Create Diagrams For PowerPoint Using SmartDraw

When it comes to creating complex diagrams such as flow charts, floor plans, mind maps and other types of graphical models, most people are simply not good at it. It is not possible for many common users to create visually appealing and accurate models without leaving behind several technical errors. Furthermore, it can be quite time consuming to create such models from scratch. This is why people prefer using applications and web services to find readymade templates to create diagrams. SmartDraw is a feature rich desktop application that can help you create any type of diagram with ease. Diagrams created with SmartDraw can even be sent to MS PowerPoint in the form of slides or saved in various commonly used document and image formats.

SmartDraw is a paid application, however you can download the 7 day trial version to try it for free. After being launched, SmartDraw offers a wide range of formats that you can use to create your diagrams. For example you can select ready made templates for creating mind maps, floor plans, flowcharts, hubs, charts and graphics, engineering models, flyers, marketing charts, presentations, project management diagrams, software designs, timelines and more. If you are having problem using any of the SmartDraw features, you can use the given contact information to get in touch with the support staff. this information is displayed on the right sidebar by default.

After you have selected your required category and a related template, you can begin making changes to it.

SmartDraw provides various editing options to allow you to create visually appealing models from ready made templates. You can add various shapes and other types of objects from the left side bar and use editing options from the Home tab to cut, copy or paste items, draw lines, add color to diagrams, insert effects, add and format text, etc. Similarly, the Design tab allows managing the size and formatting of shapes and your model overall. You can even add Excel charts, equations, pictures and hyperlinks to your diagrams from the Insert tab. The Page, Table, Chart and Picture tabs provide general options for adjusting your charts, page added pictures and tables.

In case you wish to add your model to a PowerPoint file, you can use the Send to PowerPoint option from the PowerPoint tab.

This will export the file as a PowerPoint slide. You can even adjust the sequence, assign steps, include animations and preview your model before sending it to MS PowerPoint. The various export options located at the top also allow exporting the diagram as a PDF, MS Word or Excel file (via the PowerPoint tab in SmartDraw).

To save your file to other formats, go to File –>Save As. From here you can save your file to the application’s native SDR or SDT format, as well as to other formats including EMF, WMF, BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, TIF, PCX, HTML and DXF format. Furthermore, you can even upload the file to SharePoint or export it to PDF, DOCX, Excel, outlook and other formats. SmartDraw files can even be converted to Visio format and Visio files can be imported to SmartDraw to create diagrams.

Smartdraw has three packages including Standard ($197), Business ($297) and Enterprise ($497). The enterprise package provides all SmartDraw features, whereas the Standard and Business packages come with limited functionality. SmartDraw works with the following operating systems: