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Toolbar Overview

Because FlowBreeze is an Excel add-in, the FlowBreeze features are accessible via a ribbon tab in Excel, as shown below. (Image is too wide to display on mobile devices.)

Feature Descriptions

Flowcharting

• Start: Starts an interactive flowcharting session.
• Stop: Stops the interactive flowcharting session. This button is only enabled when a flowcharting session is in progress.

Settings:

• Flowchart Settings: Opens the Settings window, allowing you to customize the FlowBreeze flowchart rules and formatting.
• File Locations: Opens a form that allows you to set the directories for FlowBreeze files.
• Import / Export Settings: Allows you to import or export settings files for standardization among computers.
• Export Symbol List: Exports the list of active symbols, along with their prefixes and keywords, to a new workbook.

Wizard:

• Flowchart Wizard: Scans the worksheet for text and loads it into the Flowchart Wizard to convert into a flowchart.
• Transpose Columns to Rows: Converts a vertical columns into horizontal rows for left to right flowcharts.
• Apply Parsing Syntax: Adds entry ID numbers, connector IDs, and branch label syntax to each entry.

Templates:

• Create a Template: Loads the Template Generator, which can be used to create swim lane templates.
• Create VSM Template: Load the value stream mapping template generator.
• Load a Template: Loads a template onto a new worksheet.

Export

• Export as Picture: Allows you to save the flowchart and/or worksheet as a picture.
• Export to Web Page: Creates an HTML file containing an picture of the flowchart.

Insert

• Add Shapes: Opens the Adds Shapes dialog to add a shape to the worksheet.
• Add Connectors: Opens the Add Connectors dialog to insert one or more formatted connectors between flowchart shapes.
• VSM Symbols: Opens the Value Stream Mapping dialog.
• Branch: Inserts a branch structure (like an organization chart).
• Group Box: Inserts a background shape to label and encompass a set of related shapes..
• Decision Blocks: Opens the decision blocks tool, allowing you

Edit

• Quick Styles: Options to set color and lines styles in a single click.
• Edit Flowchart: Opens the flowchart editor, which allows you to change shape types, content, and formatting.
• Style Gallery: A gallery of built-in shape formatting styles.

Layout

• Layout:
  • Re-Align Shapes: Corrects any slightly jagged connector lines.
  • Align or Distribute: Align or adjust the spacing between multiple shapes.
  • Order: If shapes overlap, you can use the Bring to Front, Send to Back, Bring Forward, and Send Backward. to set how their are layered.
  • Rotate: Change the orientation of a shape.
• Grid:
  • Snap to Shape: Snaps a symbol to the edge of another flowchart symbol.
  • Create a Grid: Changes the column width to match the row height, creating a grid.
  • View Gridlines: Shows or hides the gridlines on the sheet gridlines.
  • Clear Shading: Clears any cell shading on the worksheet.
• Snap to Grid: Snaps the flowchart symbols to the worksheet gridlines.

Select

• Group Shapes:
  • Group: Creates one shape out of many.
  • Ungroup: Splits the grouped shape back into its constituent parts.
  • Regroup: If a set of shapes has been grouped then ungrouped, they may be regrouped by selecting a single shape and clicking this function.
  • Group All Shapes: In one click it will select all the shapes and group then together into a single object.
  • Ungroup All Shapes: In one click it will ungroup any grouped shapes on the sheet.
• Select Shapes:
  • Select All: Selects all the shapes on the page.
  • Selection Tool: Opens the Shape Selection tool.
  • Symbols: Selects only the flowchart symbols on the page (i.e., no connectors, no labels, etc.).
  • Connectors: Selects only the flow line connectors on the page.
  • Labels: Selects only the labels on the page.
• Select Objects (white arrow): Clicking it toggles a special mouse cursor that allows you to select shapes.

Connectors

• Straighten: Converts any elbow connector that is jagged to a straight connector
• Split: Replaces a connector with two labeled connector nodes.
• Crossover: Insert a crossover "bump" into the selected connector.

Tools

• Symbol Key: Generates a symbol key (shape legend), listing all the symbols used in your flowchart.
• Extract Text: Iterates through the flowchart symbols, extracting the text and creating a list of the process steps.
• Hyperlink: Add a hyperlink from a shape to another part of the flowchart, to another document, or to a URL.

Help

• Open Help File: Opens the local version of this help file.
• View Event Log: Opens the event log viewer to see any errors or events that FlowBreeze has logged.
• Contact Support: Opens your email client to send a support ticket.
• Register FlowBreeze: Opens the registration form to enter your license key.
• Check for Updates: Opens your web browser to the updates page to check if there is a new version available for download.
• About: Shows the current version of the software.