her for six months; she had no idea how to get rid of it. (For anyone still using Office 2003, select View, Toolbars and uncheck Picture.)
In his blog, Jensen indicated that a design goal was that the special contextual tabs would be “put away” as soon as you finished using them.
I’ve told Jensen that this is a great goal, but I think that Microsoft is too ambitious about putting away the special ribbons. If I am working on an Excel worksheet and the only thing on the worksheet is a pivot table, it should be obvious that I am working on a pivot table whether or not my cell pointer is over the pivot table. Instead, the toolbars are put away as soon as you click outside the pivot table.
Similarly, the SmartArt Tools ribbons disappear as soon as you click outside a SmartArt graphic. This is annoying.
Microsoft went to great pains to accommodate the accidental click-out. If you try the following set of steps, Office returns you to the original spot in the Design ribbon:
1. Edit a SmartArt object in Excel.
2. Display the SmartArt Tools, Design ribbon.
3. Click one cell outside the SmartArt graphic. The SmartArt Tools ribbons are put away.
4. Immediately click the SmartArt graphic again. The SmartArt ribbons reappear, and you are back on the Design ribbon.
Now, if you try this second set of steps, Office displays the SmartArt Tools contextual tab, but you are left on another ribbon:
1. Edit a SmartArt object in Excel.
2. Display the SmartArt Tools, Design ribbon.
3. Click one cell outside the SmartArt graphic. The SmartArt Tools ribbons are put away.
4. Click a second cell outside the SmartArt graphic.
5. Click the SmartArt graphic again. The SmartArt ribbons reappear. However, Office now displays the Home ribbon. You have to click back into the Design ribbon to continue working on the SmartArt graphic.
I think it is somewhat amazing that Microsoft went to the trouble of detecting the “click one cell and then immediately back to the SmartArt graphic.” It would have been simpler to program the logic that if the display engine starts to render some SmartArt graphics in the current view, the SmartArt ribbons should appear.
Modifying Using SmartArt Styles
The SmartArt Tools, Design ribbon offers a gallery with 14 different styles. This includes five simple styles and nine 3-D styles.
Each style provides a way to apply a professionally designed combination of glow, shadow, bevel, 3-D rotation, and so on.
The styles go in order from simple to outlandish. The styles in the middle, Cartoon and Powder, offer a good mix of effects and readability.
Figures 2.9 through 2.22 show samples of each of the styles available using the Colorful – Accent Colors color scheme of the Office theme. Some of the effects and certainly the colors are different when using different themes.
Figure 2.9 Simple Fill features a white border around the shapes.
Figure 2.10 White Outline adds a shadow behind the shapes.
Figure 2.11 Subtle Effect uses a lighter gradient variation of the colors with a shadow.
Figure 2.12 Moderate Effect uses a vibrant variation of the colors, lighting, and a shadow behind the shapes.
Figure 2.13 Intense Effect adds a bevel and a shadow to the shapes.
Figure 2.14 Polished uses a bevel, lighting from above, and a shadow.
Figure 2.15 Inset uses a Relaxed Inset bevel, lighting from above, and a shadow.
Figure 2.16 Cartoon uses muted colors, a circular bevel, and a metallic material.
Figure 2.17 Powder uses semitransparent shapes.
Figure 2.18 Brick Scene uses almost cartoonish outlines and a 3-D rotation. It is rare to find a SmartArt graphic that is readable using this style. If you want to use this, choose layouts that have rectangular shapes.
Figure 2.19 Flat Scene reminds me of the opening narrative in the Star Wars movies. The shapes seem to be lying on their backs, ready to fly into space.
Figure 2.20 Metallic Scene uses a bevel, but also perspective and 3-D rotation to make it appear that the left side of the diagram is attached to the document and the right side is coming toward the viewer. Edward Tufte would disdain the distortion that makes the rightmost blocks seem more important.
Figure 2.21 Sunset Scene uses perspective and 3-D rotation to make it appear that the diagram is pointing toward the document.
Figure 2.22 Bird’s Eye Scene uses a weird perspective view. The style is more eye candy than appropriate for business diagrams.
Note
The effects in the first five styles may change based on the selected theme.
To preview a different style, follow these steps:
- Select a SmartArt diagram.
- Choose the SmartArt Tools Design ribbon.
- On the right side of the SmartArt Styles gallery, click the More button (an overlined down arrow) to open the gallery.
- Hover the cursor over a style to see a preview of that style.
- Repeat step 4 for other styles until you find one that is suitable.
- Click the style to select it.
