SmartDraw 2007

By Dale Farris, Reviews Coordinator Golden Triangle PC Club November 2006 General Overview SmartDraw 2007 is a drag and drop drawing program that has been nicely updated, just in time for the upcoming Windows Vista operating system, and to continue to integrate well with Office 2007. SmartDraw 2007 is aimed at users who need to create a diagram, flow chart, or other business drawing, but do not have the time to learn the features in more complex drawing programs on the market. SmartDraw 2007 is SmartDraw.com's most complete and newest version of this neat program. With this new version 2007, SmartDraw updates their already highly successful version 7 of SmartDraw. Compared to previous versions of SmartDraw, SmartDraw 2007 can do all the same tasks and more. All drawing tools and commands are more accessible and easier to find and use. However, the previous SmartDraw menus and toolbars have been replaced. This new interface will look familiar to readers who have been following the development of Microsoft's new Office 2007 and the "ribbon" concept that will define this soon to be released new version of Office. SmartDraw Product Line For general business users, SmartDraw 2007 is the choice for creating more than 33 types of charts and diagrams, including flowcharts, Gantt charts, timelines, organizational charts, calendars, flyers, floor plans and technical diagrams. In addition, SmartDraw 2007 is available in two industry-specific solutions: SmartDraw 2007 Legal Edition SmartDraw 2007 Healthcare Edition Each edition includes all the SmartDraw 2007 features and functions, plus industry specific SmartTemplates, examples, symbols and SmartHelp. The Legal Edition is designed for lawyers, investigators, and law enforcement personnel to create courtroom exhibits, legal flowcharts and diagrams, accident reconstruction diagrams, crime scenes and more. SmartDraw 2007 Healthcare Edition is for doctors, nurses and healthcare administrators to create patient and staff education materials, anatomical diagrams, project charts, floor plans and more. SmartDraw 2007 Crosses the Graphics Gap SmartDraw 2007 changes the face of graphics software with an all-new intuitive interface and revolutionary SmartTemplate technology. The new design for SmartDraw 2007 is the result of extensive user testing and 12 years of feedback from the millions of SmartDraw users. It is a breakthrough release that makes creating business graphics as easy as typing a letter with a word processor. For example, to create an attractive and effective flowchart, users must know which shapes and symbols to use, what they mean, and how they fit together. They also need to apply good graphic design principles, and then be able to produce it. Most people don't even know where to start. To solve this problem, SmartDraw has developed hundreds of SmartTemplates for every type of business graphic. Each SmartTemplate loads a diagram specific SmartPanel command set and the associated SmartHelp step-by-step instructions. With SmartDraw, any user is an instant expert on how to make a complex diagram. And with SmartDraw’s gallery of professionally designed styles, effects and themes, the user is an instant graphic artist as well! For example, open a “flowchart” SmartTemplate, and the correct symbols, settings, color schemes, SmartPanel and SmartHelp necessary to create the flowchart are displayed automatically. SmartPanels—make complex tasks easy. Each SmartPanel contains single-click task buttons relevant to the diagram type being edited. SmartPanel buttons perform the most common tasks for a drawing type—even combining multiple steps into a single click. For example, the Flowchart SmartPanel has task buttons to Add Shapes, Add Text, Add Lines, Arrowheads, Line Hops, Help and more. SmartPanels enable users of any level of experience to complete a professional quality diagram as quickly and easily as possible. SmartHelp is a dynamic HTML pane that presents task and diagram relevant help. SmartHelp has a familiar browser navigation scheme, simplified step-by-step instructions and provides access to online resources as well. Creating a graphic with SmartDraw is a simple as 1 – 2 – 3. Users simply select a SmartTemplate to start, stamp additional symbols in place, and then choose for the professionally-designed color styles and design themes to polish off the drawing. 1. CHOOSE a Smart Template. There are hundreds of professionally designed SmartTemplates so it's easy to look like an expert! 2. DRAG shapes, lines, and symbols to where you need them. Choose from a library of over 20,000 standard symbols and shapes. 3. POLISH with themes, styles and text and you're done! Just save and print. Or, transfer into other programs with one click. For diagrams or other business-related drawings, SmartDraw 2007 is ideal for busy professionals needing to very quickly drag and drop selected shapes, symbols, or lines to a drawing area, and then format these shapes with text and other highlighting features that are also supported in the program. The program includes hundreds of add-on symbol libraries containing thousands of symbols suitable for software diagrams, network diagrams, floor plans, circuit diagrams, maps, organization charts, presentations, forms, and many other drawings. The symbols from the built-in libraries, as well as the ones you choose to create, can be easily dragged into drawings from a floating toolbar called a Library window. It's as easy as drag-and-drop. If you know how to use a mouse, you know how to use SmartDraw. Making a flowchart, floor plan, organizational chart, Gantt chart, calendar, family tree, computer network diagram, or anything with SmartDraw takes three simple steps: 1. Click on the shape or symbol you want 2. Drag it wherever you want on the page 3. Repeat as necessary SmartDraw works with what you know. All of your SmartDraw flowcharts and diagrams can be easily copied and pasted into the programs you use every day—Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and more—adding a new level of visual understanding to your presentations and documents. Also, SmartDraw does what other programs simply cannot do. Have