Four Generation Chart in Word SmartArt...Using Chart and Resizing Boxes

Click here to see post 1 in this series--The Introduction.
Click here to see post 2 in this series--Layout Page and Insert SmartArt
Click here to see post 3 in this series--Altering the Chart
Click here to see post 4 in this series--Word 2003

Using the Chart
The point of having created the form is that you're going to want to use it repeatedly rather than having to create the chart every time you want to fill out one for a family. So you will want to save a copy of the chart you created under a new name prior to completing the chart.

Note: If you've created a form that only you will be using, you might want to complete the contact information in your master copy so that information is there when you open the chart.

To use the chart:

1. Save a copy of the chart under a new name. 
2. In boxes, double click placeholder text and type in the real information. As you fill the boxes with text, you'll notice that the text flows outside of the box. Don't worry. We'll fix this later.
3. Save your chart and resize boxes. 

Resizing the Boxes
When you resize, you need to resize all of the boxes in a column at the same time. Resizing based on columns gives you a consistent display.

To select the boxes in a column:

1. Click in the first box. The handles (circles and squares) appear. 
2. Hold down the Shift key, and click in the border of the second box. The handles for the second box appear. You'll know you're clicking in the right spot because your cursor will change to a four-headed arrow. 
3. Repeat step 2 until you have all of the boxes selected. Your screen will look similar to this one.
   
   Handles are the circles and squares inside the orange squares and circles. 

To resize boxes in a column: 

1. When you selected the first text box, the SmartArt Tools tab opened on the ribbon. 
2. Select the Format tab, and locate the Size group.
   
3. In the Height field, click the up and down arrow beside the field to increase and decrease the height of the selected boxes.
4. In the Width field, click the up and down arrow beside the field to increase and decrease the width of the selected boxes.
5. When you have the arrangement you like, save (Ctrl + S). 

If you find that you can't adjust the height or width, it's most likely because the layout is getting cramped and Word isn't letting you make the adjustment. You might want to consider using abbreviations or otherwise altering the presentation of the information in boxes.

So good luck with resizing. I'm sure you'll do fine. It's easy...you just have to know the trick of how to select multiple boxes to apply the change to all of the boxes in a column.

I'll continue hacking around and seeing what additional functionality you might need.

Four Generation Chart in Word SmartArt...Word 2003 options

Click here to see post 1 in this series--The Introduction.
Click here to see post 2 in this series--Layout Page and Insert SmartArt
Click here to see post 3 in this series--Altering the Chart

I had a few minutes today on the computer where I have Word 2003 installed. So I went poking around. While you don't have as many choices as you do in more recent versions of Word, it's not as limited as I originally thought.

Here are the menu selections you make to get to the charts in Word 2003. Word automatically inserts the default organization chart.

In addition, Word displays the Organization Chart toolbar. If you click outside of the chart area, the toolbar closes. To open it again, click inside of the chart area. 

This chart works like all of the others I've been talking about. Click in a box and start typing text. 

Adding boxes in Word 2003 is different. You use options (Assistant, Coworker, Subordinate) from the Insert Shape drop-down list to add boxes in different locations.

If you want additional options for formatting, click the Auto Format button to display the chart style gallery. Pick a style from the gallery to see how it changes your chart.

Use options on the Layout drop-down to change the arrangements of the boxes. 

So there you have some of what you can do in Word 2003. I'll pick up writing about the Word 2007/2010 versions in my next post.