Which style you select depends on various factors. For simple SmartArt graphics with minimal text, you can get away with 3-D effects. When you have a lot of text, you should stick with the 2-D effects.
Note
Rendering SmartArt graphics requires a fair amount of horsepower from a graphics chipset. If your computer seems sluggish as you try to edit the text in a diagram with 3-D effects, try using the Edit in 2-D setting, found in the Shapes group of the Format ribbon.
Changing Colors
Each theme has 10 colors defined. Based on the colors defined in the document theme, there are 38 built-in combinations of colors for the SmartArt graphics.
On the Design ribbon, use the Change Colors drop-down to access the complete palette of built-in colors, as shown in Figure 2.23. Although there are 38 styles, they can be quickly broken down into categories.
Figure 2.23 There are 38 built-in color styles.
Tip
Most of the ribbon drop-downs open in a too-small size. You can now grab the resize bar at the bottom of most drop-downs to resize them. This is how I can show the entire drop-down in Figure 2.23.
- There are three primary theme colors: two light and one dark. If your PowerPoint slides are either light or dark, you can select these color schemes to have the diagram blend in with the slide. These styles also work well with a black-and-white printer.
- There are five colorful styles. They use various combinations of the 10 colors defined in the theme. In some cases, the colors are an interpolation between accent colors, which might create new colors other than the ones defined in the theme.
- There are then six categories of five styles each. The six categories correspond to the six accent colors defined in the theme. There are five variations for each accent color. The five variations in these categories are shown in Figures 2.24 through 2.38.
As shown in Figure 2.24, the Colored Outline color styles are generally black text on a white background. The accent color is used for borders and items in the background.
Figure 2.24 The Colored Outline styles use white shapes.
The Colored Fill color styles use white text on identically colored shapes (see Figure 2.25).
Figure 2.25 The Colored Fill styles use identical dark shapes.
The Gradient Range color styles use dark-to-light shades of the selected accent color (see Figure 2.26).
Figure 2.26 The Gradient Range styles vary from dark to light.
The Gradient Loop color styles change from dark to light to dark shades of the selected accent color (see Figure 2.27).
Figure 2.27 The Gradient Loop styles vary from dark to light and back to dark.
The Transparent Gradient Range color styles change from dark to light and use increasing levels of transparency. This is an annoying style because the final steps in the process tend to almost fade away (see Figure 2.28).
Figure 2.28 The Transparent Gradient Range styles fade away near the end.
Between the theme, quick styles, and Change Colors drop-down, you have quick access to 893,760 different styles of diagrams. Even if 63,840 of them involve the completely useless quick style Bird’s Eye Scene, that still leaves three quarters of a million useful SmartArt styles, and you haven’t even touched the Format ribbon yet. This is an impressive collection of styles and permutations.
Changing Direction
One of the remaining controls on the Design ribbon is the Right-to-Left button in the Create Graphic group. This button has different effects depending on the layout of SmartArt selected.
The official Microsoft position is that the button “reverses the direction of the SmartArt graphic” primarily for countries in which people read text in a right-to-left direction.
In the next several examples, the blue diagram uses the traditional left-to-right view. The orange diagram shows the same diagram in right-to-left view.
In Figure 2.29, the Right to Left button actually reverses the order of the text in the shape.
Figure 2.29 Sometimes, Right to Left completely reverses the diagram.
In other instances, the Right to Left button is grayed out. This happens in layouts that have perfect left-to-right symmetry. One example is Segmented Process, as shown in Figure 2.30.
Figure 2.30 When shapes have right-to-left symmetry, the Right to Left option is grayed out.
In other cases, the Right to Left button does not reverse the shape at all but makes some subtle cosmetic change to the diagram. In Figure 2.31, the words move from below the circles to above the circles.
Figure 2.31 In other cases, the Right to Left button has only minimal cosmetic effect on the shape.
Resetting to Defaults
When you begin using options on the Format ribbon, you have absolute control but also can make a diagram look very bad.
If you want to start over, use the Reset Graphic button on the right side of the Design ribbon. Clicking this button resets the quick style to Simple Fill. It also resets the color to Colored Fill – Accent 1. Finally, it removes all other formatting changes you have applied, such as resize, move, rotate, line colors, effects, and so on.
Modifying Using the Format Ribbon
If you stay on the Design ribbon, Office makes sure that your SmartArt graphics look good. The Design ribbon keeps the font for all Level 2 text consistent for all shapes, while also keeping all the shapes proportional. If you need to override some aspect of one shape, you can do this on the Format ribbon.