you tried to make a flowchart or organizational chart in Word or PowerPoint, and found it to be too time-consuming and the results too boring? Have you found Visio too pricey or technical? That's why the company created SmartDraw, or, as many of their customers call it, the "missing piece" of office software. SmartDraw 2007 is very easy to use and includes a built-in Hints guide to help you along as you create your first drawing. ToolTips automatically label buttons on the toolbar, and online help is available for all commands. The user guide is also available in PDF format on the program CD ROM disc. The simple drag-and-drop interface lets you draw any of thousands of pre-defined shapes with one click, and the FreeForm tool allows you to create your own shapes and fill these in with color, apply borders, and insert text, as you would any standard shape. Flow charts, block diagrams, signs and posters, decision trees, organizational charts, network diagrams, floor plans, process flow diagrams, schematics, Gantt charts, chemistry diagrams, time lines, office space plans, flyers, posters, brochures, banners, maps, and more are all ready for easy dragging onto the drawing board for your use. You can email your drawings to others in a single click, and you can set up hyperlinks in drawings to link to other files on the Internet. Export SmartDraw drawings ad HTML files with working hyperlinks, and upload these to your free SmartDrawNet web site with one click. With the Free SmartDraw Viewer, anyone can now view and print SmartDraw drawings even if SmartDraw is not installed on their machine. You can also create drawings up to 50 inches square, containing thousands of shapes and lines. Automatically tile large drawings across multiple printed pages, or scale these onto a single page. Link a shape in one drawing to another drawing, or document, to create drawing hierarchies. View and edit drawings scaled to fit the window, fit-to-page, 50%, 75%, 100%, 150%, 200%, or custom scale. Connect shapes with lines that stay connected, even when you move or resize them, and size, move, rotate, and flip shapes, text and lines by any angle.  You can also create your own symbols and add these to any existing library, and you can also create your own libraries. Open up to 16 library windows at the same time, and edit existing symbols to define where text will go, where connections can be made to its borders, and how it will resize when it is stretched or scaled. Several line styles are included, such as straight, arc, segmented, curved, and communication and digital style. You can change the shape of lines, draw dotted and dashed lines, and choose from 23 different arrowhead styles, including circles, crows feet, diamonds and others. Automatically connect lines to each other and to any shape, and they stay connected. Connect lines across pages in multi-page drawings, and size and move lines with the mouse. Lines and curves automatically change shape to maintain connections between shapes, and you can attach text to lines. With automatic dimensioning, you can show the length of any line automatically, scaled to current ruler settings. FreeFrom lines can also be drawn, including right-angled lines with curved corners, smooth curved lines with arbitrary shapes, and more. Shapes can be dropped on connectors to automatically format organization charts, family trees, fishbone diagrams, flowcharts, and network diagrams. You can change the shape of a connector with one simple menu command, and you can rearrange shapes attached to a connector with simple drag and drop. Join connectors to other connectors to create complex charts. With table design, you can design business forms, time lines, and spreadsheets. Specify border and background colors for each cell or the whole table, and join and split cells to create complex tables.  The background color, border styles, shadows and fill patterns for shapes and lines can all be modified, and you can include 3D shadow effects. Sophisticated gradient fills are included in the Professional Plus edition, and you can apply pre-defined color and shadow styles to an entire drawing. Type text inside any shape of symbol, and shapes grow automatically to accommodate more text, or text shrinks to fit, depending on your choice. Control the way the shape grows as you add text, and words wrap automatically within shapes. Change the font and color of characters, add superscripts and subscripts within the shape, insert popular symbols from a Word-like dialog, justify text left, right, centered, or flush for individual paragraphs.  Automatically type labels underneath symbols, and rotate text any angle. Format bulleted text automatically, and hyperlink your text to other drawings, documents, or web pages. The automatic alignment and formatting features let you show or hide rulers, define the ruler scale and units, use snap-to-grid to automatically align the edges of shapes and lines with the tick marks on the ruler, and to show or hide the background grid. Also, you can make selected objects the same height, width, or both, and use the Space Evenly feature to automatically place lines and shapes the same distance apart. Adjust the front-to-back order for shapes and lines, and in the Professional Plus version, you can simplify drawings using multiple layers. Assign related types of shapes and lines to different layers that can be shown and hidden independently. Finely adjust the size and position of shapes using the arrow keys to "nudge" them 1/100 of an inch at a time. Combine objects into groups, and then ungroup them, and center the whole drawing on one of more pages. Powerful Features Ease of Use Here's what makes SmartDraw easy to use: Next generation, easy-to-use ribbon-style user interface (with optional traditional menu bar) SmartTemplates with context-sensitive help - get the help you need, when you need it, automatically! SmartPanel allows one-click access to six buttons specific to what you're drawing Thousands of example drawings - which you may customize and make your own! Over 20,000 shapes and symbols to simply click and drop into your drawing Transfer your drawing