PowerPoint 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual

Creating Diagrams

Microsoft really upped the ante when it comes to using diagrams in your presentations. PowerPoint 2007 lets you create more types of diagrams than earlier versions of the program, they look snazzier, and they're easier to create and update. In some cases, when you tweak one section of a diagram, PowerPoint automatically redraws the rest of it to match.

In this section, you'll see two ways to create a diagram: by choosing a diagram type and filling in the text, or by converting an existing text list into a diagram. Then you'll learn to add a quick, professional-looking style to your diagram.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION: When to Diagram

Now you tell me about diagrams! I've just typed a list of all one hundred employees in my company on a PowerPoint slide. I see now the names would work better in an organizational chart. Is it too late?

Well, if you were using PowerPoint 2003, the answer would be yes. If you wanted to add a certain type of diagram to a slide—an organizational chart, for example—you had to add it to your slide first, and then fill in the employees' names later. In fact, you can still do it that way in PowerPoint 2007, if you want.

But you may run into a situation where you're adding text to a slide and then realize that a diagram would make more sense. Say you realize you've just typed a list that would be much more effective as a chevron diagram—one that shows a series of steps, for example, or that shows some other type of relationship. PowerPoint 2007 ...