FlowBreeze 2.0 gets a new Start Flowcharting prompt. The old Start Flowcharting prompt only allowed you to set the start Terminator symbol text and location. The new window makes that optional, plus it allows you to create a set the page properties, show/hide the Excel grid lines, and either create a simple grid or load a template.
For a simple grid, you can set the page properties. these can always be changed later through the standard File > Page Setup menu, but their main purpose for flow charts is to display the page breaks as a set of drawing area boundaries. Here is the screen shot:
Choosing the template option, you can choose from 22 different template styles in 4 different page sizes (8-1/2×11, 11×17, A3, and A4). That number will grow over time. Here is the screen shot for the Start Flowcharting window with the Load a Template option choosen:
When you choose to load a template, the template gets loaded into a new worksheet and (optionally) the start Terminator symbol is added containing the text you entered. Below is a screen shot of a loaded flow chart template with the start Terminator symbol added and formatted. The cursor is positioned for the next entry, waiting to convert your text entry into a flow chart symbol based on a set of rules that you can customize (screen shots for that are coming). The shaded guidelines assist you to ensure the symbols are properly aligned.
(Click to enlarge)
Again, more screen shots will be posted as they are finalized…
2 responses so far ↓
CHENG Ying // Mar 21, 2007 at 9:10 am
It’s nice to see the new templets in the version 2. When will the version 2 be available for trying? I’ve been looking for a software to creat automaticaly crosed fonctional workflows for long time but never found one. Simply, input all the informations of each step in a Excel file and then auto generate a workflow. I am not sure that the version 2 could do that or not. Does the version 2 could recognize the logic gate Y / N by itself? Does it can aussi seperate the flow in diffrent departements by itself or we could drag-drop the symbols by ourselves?
I don’t know if I should put the questions here but I am really looking forward to trying it asap!
Nick H. // Mar 21, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Hi,
I addresses most of these questions in the email you sent. The product doesn’t have an auto-layout engine, so it wouldn’t be possible to enter the process steps alone and generate the flowchart from them.
Instead it works interactively, generating the flowcharts symbols as you enter each process step. It will allow you to paste a list of steps, but the symbols will be generated in one column and you would need to subsequently move the symbols around to get the proper layout. For that case, it really is a time saving tool but not a complete automation tool.
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