to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect and Adobe PDF - with one simple click Automatic text formatting as you type, with built-in spell check Automatic linking - just drop shapes near each other and they automatically line up and link! Automatically create calendars, Gantt charts and timelines. Set a date range, SmartDraw does the rest! Auto Flow automatically draws connecting lines between shapes Org Chart Builder takes your properly formatted file and automatically builds the appropriate chart Imports and exports from all commonly used file formats Symbols and Shapes Over 20,000 shapes and symbols to simply click and drop into your drawing Copy and paste your own symbols, icons, and clip art Size and move symbols with the mouse Automatically make selected symbols the same height, width, or both Automatically align symbols, shapes, and lines Automatically space symbols, shapes, and groups of symbols and shapes evenly Rotate and flip symbols, lines, and text by any angle Combine symbols into groups and then un-group them again Connect symbols with lines that stay connected, even when you move or resize them Join lines and curves into new fill-able symbols Change the color or fill texture of your symbols Create your own fill textures from a metafile or bitmap Apply colors and graphic effects to entire drawings for a professional finish Drawing Tools Auto Flow automatically inserts connecting lines between shapes. Just drag a symbol next to another symbol and a segmented line automatically and perfectly connects the two shapes Area Calculation lets you see the exact area of a shape as you draw it, with the measurements scaling up and down as you change the shape's size in any way. The dimensions can be viewed all the time or only when a shape is selected Automatic Dimensioning lets you view the length of any line, scaled to current ruler settings, as it's being drawn or after it's been created Anti-aliasing ensures smooth curves, lines, and text The Drawing Area Unlimited drawing area The drawing area automatically resizes to fit your drawing Simplify complex drawings with layers that can be shown, edited, and hidden independently Move between layers quickly and easily with layer tabs in the program window Automatically tile large drawings across multiple printed pages or scale large drawings onto a single page Link a symbol in one drawing to another drawing (or document) to create drawing hierarchies View and edit drawings scaled to fit the window, page, 50%, 75%, 100%, 150%, 200%, 400% or custom scale Show or hide ruler Zoom into the nooks and crannies of your drawings - just right-click (in) and left-click (out). You can zoom to 1000% of your drawing size Center the whole drawing on one or more pages Lines Choose any line style: straight, arc, segmented, curved, double lines, filled lines, or create your own Connect lines to create custom shapes Line hops made easy! Lines do not intersect unless you want them to, thanks to automatic line hops Click - let go - click line drawing Automatic spacing and sizing of connectors Draw dotted, dashed, and filled lines and borders as thick as you want Size and move lines with the mouse Lines and curves automatically change shape to maintain connections between shapes Change the shape of lines with a simple menu command Choose from 46 different arrowhead styles, including circles, crows feet, diamonds, and other styles Connect lines across pages in multi-page drawings Attach text to lines Text Just type! Text automatically formats inside or next to any symbol or shape Built-in spell checker can be set to automatically check spelling as you type, or used separately Add words to your custom dictionary Symbols automatically grow to accommodate more text, or text shrinks to fit - it's your choice Automatic word wrap within symbols Insert popular symbols from a Word-like dialog Justify text left, right, centered, or flush Rotate text by any angle Automatically format bulleted text Hyperlink text to other drawings, documents, web pages, or programs Tables Choose from pre-formatted tables AutoFill automatically populates header cells with numbers, months, days, or dates Add symbols and photos to cells Specify border and background colors for each cell or the whole table Join and split cells to create complex tables Insert bitmaps in cells, and scale and crop as necessary Insert and edit photos within table cells Lock graphics to cells so they don't move as you reformat the table Customization FreeForm drawing tool lets you create your own shapes, lines, and arrowheads Edit existing symbols to define text placement (inside it, under it, etc.), where connections can be made to its borders, and how it will resize when stretched or scaled Put what you use most in one convenient location by creating your own symbol and shape library Change the sorting order of symbols in any library Create custom connection points to meet your diagramming needs Create and store your own custom gradients Define and store your own styles Colors, Borders, and Effects Change the color of the symbols, lines, and backgrounds within your drawings Save time by capturing the style from any object in your drawing and applying it to others with one mouse-click Apply pre-defined themes to your entire drawing, which automatically control colors, textures, styles, and backgrounds Apply colors, border styles, and fill patterns to objects or groups of objects, including 3-D outside effects Apply inside effects which give a raised look to lines, shapes, text, and borders Enrich your table cells, lines, and text with sophisticated gradients Add textures-such as tile, brick, etc.