After you change some settings on the Format ribbon, Office turns off the automatic formatting for the other elements. Changing a font size or margin on the Format ribbon is a great way to make horrible-looking SmartArt images. If you absolutely have to proceed to the Format ribbon, you should get your SmartArt image as close as possible to the final version using the Design ribbon.
Waiting Until the End to Use the Format Ribbon
You should get your diagram as close to being finished as possible before moving to the Format ribbon. Before you use the Format ribbon, the intelligence of the SmartArt technology will constantly reformat text and shape sizes in response to changes in the text pane or in the SmartArt graphic itself.
You want this intelligence working for you as long as possible.
Tip
If you need to move or resize shapes, first get the layout close and then make the formatting changes last in the process.
Converting the Entire Diagram to Shapes
SmartArt diagrams have a few drawbacks:
- Sometimes, the “intelligent” reformatting may frustrate you. You could have a shape with the perfect font size, but after adding a new shape with more text, the appearance of the original shape changes.
- You might need to create a diagram that is not available. For example, you cannot create a flowchart that splits and then merges. While this is not possible with the SmartArt feature, you can get close: convert to shapes, and then finish the diagram with additional shapes.
- In Excel, you might want to assign formulas to the shapes instead of having static text. This allows the text in the SmartArt diagram to have values that changes in response to progress toward a goal or shows the total of a dataset, for example.
In each of these cases, you can convert the entire SmartArt diagram to a collection of static shapes by following these steps:
- Click inside the SmartArt border, but not on any shape.
- Click a shape to select it.
- Press Ctrl+A to select all shapes.
- Press Ctrl+C to copy the shapes.
- Click outside the SmartArt diagram.
- Press Ctrl+V. All the shapes and the text in them are copied as a static collection of shapes.
Note
See “Displaying the Results of a Formula in a Shape” on page 223 (Chapter 11) for instructions on assigning a formula to a shape.
Using the MiniBar to Change Text Formatting
In automatic mode, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook often choose a font size that is small enough to show the longest text at the same level. This can cause problems if you have one shape with long text and short text everywhere else, because Office chooses a small font size for the long text and then forces all the other items to have tiny text as well.
In this case, you might want to override the text size for the shape with the longest text. Office then automatically resizes the font size in the remaining automatic shapes to be larger.
The MiniBar is useful for making these changes. To use it, select the text either directly in the shape or in the text pane. After completing the selection, watch for an almost-transparent formatting box to appear. Move the mouse cursor toward the box to prevent it from disappearing. Here, you can change the font size from the drop-down.
Caution
On some systems, the MiniBar is completely transparent when it starts to appear. It is difficult to move the mouse cursor toward something that is invisible, but you sometimes have to do this. I realize this is a ludicrous statement, but perhaps Microsoft will be able to get the MiniBar to appear reliably in Office 14.
If you allow the MiniBar to disappear, you can use the formatting tools on the Home ribbon to change the font size.
Note
The MiniBar disappears permanently if you move the mouse a medium distance away from the selected text.
In Figure 2.32, the long Level 2 text in step 4 was resized. Office then calculated the proper text size for steps 1 through 3, resulting in the top three shapes automatically receiving a larger font size.
Figure 2.32 When the font size in the fourth shape was manually overridden, the text in the remaining three shapes automatically became larger.
You can also apply transformations to text. See the later section “WordArt Styles.”
Editing a Shape
Click on any shape in the SmartArt graphic. You can edit many items for the shape:
- Use the green handle to rotate the shape.
- Use the resize handles to resize the shape.
- Use the move handle to nudge the shape.
- Choose SmartArt Tools, Format, Shapes, Change Shape to completely change the shape.
- Choose settings from the Shape Styles group to change fill, outline, and effects for the shape.
- Choose settings from the WordArt Styles group to change the text inside the shape.
- Right-click the shape and choose Format Shape to have more control over the shape.
In general, SmartArt graphics created on the Design ribbon look uniform and neat. When you move to the Format ribbon, the possibility for chaos arises. The SmartArt graphic in Figure 2.33 contains mixed effects, font sizes, and rotation.
Figure 2.33 After experimenting with the Format ribbon, choose Reset Graphic on the Design ribbon to go back to something normal.
Changing a Shape
The 84 layouts for SmartArt graphics all produce a document with a certain shape. For example, Figure 2.34 shows a Circular Bending Process diagram, where the Level 1 shapes are always circles and the arrows between the shapes are triangles.
Figure 2.34 The Circular Bending Process diagram always uses circles for the Level 1 shapes.
You do not have to live with the standard shapes.
