You can adjust the position and alignment of process boxes
to improve the appearance of the flowchart. All of these changes are
visual. They do not affect the flow of data. The direction of the
connection lines between processes determines the data flow.
Before you begin
This procedure assumes that you have a flowchart open for
editing.
About this task
Follow these steps to adjust the appearance of a flowchart.
Procedure
- To reposition all processes in a flowchart, click the Change
Layout icon
and select an option.
- Tree: Organizes process boxes in a
tree format. Useful when each process box has a single input.
- Organization Chart: Organizes simple
flowcharts and is effective for flowcharts with a single input from
the top.
- Circular: Arranges process boxes in
a radial fashion. Useful for single connection-based flowcharts that
lead to one output.
- Hierarchical: Organizes process boxes
in horizontal or vertical levels so that most links flow uniformly
in the same direction. This layout often provides the most simple
and visually straightforward choice.
- To reposition all process boxes to a horizontal or vertical
layout:
- Right-click the flowchart workspace.
- Choose or click the Horizontal
/ Vertical icon
in the toolbar.
If this option causes connection lines to overlap, select twice to redraw the connection lines.
To make connection lines appear behind process boxes, clear Overlap
Connections on the View menu.
- To align two or more process boxes, drag a selection box
around at least two processes, then use the alignment icons in the
flowchart toolbar.
- To align boxes in a row: Use the Align Top icon
, the Align
Bottom icon
,
or the Align Center (Vertical) icon
.
- To align boxes in a column: Use the Align Left icon
,
the Align Right icon
,
or the Align Center (Horizontal) icon
.
If you choose an incorrect alignment, select an option
from the Change Layout menu to restore the
layout. In many cases, the Hierarchical layout
fixes overlapping process boxes.
You can also select an individual
process box and drag it to a new location.