-to table cells, lines, and text with an easy-to-use textures dialog box Create and store custom gradients Printing Anything your printer can handle, SmartDraw can output, from standard sizes to poster prints Print to scale Scale your drawing by a percentage Specify the scale in printed inches per drawing ruler-inch Fit the drawing to a fixed number of pages Set scaling to a minimum of 1% and a maximum of 1000% Free Help and Support Examples provide lots of ideas and starting points Online help for every command Free live support - call toll-free and speak to a technical support representative, 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time Monday through Friday, 8:00AM to 2:00PM Pacific Time Saturday and Sunday Compatibility Works seamlessly with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint - move files and data with just a click Easily use Microsoft clip art Export and import images in popular graphics formats including WMF, BMP, JPG, GIF, TIF, and many others Save your drawings as PDF files for almost universal sharing Save your drawings for the web as GIF, JPG, or HTML files - HTML files automatically have working hyperlinks Email a drawing to others in a single click Advanced Import/Export Filters: Encapsulated Postscript (EPS), AutoCAD (DXF and DWG), Adobe Illustrator, Acrobat, CorelDraw, and other popular formats (Test your files for compatibility with the trial version of SmartDraw. SmartDraw imports DWG to ACAD 13 and DXF to ACAD 14) Amazing Features Ease of Use No design experience or even artistic skill is required to create professional charts, diagrams and graphics with SmartDraw: the "talent" is built-in. With SmartDraw you can create flow charts, block diagrams, data flow diagrams, decision trees, organizational charts, network diagrams, floor plans, process flow diagrams, schematics, Gantt charts, calendars, quality management diagrams, electrical and mechanical drawings, chemistry diagrams, timelines, space plans, flyers, posters, banners, maps, forms, and more in just a few minutes—there is no learning curve at all. Simple drag-and-drop drawing lets you use any of the thousands of pre-defined shapes with one click, which will enable you to complete your project fast. Easily link shapes to other shapes and to borders: just drop shapes near each other and they link automatically. This feature is especially handy when you may be, for example, connecting a window to a wall within a floor plan. Automatically insert connecting lines between shapes using Auto Flow (new in SmartDraw 7). Just drag a symbol next to another symbol and a line automatically and perfectly connects the two shapes without you having to lift a finger. Work with a friendly, familiar interface (similar to Word). Org Chart Builder/Export: Build an organizational chart automatically with the Org Chart Builder. Simply import a properly formatted file containing your org chart data (such as a spreadsheet) and SmartDraw automatically builds the chart for you. This also works "in reverse" as you can export to a data file from an existing chart. Calendar Builder: plan as far ahead into the future as you desire; just enter a month and year, and—presto!—you have the calendar you want. A built-in spell checker addresses all spelling errors. Work easily with other commonly used file formats. The Right Tools for the Task SmartDraw empowers you with the tools you need to complete your project on time, and to do so with eye-catching, compelling results. In the SmartDraw Suite Edition, you can take advantage of more than 60,000 graphics—symbols, templates, and more—and enjoy functionality such as line hop, automatic dimensioning, and FreeForm drawing. Thousands of ready-to-use symbols and templates for flowcharting, floor planning, org charting, software diagramming, Gantt charting, landscaping, and much more. Find the symbols you need either by browsing or searching by name or keyword. Paste your own symbols and clip art directly into your SmartDraw drawing. Create your own graphics with the FreeForm drawing tool. Have as many (or as few) symbol libraries and tools at your fingertips as you require; you can also "dock" up to 16 symbol libraries right in the drawing area. Size and move symbols with the mouse. Make selected symbols the same height, width, or both. Rotate and flip symbols, text and lines by any angle. Edit symbols to define where text will go (inside it, under it, etc.) and how it will resize when stretched or scaled. Combine symbols into groups and then un-group them again. Connect symbols with lines that stay connected, even when you move or resize them. Join lines and curves into new fill-able symbols. Change the color or fill texture of your symbols and apply color and shadow styles to entire drawings for a professional finish. Fill a symbol with a SmartDraw texture-or create your own from a metafile or bitmap. Auto Flow: automatically insert connecting lines between shapes. Just drag a symbol next to another symbol and a segmented line automatically and perfectly connects the two shapes without you having to lift a finger. Area Calculation enables you to view the exact area of a shape as you draw it, with the measurements scaling up and down as you change the shape's size in any way. The dimensions can be viewed all the time or only when a shape is selected. Automatic Dimensioning: view the length of any line automatically, scaled to current ruler settings. These dimensions appear both as the line is being drawn and after it has been created. A line can show its dimensions all the time, only when selected, or not at all: it's up to you. Anti-aliasing ensures smooth curves, lines, and text. Choose from any line style: straight, arc, segmented, curved, double lines, filled lines, or create your own. Connect lines to create whatever shapes you choose. Line hops: 2-D drawings and charts have typically posed a problem for viewers when two lines intersect, but no more. SmartDraw employs line hops that make one line simply and automatically "hop" over the other. Lines do not intersect unless you want them to. Draw dotted, dashed, and filled lines and borders as thick as you want. Size and move lines with the mouse. Lines and curves automatically change shape to maintain connections between shapes. Change the shape of lines with a simple menu command. Choose from 46 different arrowhead styles, including circles, crows feet, diamonds, and other styles. You can even create your own custom arrowhead. Connect lines across pages in multi-page drawings. Attach text to lines. A Custom Solution: Create Your Own Symbols, Templates, and Libraries With SmartDraw, you can edit existing symbols and templates, or build your own. You can