If you would like to change the shape of all the circles in the diagram, follow these steps:
- Click on the first shape in the diagram. A selection box surrounds the shape.
- If your shapes are the same, you can hold down the Ctrl key while clicking the remaining shapes in the diagram.
- On the SmartArt Tools, Design ribbon, select the Change Shape drop-down. Select from among the 148 available shapes in the drop-down. In Figure 2.35, the shape is changed to an octagon.
Figure 2.35 Select a new shape from the drop-down.
- If you have additional shapes to change, repeat steps 1 and 3.
After you have changed a shape, you cannot be certain that the automatic font scaling will work to fit your text in the shape. Use the Larger or Smaller buttons in the Shapes group on the Format ribbon to adjust the shape size so that the text fits.
Shape Styles
You can change the fill color, outline color, and effects of individual shapes in the diagram. To do this, select one or more shapes as described in the preceding section.
On the SmartArt Tools, Format ribbon, use the Shape Styles gallery to choose from 42 color styles.
In Figure 2.36, the arrows are changed to a green color with a bevel.
Figure 2.36 Using a built-in shape style for the arrows in the diagram.
If you don’t like one of the built-in colors, use the Shape Fill drop-down to access additional theme colors. Buttons at the bottom of the Shape Fill drop-down allow you to choose from 16 million colors, a picture, a gradient (shown in Figure 2.37), or a texture.
Figure 2.37 In addition to fill colors, you can choose a texture or a gradient.
In addition to fill color, you can choose the Shape Outline drop-down. This menu allows you to select a color for the line, as well as the line weight (see Figure 2.38), dashes, and arrow style.
Figure 2.38 Adjust the outline for the shape.
Shape Effects
The Shape Effects drop-down leads to an additional seven flyout menus:
- Shadow—Choose from 23 built-in shadows or access the More Shadows dialog box to customize the shadow for the shape (see Figure 2.39).
- Reflection—Choose from 9 built-in reflection styles (see Figure 2.40).
- Glow—Add a soft glow around the shape in a contrasting color. In this menu, 24 built-in styles are available (see Figure 2.41).
- Soft Edges—Choose to ghost the border of the shape. In this menu, 6 built-in levels of softness are available (see Figure 2.42).
- Bevel—Choose from 12 built-in bevel styles (see Figure 2.43). These style changes are more apparent when the shape has a fill.
- 3-D Rotation—Choose from 25 styles of rotation (see Figure 2.44). If you choose 3-D Rotation Options, you can rotate the shape along the x-, y-, or z-axis in one-tenth-of-a-percentage increments.
- Preset—Choose from 10 built-in combinations of bevel, shadow, and 3-D rotation (see Figure 2.45).
Figure 2.39 Choose from available shadow styles.
Figure 2.40 Choose from available reflection styles.
Figure 2.41 Choose from available glow styles.
Figure 2.42 Choose from available soft edge styles.
Figure 2.43 Choose from available bevel styles.
Figure 2.44 Choose from available 3-D rotation styles.
Figure 2.45 The presets offer combinations of bevel, 3-D rotation, and shadow.
WordArt Styles
The text in your SmartArt can be formatted as WordArt to apply any number of interesting text transformations.
Note
For more information on WordArt, see Chapter 11 on page 221.
To apply a WordArt effect to a shape, follow these steps:
- Select a shape in the SmartArt graphic or select text within a shape.
- From the SmartArt Tools, Format ribbon, choose a built-in style from the WordArt Styles gallery.
- Use the Text Effects drop-down. The Transform flyout menu offers 40 built-in transformations. Hover the cursor over a transformation to preview it in the shape.
- When you find an acceptable transformation, click it to apply it to the shape.
In Figure 2.46, the Arch Up transformation is applied to the First Shape text.
Figure 2.46 Choose from 40 different transformations in the WordArt Text Effects drop-down.
Note
For more mundane text formatting, use either the Home ribbon or the MiniBar. Information on the MiniBar is presented on page 44 in this chapter.
Adding Pictures to Shapes
Pictures can be added to any shape. A few styles even have built-in picture placeholders. For other shapes without picture placeholders, you can insert a picture as a fill effect for the shape.
Using Picture Placeholder Shapes
Seven SmartArt styles in the List category are designed to hold a small image in addition to the text. In the first styles in the following list, the picture is emphasized. In the later styles, the focus shifts to the text, with the picture as an accent.
- Picture Caption List—Includes a large picture and is designed to emphasize the picture.
- Horizontal Picture List—Includes a large picture and a large space for text. It is good for a balance of pictures and text.
