How to Create Flowcharts in Excel Series -
Fonts and Internal AutoShape Margins in Excel Flowcharting
By Nicholas Hebb
Excel Flowchart Wizard
FlowBreeze - a flowcharting automation add-in for Excel that makes creating flowcharts simple and pain free. Download a Free 30-day Trial Today.
Setting Flowchart Symbol Fonts and Margins
How to Minimize the Footprint
You can minimize a flowchart's footprint while maintaining readability by using fonts and AutoShape margins judiciously.
When you add text to an AutoShape, Microsoft Excel creates a text frame for the text within the shape. A text frame is the largest possible rectangle that will fit within the shape. By default, Microsoft Excel adds margins to the inside of the text frame, with the left and right margins set at 0.10" and the top and bottom internal margins set at 0.05".
If the shape is rectangular, then the text frame fills the entire shape. The margins ensure that the text doesn't butt up against the side of a shape, giving it a more aesthetic look. But, if the shape is non-rectangular, then the text frame is surrounded by white space, so the internal margins are completely unnecessary.
Also Microsoft Excel flowchart symbols use the Arial font by default. Arial is an OK font for readability, but tends to be a lot larger than it's counterpart in Microsoft Word - Times New Roman. If you're going to keep the flowchart in Excel format, you might as well stick with Arial. If you want a little better readability at smaller fonts (e.g. 8pt), try one of Arial's more modern cousins - Tahoma or the new Segoe UI in Excel 2007.
A Note on Exporting Excel Flowcharts to Word
If you plan on exporting the flowchart to Word, you might as want to change the font to Times New Roman for consistency with the rest of the Word document. By using Times New Roman as your font, you can maintain readability while shrinking the size of the shape needed to display the text.
One note about flowchart symbols in Microsoft Word: Word sets the text formatting to the Normal style by default. On most systems, it means that the font will be set to Times New Roman 12pt. This really limits the amount of text you can get in a reasonably sized flowchart symbol. To change the default flowchart shape font in Word, add a new Style and then apply the style to the flowchart shapes. I would at least recommend reducing the point size to 10pt, shown below. (For detailed info on how to create and apply styles in Word, check your local Word help file.)
The Effect of Fonts and Margins on Flowchart Layout
First, it's often difficult to get a flowchart to layout on a single page. Even if the flowchart spans many pages, it's often important to get as much related content onto a page as possible, so the reader can maintain mental continuity as they look at the flowchart. [Note: this shouldn't be an excuse to cram too much on a single page and sacrifice readability. A readable multi-page flowchart is still easier to follow than a cluttered single-page flowchart.]
Second, full wording within the text often gets compromised to minimize the footprint. The danger there is that the intended message becomes incomplete or harder to understand.
By maximizing the amount of text within a shape, you can get more shapes on a single page and describe each step in more detail.
The table below shows Microsoft Excel's default settings in the left column, and some comparison shapes in the right column. Notice that as the internal margins and font are changed, the size of the shape required to fully display the text becomes smaller.
| Arial 10pt with default internal margins (Excel default) |
Comparison Shape |
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About the Author
Nicholas Hebb is the founder of BreezeTree Software, maker of FlowBreeze Flowchart Software.