also create custom libraries, keeping the tools you use most often right where you need them. Create your own shapes and lines easily with SmartDraw's FreeForm drawing tool—it's like a digital pencil! Draw whatever shapes you want, fill them with color, apply borders and textures, and make them as unique as you need them to be. This tool's power is similar to that found in high-end solutions, but its usability is unique to SmartDraw. Create your own libraries from our wide array of symbols and shapes—put what you use most in one convenient location. Change the sorting order of symbols in any given library. Dock the symbol libraries you're using right on your screen, or conveniently stack them as your needs dictate. You can also dock a symbol library on the toolbar. Have up to 16 symbol libraries open at the same time. Edit existing symbols to define where text will go (inside it, under it, etc.), where connections can be made to its borders, and how it will resize when stretched or scaled. Integration with Other Programs SmartDraw works with what you know. A fundamental benefit of SmartDraw is that it works hand-in-hand with Microsoft Office and many of the other programs and products you may already know. The major commands and functions you are accustomed to using in programs such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint also work in virtually the same way in SmartDraw: copy and paste, drag and drop, and more. Moving a SmartDraw drawing into Office applications is as simple as copy and paste—there's no complicated file exporting or document reformatting necessary. And the same goes for dropping Office elements, such as a table or fancy text, into SmartDraw: just copy and paste. There are many other ways in which SmartDraw works well with the business tools you use every day. SmartDraw graphics become "live" in Office and vice-versa: just double-click on any object to change it. The changes you make are updated automatically. MS Office users can add MS clipart, graphics, charts, and equations directly from the SmartDraw toolbar, or choose from SmartDraw's pre-designed galleries of graphs, text-styles, and symbols. It's like having a dozen drawing tools rolled into one! Export and import images in popular graphics formats including, WMF, BMP, JPG, GIF, TIF, and many others. Save your drawings for the web as GIF, JPG, or HTML Easily convert drawings made in other software: - Convert Visio or FlowCharter files to a SmartDraw format: If you have diagrams or plans previously created in Visio or FlowCharter, the SmartDraw File Conversion Wizard can quickly convert all of them to SmartDraw format in a single operation! - Convert other file types, too: SmartDraw's File Conversion Wizard also works with other diagramming programs that follow standard Windows object linking and embedding conventions. Advanced Import/Export Filters: Share drawings with others in your office using Encapsulated Postscript (EPS), AutoCAD (DXF and DWG), Adobe Illustrator, Acrobat, CorelDraw, and other popular formats! Email a drawing to others in a single click. Hyperlink symbols or text in your SmartDraw drawings to a web page, to another SmartDraw document, even to a Word document or program. Export your SmartDraw drawing as an HTML file with working hyperlinks. Share your drawing even with those who don't have SmartDraw using the free Viewer. Help: Should you require a few pointers, a tip, or a guide to see you through, SmartDraw provides many different aids to help you develop your drawings - Wizards that walk you through each step in creating, for example, floor plans, flow charts, and org charts. - Built-in Hints to guide you as you create your drawings. - In-depth tutorials and helpful examples to both help you understand the "finished product" and to give you basic instruction. - ToolTips that automatically label buttons on the toolbar. - Extensive online help is available for every command. - An easy-to-read electronic user's guide is available free online or on your CD-ROM. SmartDraw also provides FREE, LIVE, IN-HOUSE SUPPORT available to you for as long as you own SmartDraw. (How can we offer this? Simple: SmartDraw is so easy to use that you won't need support...but it's nice to know that it's there.) As a SmartDraw purchaser, you also get to put your drawings on your free SmartDrawNet web page with one click, a wonderful way to further involve coworkers, family and friends in your work. (Learn more about SmartDrawNet, your personal gallery hosted by SmartDraw.) And with your purchase, you can enjoy a lifetime of downloads: no more install discs (unless you want them). And no worries should you experience a power outage during download-you can simply download SmartDraw again. Automatic Alignment and Formatting: It's a SNAP with SmartDraw One of the hardest parts in creating professional charts and drawings is getting all your symbols and lines properly aligned, but in SmartDraw getting perfect alignment is not only easy; it's automatic. You don't even have to know how to draw a straight line, nor do you need to employ a painstakingly nimble mouse technique (if you've ever tried to align a flowchart, org chart, or floor plan in PowerPoint, you know how time consuming it can be): SmartDraw does it all for you. Automatic alignment for neat, crisp drawings. Use snap-to-grid to automatically align the edges of symbols with the tick marks on the ruler. SmartDraw 7 also includes improved snapping functionality, with the ability to choose whether to snap to the top-left of a grid box or to the center. Use the Space Evenly feature to automatically place symbols the same distance apart. Align symbols to each other with a single click. Align shapes to each other with a single click. Border anchoring (e.g., have your windows anchor to your walls automatically, among other functions). Define ruler scale and units, and choose whether to show or hide rulers. Adjust the front-to-back order for shapes and lines. Finely adjust the size and position of symbols using the arrow keys to nudge them 1/100 of an inch at a time. Decide whether you want to show or hide the background grid. Adjust the front-to-back order for shapes