- Continuous Picture List—Includes a large picture and minimal text.
- Vertical Picture List—Contains a small square picture and text.
- Vertical Picture Accent List—Contains a small round picture on the left and text.
- Bending Picture Accent List—Contains a small circular picture.
- Picture Accent List—Contains a small square picture in the upper right of each block.
When you select one of these styles, first build the text and add shapes as necessary. The SmartArt graphic shows a picture icon in each shape, as shown in Figure 2.47.
Figure 2.47 In the SmartArt styles with pictures, you should arrange the shapes before trying to add pictures.
Click a picture icon to display the Insert Picture dialog box. Choose a picture and click Insert. Repeat for each additional picture. The pictures are resized to fit the allotted area, as shown in Figure 2.48.
Figure 2.48 Pictures have been added to each shape. Only seven SmartArt styles are prebuilt with placeholders for pictures.
Caution
If you change the layout of the SmartArt graphic after adding pictures, the picture information is lost. This is particularly frustrating when you switch from a picture style to another picture style. Oddly, if you switch from layout A to layout B and then back to layout A, the picture information comes back.
Applying a Picture as Fill to Any Shape
If a shape does not have a picture placeholder, you can assign a picture using the Shape Fill drop-down. Follow these steps:
- Select a shape in the SmartArt graphic.
- From the Format ribbon, choose the Shape Fill drop-down.
- Select the Picture item from the bottom of the drop-down.
- In the Insert Picture dialog box, browse to and select a picture.
- Click Insert.
After you add a picture to a shape, a new Picture Tools, Format tab is available in the ribbon. You can use the controls on this ribbon to adjust the picture.
In Figure 2.49, a light blue tint is applied to the tree in the center shape.
Figure 2.49 After you add a picture to a shape, the Picture Tools tab allows you to adjust the picture settings.
Using Limited SmartArt Styles
Most of the SmartArt styles can contain any number of Level 1 text entries. As you add Level 1 text, new shapes are added to the SmartArt graphic. A few SmartArt styles cannot be expanded, however.
Both the Gear and Funnel chart are limited to three or four items. If you add more items to the text pane, they appear in the text pane with a red x (see Figure 2.50). These items are not displayed in the SmartArt graphic, but they are stored until the document is closed in case you later change to another SmartArt style.
Figure 2.50 Certain SmartArt styles are limited to a specific number of shapes. If you try to enter more, the extra items appear in the text pane with a red x and a warning at the bottom of the text pane.
Many of the Arrow styles in the Relationship category are limited to two Level 1 text items.
The Matrix styles are limited to four quadrants. Grid Matrix offers four quadrants plus a title in the center.
The Segmented Pyramid style can be expanded, but it must contain 1, 4, 9, or 16 shapes. As soon as you add a fifth style to the SmartArt graphic in the upper-left corner of the display, an entire row is added to the bottom of the pyramid, resulting in the SmartArt graphic shown in the lower right of Figure 2.50.
The equation style can be expanded, but the answer is always the last Level 1 item in the text pane.
Using the Selection Pane
Use the Selection Pane to manage the visibility and order of shapes on the worksheet. This task pane lists all the SmartArt, shapes, and WordArt on the drawing layer of the current document.
Icons next to each image allow you to temporarily hide any shape. Buttons at the bottom of the Selection Pane allow you to show all or hide all images. If your computer is having a hard time rendering the images, you can hide them all while you compose the rest of your document.
If you have many overlapping images, the reorder buttons allow you to specify which image is on top (this is referred to as the z-order). In Figure 2.51, the 5-Point Stars image appears in the pane before the black Rectangle 6. This allows the stars to be seen on top of the rectangle.
Figure 2.51 Manage the visibility and z-order of drawing-layer objects using the Selection Pane.
The Selection Pane icon is located in the Arrange group of the Format ribbon. Because the Format ribbon is frequently put away, it might be difficult to select the icon. You can always select a shape to bring back the ribbon. In Excel, the icon also appears on the Page Layout ribbon. In PowerPoint, it also appears on the Design ribbon.
Caution
Although most items in the Selection Pane are given intuitive names, WordArt objects are referred to as rectangles in the list.
Modifying the Size of the Overall Diagram
Although you can easily resize a SmartArt graphic by dragging one of the eight resize handles around the border, sometimes you need to create a diagram at an exact size.
The Size group on the SmartArt Tools, Format ribbon offers spin buttons that give you precise control over the overall size of the image.
Next Steps
Chapters 3 through 8 provide a gallery of the 84 built-in SmartArt layouts.