When you click the Start Flowcharting toolbar button (shown below), FlowBreeze will scan the current worksheet to determine if any shapes exist on the page. If no shapes exist, you will be prompted with the Start Flowcharting window.
The FlowBreeze toolbar for Excel 2000-2003. The equivalent Excel 2007 button has the text "Start Flowcharting".
Picture 1 - Standard Edition w/ Drawing Grid
Start Terminator
FlowBreeze will automatically add a Terminator symbol to the start of your flowchart if you check the "Add a terminator to the beginning of the flowchart?" option. As shown in Picture 1, you can specify the text for the terminator symbol as well as the location on the sheet. Clicking the "..." button next to the worksheet cell will launch a mini-form that allows you to select the cell on the worksheet.
If you purchase the Standard Edition the Start window is full featured, as shown in Picture 1 and Picture 3 below. It allows you to set the page properties and load templates. If you choose the Basic Edition, you will be greeted with a simplified Start window just prompting for a start terminator, as shown in Picture 2.
Tip: It's worth noting that the first step in a flowchart does not need to be generic text such as "start" or "begin". Many flowcharting tutorials advise that the first step be the "trigger action" that kicks off the process. However, at their core flowcharts are communication tools, and if your flowchart will be read by a general audience keep in mind that most of the people viewing it won't have ever read a flowcharting tutorial. They may have no idea what a trigger action or a terminator symbol is. Instead, they'll be scanning the diagram trying to figure out where the process starts. So matching the text to the audience is advised.
Picture 2 - Basic Edition Start Prompt
Drawing Area
The Drawing Area section lets you specify how you want the worksheet to look when you are flowcharting. The settings are described as follows:
Create a drawing grid: This collapses the columns to a width matching the default row height, creating a grid on the sheet.
Use existing worksheet column widths: This will leave the column in the same widths they already are.
Load a template: This will load a template, covered in depth below. Selecting this option will change the options available in the Start Flowcharting window, as shown in Picture 2 below.
Hide the Excel grid lines: This will create a plain white background, hiding Excel's built-in row and column grid lines.
Show the text entry guidelines: When you are flowcharting, FlowBreeze will shade a horizontal row and vertical column to indicate where the next line of text should be entered. If you enter your text along a shaded line, the symbols will be automatically aligned and a flow line will be added automatically as well. Note: If you select this option, any shading on the worksheet will be cleared.
Page Setup
[Note: This section will be visible only if you select "Create a drawing grid" or "Use existing worksheet column widths".]
In this section you can choose to leave the page setup as is or to specify the paper size, margins and orientation. FlowBreeze will then turn the page breaks on so you can see the boundaries of the page for layout guidance.
The "Margins" setting is useful if you are going to copy the flowchart to another Office application, such as Word or PowerPoint. The usable work area is smaller in a typical Word document or PowerPoint presentation, so this shrinks the page boundaries to help you stay within the margins of the target publishing environment.
Templates
If you select "Load a template" in the Drawing Area section then the layout of the Start Formatting window changes to show the available flowchart templates. FlowBreeze ships with an assortment of templates and block diagrams and you can create your own. The fields in this section are as follows:
Change Template Folder: When FlowBreeze is first run, it will create a "My Flowcharts" folder in My Documents and load the templates there. If you wish to change the folder, click the "..." button and a dialog will prompt you for the new location.
Select Templates: this grid will automatically populate with any .xlt files located in the folder selected above. If you choose to create custom templates, it is important to follow the instructions given in the Creating Custom Templates section to allow the template properties to load into the grid correctly.
Filters: Beneath the grid, there are three drop downs that allow you to filter the list of templates by Page Size, Orientation, and Type (flowchart or block diagram.)
Start
When you click the Start button, this window is closed and a flowcharting session will begin. That may seem obvious, but there are two things worth pointing out:
1. If you load a template, it will be added as a new worksheet in the current workbook.
2. There is no Undo capability. Any worksheet settings changed at flowcharting startup (e.g., paper size, columns widths) will need to be manually changed if you want to go back to the previous layout.
Picture 3 - Loading a Template
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