and lines. Combine symbols into groups and then un-group them again. Powerful Text Formatting Tools Type and easily format text inside, or next to, any symbol or shape. Type text inside symbols or use text to label symbols. Automatically check spelling as you type, and add words to your custom dictionary. Avoid embarrassing mistakes with this sophisticated real-time spelling checker that runs in the background and offers right-click suggestions and user-defined dictionaries, just like Microsoft Word. Symbols grow automatically to accommodate more text (or text shrinks to fit, depending on your choice). Words wrap automatically within symbols. Insert popular symbols from a Word-like dialog. Justify text left, right, centered, or flush, for individual paragraphs. Rotate text by any angle. Format bulleted text automatically. Hyperlink your text to other drawings, documents, web pages, or even programs. Automatic Connectors Automatic connectors—especially helpful when building org charts—come in many styles for many needs, and enable inclusion of custom connection points. These special lines keep shapes evenly spaced and arranged. Drop shapes on connectors to automatically format charts. Auto Spacing: Perfectly space shapes and lines within automatic connectors with a click. Auto Sizing: Perfectly size shapes on automatic connectors (which may have stretched as you entered text) with a click. Create custom connection points to meet your specific diagramming needs. Change the shape of a connector arrangement with one simple menu command. Rearrange shapes attached to a connector with simple drag and drop. Join connectors to other connectors to create complex charts. Hyperlink your text to other drawings, documents, web pages, or even programs. Print anything from standard sizes to huge posters. Print to scale (as shown in the dialog box below). Enjoy the option to - scale your drawing by a percentage, - specify the scale in printed inches per drawing ruler-inch, or - fit the drawing to a fixed number of pages. Set scaling to a minimum of 1% and a maximum of 1000%. Colors, Borders, Textures, and Other Effects Change the color of the symbols, lines, and backgrounds within your drawings. Save time by capturing the style from any object in your drawing and applying it to others with one mouse-click via a format painter. Apply pre-defined color and shadow styles to your entire drawing. Apply different colors, border styles, shadows, and fill patterns to shapes and lines, including 3-D shadow effects. Enrich your shapes with sophisticated gradient fills. Create and store your own custom gradients. Add textures—such as tile, brick, etc.—to both shapes and filled borders with an easy-to-use textures dialog box. Define and store your own styles. The SmartDraw Image Plug-In The Image Plug-In enables you to view and edit digital images and photos, and insert them into your org charts, floor plans, flowcharts, and all your SmartDraw drawings. The SmartDraw Image Plug-In is the only imaging application fully integrated with SmartDraw. Transform, enhance, and personalize your drawings by using the faces, places, and things actually involved in what you're communicating—the people in an organization, the furniture in a floor plan. As your drawing expands, so does the drawing area. SmartDraw automatically resizes the drawing area to accommodate you. Simplify your more complex drawings with layers. Assign related types of shapes and lines to different layers that can be shown and hidden independently. Move between layers quickly and easily with layer tabs in the program window. Automatically tile large drawings across multiple printed pages or scale large drawings onto a single page. Link a symbol in one drawing to another drawing (or document) to create drawing hierarchies. View and edit drawings scaled to fit the window, fit-to-page, 50%, 75%, 100%, 150%, 200% or custom scale. Zoom into the nooks and crannies of your drawings via: right-click (in) and left-click (out). You can zoom to 1000% of your drawing size, meaning every detail, no matter how minute, can be dutifully addressed. Center the whole drawing on one or more pages. Tables Easily build tables, which are particularly useful for creating timelines and business forms. You can choose from a list of pre-formatted tables, specifying the number of rows and columns. You can even choose to automatically label columns with numbers, or days of the week, or according to whatever your needs may be—SmartDraw can even automatically generate date ranges! And don't worry about picking the perfect format: you can always change it later. Design business forms, timelines, and spreadsheets using SmartDraw's tables. Add symbols and photos to table cells. AutoFill automatically populates table headers with numbers, months or days, and automatically generates date ranges. Anchor bars and symbols to tables, which is especially useful for Gantt charts and calendars. Specify border and background colors for each cell or the whole table. Join and split cells to create complex tables. Insert bitmaps in cells, and scale and crop as necessary. Lock graphics to cells so they don't move as you reformat the table. Edit photos within table cells with the Image Plug-In. Importance of SmartDraw in the Quality Market SmartDraw 2007 is an excellent example of the rapidly growing designing and diagramming genre of the software market. For any company committed to the genuine meaning of the total quality process, using the various quality tools in the workplace has become common, and now these newly emerging software drawing tools are also being fully integrated in the work of quality teams. SmartDraw 2007 represents one of the most sophisticated and fully developed drawing programs now on the market, and it will well serve the needs of these quality companies, especially when needing to quickly and easily create process flow charts. For staff with little or no prior experience with designing a flow chart with a computer program, SmartDraw 2007 will certainly be well received. SmartDraw 2007 holds value for any business striving to compete in today's international markets, and will provide the computer tool staff need to create and review their internal processes critical to their profitability, product quality, and customer responsiveness. In these situations, the easier the program is to use to produce these charts and diagrams, the more likely the users will continue to repeatedly use the program. In today's quality oriented workplace, the use of flowcharts, cause-and-effect and other standardized quality tools has become common in most larger firms competing in the global marketplace. For quality professionals looking for an easy-to-use flowchart tool, SmartDraw 2007 will provide all they need to document and produce in paper or electronic means their processes for review by quality improvement teams. While SmartDraw 2007 may lack a few of the more technically complex of the programming abilities in other, more expensive diagramming programs (VB, SQL), nevertheless its extensive lineup of multiple tools, features, and controls are very easy to use and easy to learn. I suspect many companies will quickly find themselves very satisfied with the nominal investment in this important program.  Targeted Customers With their lineup of editions of SmartDraw, SmartDraw.com is aiming at the business and manufacturing market with a focus on the non-graphics professional needing to create flowcharts, diagrams, and other drawings, while having little time to learn the program. While on the surface, SmartDraw 2007 may seem at first to be very similar to Microsoft Visio or Micrografx Flowcharter, I found SmartDraw 2007 easier to get up and running than when I first learned these other two drawing programs. In companies running at maximum operational efficiency, redundant staff is a thing of the past, and the harried pace of today's workplace means staff have very little "down" time that can be devoted to learning how to use any software program. These companies that also need a quality software tool that will support their internal quality improvement efforts can feel comfortable investing in SmartDraw 2007 to accompany their ongoing quality commitment.  The support for the HTML format means that SmartDraw 2007 files can now be loaded for access either via a company Intranet, or through the Internet. This adds additional value for companies needing to share these process flow charts with team members that may be located around the country or the world. Stacking Up to Visio With the basic operations so similar to Microsoft Visio, mainly the similar approach to being able to drag and drop a symbol onto a drawing area, users may wonder how these two programs differ. I've used Visio for many years, and think that the SmartDraw interface tends to be less "busy," and less threatening to brand new users. Also, SmartDraw's user interface will likely seem more intuitive to new users, and easier to get started creating their diagram. In addition, SmartDraw 2007 will allow users to convert their Visio files to SmartDraw format. The File Conversion Wizard in SmartDraw 2007 can convert entire folders of Visio files into SmartDraw format in one easy operation. In SmartDraw, you can create very complex diagrams, as you can in Visio, such as complex circuitry diagrams, floor plans, and even mechanical engineering schematics, all using the built-in symbols that either come with the program or that can be later added. I found creating these in SmartDraw to be a bit easier, than in Visio, and also found creating business forms to be less tedious in SmartDraw. Overall, I think SmartDraw has excellent potential for use in most businesses, while Visio tends to be more relevant in companies needing to challenge the more complex features and programming controls found in Visio. I also am very impressed with the yeoman effort by SmartDraw to constantly offer new free symbols access via their Web site. You will not find this kind of attention to users from Visio support. I suggest any company that has yet to standardize on a drawing program strongly consider SmartDraw 2007 as their charting and diagramming program of choice. Technical or engineering firms will find SmartDraw 2007 a valuable addition to the lineup of drawing and design tools they may likely already have integrated into their operations. 9 Reasons to Choose SmartDraw Instead of Visio SmartDraw is the friendly and economical alternative to Visio. Here are 9 reasons why you should choose SmartDraw: 1. SmartDraw is better for average business users Although Visio is a powerful product, it is best suited to technical experts. It can be overwhelming to the average business user who just wants to draw presentation-quality diagrams, without having to learn a complex program. SmartDraw provides ample drawing power while remaining easy enough for anyone to use. 2. SmartDraw is fully integrated with Microsoft Office Like Visio, SmartDraw is fully integrated with Microsoft Office and other standard desktop software. Adding SmartDraw drawings to Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, or other Office documents is as simple as Copy and Paste. 3. SmartDraw is more versatile than Visio SmartDraw includes more than 20,000 ready-made symbols and 2,400 templates most in full color, that cover a much broader array of diagram types than Visio. SmartDraw also lets you import or create your own symbol libraries, allowing you to easily customize it for your business. 4. SmartDraw creates better presentation-quality graphics Most of Visio's built-in symbols are simple line drawings and stick figures. SmartDraw includes tens of thousands of rich, colorful built-in symbols to help you look like an artist even if you can't draw a straight line. SmartDraw also makes it easy to apply embossed effects and sophisticated color schemes to help you create a presentation suitable for the boss or the boardroom. 5. SmartDraw provides full support for digital photos (and other leading-edge benefits) Unlike Visio, SmartDraw maintains imported bitmapped images in their compressed state. 6. SmartDraw is more affordable than Visio SmartDraw's Volume Licenses are a fraction of the cost of Visio's, and our licensing plan is more flexible. There are no "software assurance" fees required to get upgrade pricing in future years. Your license is perpetual and you are assured of upgrade pricing for future releases. 7. SmartDraw provides a better Return-On-Investment SmartDraw's cost of ownership is typically many times lower than Visio's, and that's just at the front end. SmartDraw's total ROI advantage truly emerges when you consider its flexible licensing models, its lower (or non-existent) training costs—and the fact that average business people will actually use it! 8. SmartDraw provides better support than Microsoft SmartDraw's standard tech support is both legendary and free! You deal directly with experts, not someone reading you answers from the knowledgebase. Recognized by Deloitte and Touche as one of America's fastest growing companies, SmartDraw.com is a dependable business partner that has been setting the standard in software support for more than 10 years. 9. It is easy to convert from Visio to SmartDraw SmartDraw's built-in File Conversion Wizard will batch convert existing Visio files to SmartDraw format, making it easy to upgrade your legacy diagrams to SmartDraw. It will also convert Micrografx Flowcharter and other file formats. If some of your departments require Visio's technical features, you can even use SmartDraw and Visio together in the same environment. System Requirements Windows 2000 or XP While this is the main system requirement, I also suggest you run SmartDraw 2007 on a P-IV, as fast as you can afford, with as much RAM as you can afford, no less than 256MB RAM, and a high-quality monitor. Also note that a full installation will require at least 3GB free hard disk space. Since this latest version of SmartDraw 2007 has been designed to work in Vista and to integrate with Office 2007, it will perform best and certainly look the best on a higher end machine that can support the Aero functionality of Windows Vista and the transparent, glass-like features in the ribbon that will be maximized on high end machines. Of course, these superficial appearance features are just icing on the cake of all the many powerful functions of this powerful program that will perform best on higher end machines. I managed to install and operate this important program on an older legacy machine with only a P-III processor, and 256MB RAM, but on a higher end machine, the program will just look and perform to its maximum potential. As any user of any diagramming or drawing program knows, the faster the processor and the more RAM the better these and any other program will run. With these diagramming programs, you really do need to strive to run these on the fastest processor you can manage in your company. The coding and the processing required to make these user interfaces so easy to use results in a significant demand on system resources. Install and Setup Installation and setup should proceed with little problems, but you will need to decide whether to do a custom or a full installation. A full installation will load all the built-in symbols and other files in the program and will require at least 3GB of free hard disk space. Price $297  SmartDraw 2007 Contact the company for additional information on pricing for more licensed users of their various editions of the program. About SmartDraw.com SmartDraw.com is the Internet's #1 provider of business graphics software. Profitable since its founding in 1994, the company attributes its success to one fundamental design principle: Keep it simple. SmartDraw.com offers several products to boost business productivity: the flagship SmartDraw program is available in six editions, each targeting a specific industry and drawing type. They include the Flowchart Edition, Org Chart Edition, Floor Plan Edition, Technical Edition, Gantt Chart & Calendar Edition, and the SmartDraw Suite Edition. SmartDraw.com also publishes FotoFinish for editing, designing, and printing digital photo projects; and VisualScript XML for visually developing XML. Recognized as the Best From the very beginning, SmartDraw.com and its products have been recognized as "best in class," and the awards and acclaim just keep rolling in. SmartDraw.com and the SmartDraw product line have been awarded: Technology Fast 50, 2004, Deloitte & Touche San Diego's Fast Growing Companies, 2004, San Diego Business Journal People's Choice Award, 2003 SIAF Technology Fast 50, 2003, Deloitte & Touche Inc 500 Award, 2002, Inc Magazine Best Business Program, 2002 SIAF People's Choice Award, 2001 SIAF/CNET Smart Choice Award, 2001, Smart Computing Magazine Best Business Program, 2000, PC Magazine / SIAF Best Business Program, 1997, SIAF Best Business Program, 1996, PC Magazine / SIAF Best Graphics Program, 1995, SIAF All customers enjoy 24-hour access to their own private, on-line accounts, where they can manage their invoices, share files with colleagues, and download software (including free updates and add-ons). Their software products are so easy to use that they barely generate any support requests. That's why their expert, in-house tech support is always free, not only for licensed owners, but also for trial users. When you consider that over 300,000 new users install their free trial software each month, this is a phenomenal indicator of reliability. Recognized by Deloitte & Touche as one of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in Southern California, and by Inc magazine as one of the 500 fastest growing private companies in America, SmartDraw.com receives over two million web visitors per month, placing it in the top 0.1% of the most visited sites on the Internet. As an indicator of growing market share, SmartDraw.com already counts more than half of the Fortune 500 among its customers, and an attractive Enterprise licensing program is winning new corporate converts every day. SmartDraw.com stands out as a software firm that is thriving in today's challenging marketplace. Privately held by its founders and employees, with no debt and no outside funding, SmartDraw.com continues to enjoy a rocketing annual growth rate and a profitable bottom line. Contact SmartDraw.com 9909 Mira Mesa Blvd, Ste 300 San Diego, California 92313 858-225-3300 858-225-3390 www.smartdraw.com