OrgCharting User Guide

OrgCharting works not only for company structure visualization but also for workforce planning and management. It gives an overall picture of the company hierarchy and personnel relationship, so that company managers could gain insight for decision making and strategic planning. Besides, org charts can be used as the employee database, through which you can find, manage and update employee information. The views options of OrgCharting allow users to choose or define a special perspective and display the relevant information.

With OrgCharting>, you can create highly-customized org charts, for example, with personalized color schemes, layout styles, backgrounds, or data fields. When you finish the chart, you can export your charts to different file formats such as PDF, JPG, Word, PPT, and it's easy for you to share the charts with others. You can also make awesome presentations by using the function of automatic slide deck generation.

System Requirements

Check for Updates

• Visit Download Center to update OrgCharting latest installation package.
• Double click the executable installation file and follow the on-screen instructions to finish the installation.

For Assistance

If you have further problems, please contact support@edrawsoft.com.

User Activation

User Deactivation

Deactivation is necessary if you wish to move OrgCharting from one computer to the other. Please note that deactivation can only be done once every 30 days.

The steps are:

1. Simply go to the Help Tab, and click Deactivation
2. Once you have clicked Deactivation , the OrgCharting software on your current computer will turn to the unlicensed version, so you can activate it on another device.

You have 3 options to start an org chart:

Option A: Double-click one of the org structure icons in File New Blank Templates. Your org chart will be created based on the selected type.

Option B: Double-click one of the org chart templates and examples in File New Local Examples. You can edit and personalize the selected org chart templates and examples.

Option C: Left-click one of the org chart templates or examples in the File NewLocal Examples, and then click the Create button to start your org chart.

Sign Up Cloud Account

You can sign up an OrgCharting cloud account and sign in to use the cloud and share your charts.

Select Boxes

You can select boxes according to their types or levels. Click the Select button on the Home tab or right-click a box and go to the Select option to choose the one of the following types:

Move Boxes

You can move a targeted box to different directions, like moving it up, down, left or right between different levels.

Drag and Drop to Move a Box

You can freely re-position any boxes on your org charts by simply dragging and dropping it to a new position. A visual sign will show you where a box will be moved to. Any of your boxes (except the very top one) can be rearranged and moved into different positions.

Delete Boxes

Delete Selected Boxes

You can delete selected boxes while keeping all of its subordinate boxes.

Delete a Selected Box and All of Its Subordinate Boxes

You can delete a box with all its subordinate boxes.

Use the Copy and Paste, you can quickly duplicate a selected box or branch, then paste it as a subordinate or colleague box to any of your existing boxes.

Insert Photos

Org Charting allows you to insert a photo into a box in many formats like GIF, JPG, PNG, ICO, BMP, and TIF etc.

Insert Attachments

OrgCharting allows users to insert attachments without quantity limitation. Attachments can be saved automatically in the org chart.

Tips:

The Attachment icon is in the top right corner of the topic. Hover the mouse cursor on the icon, you can see the name of the attachment and click the attachment name to open it.

Insert Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are convenient for users to view other documents, files or websites in org charts, including current documents, files, applications, internet addresses, and folders. The hyperlinks can link to any of the following:

Add a Hyperlink to an Existing Shape or Page

Add a Hyperlink to a Web URL

Add a Hyperlink with a Folder

Change or Delete a Hyperlink

Add Comments

Commenting on the specific topic or subtopic in a collaborative team is a highlight in OrgCharting. You can receive praises and suggestions from your colleagues and supervisor directly with the base of Cloud.

When a comment is added, there will be a green chatting icon showing in the top right corner of the box. If you move the cursor to the icon, you will see your name, date, and comment.

Add Notes

As org charts are always concise, many details could not be put into the main body. Notes can solve the problems of inadequate information. You can add notes in the format of texts, pictures, and tables to enrich your org charts.

To set a chart background, you can use a background color or a background image. You can also apply the watermark on your background. The buttons and options of background formatting could be found under the Style section on the Right Side Panel or on the Page Style tab on the ribbon.

Background Colors

Click the background color button to fill the background with single color.

Background Images

OrgCharting has a wide range of predefined background images to enhance the look of your org charts. You can add these premade background images or upload your own background images from local files.

Add a Background from the Library

1. Click the Background Pictures button.
2. From the pull-down list, choose your preferred background image.

Add a Background from Local File

You can insert your own image as background.

1. Click the Background Pictures button.
2. Click Browse from file and navigate to the image file.

Add a Background Watermark

This function lets you print over every page of a document with certain text, which is useful for security or content identification.

You can add a watermark to your org chart via the following steps:

1. Click the Background Watermark button in the Page Style tab or under the Style section on the right sidebar.
2. Choose a pre-made watermark from the thumbnails in the drop-down menu.
3. If you do not need the pre-made ones, you can click Customize Watermark to create your own one.
4. From the Custom Watermark pop-up window, you can adjust the text, font, size, color or layout of your watermark
5. Click Remove Watermark when you don't need it.

Remove Background

To remove the background, click the button Remove Background.

Change Shape Fill Color

You can change the shape fill colors via the following steps:

1. Select a shape.
2. Click on the Style icon to open the right sidebar.
3. On the Style panel, click the Fill icon to choose your desired color to fill the selected shape.

No Fill

To make a shape colorless, or to remove fill from a shape, you can choose the "No Fill" option.

Theme Colors

The top section of the Fill colors is Theme Colors. They are predefined color sets of the current themes.

More Colors

To use colors that aren't included in the theme colors or standard colors, click More Colors. In the pop-up window, you can:

1. Choose a color from the color swatch.
2. Select a color from the color palette.
3. Click "pick screen color" to pick a color.

Transparency

To change the transparency, you can move the Transparency slider, or enter a number in the option box next to the slider. You can vary the % of transparency from 0 (fully opaque, the default setting) to 100% (fully transparent).

Gradient Fill

Click More… to find the Gradient Fill option and add a gradient fill to a shape. (Gradient: A gradual progression of colors and shades, usually from one color to the other, or from one shade to the other shade within the same color).

Gradient Type

To specify the direction when drawing the gradient fill, select an option from the list. The Type that you selected determines the available Direction.

Gradient Direction

To choose a different progression of colors and shades, click Direction, and then click your preferred option. The available Directions depend on the Gradient Type that you have chosen.

Angle

To specify the angle of the gradient fill which is rotated within the shape, enter your preferred degree value. This option is available only when you have selected Linear in the Type option.

Gradient Stops

Gradient stops consist of a position, a color, and a transparency value. The transparency value applies to the gradient stop instead of the overall fill. Gradient stops can create non-linear gradients. For example, if you want to create a gradient that goes from red, green to blue, you need to add three gradient stops — one for each color.

Alternatively, if you want to create a gradient that shows up only in a corner of a shape, you need to use gradient stops to make the non-linear gradient.

Add: Click the green Add icon to add a stop.

Remove: Click the Red Cross icon to delete a stop.

Stop position

To set the location for the color and transparency change in the gradient fill, please move the Stop position slider or enter a number in the option box below the slider.

Color

To choose the color of the gradient stop, click Color. To use a color that is not in the theme colors, click More Colors.

Pattern Fill

You can also fill a shape with a predefined pattern.

1. Click the More… from the Fill drop-down menu.
2. From the pop-up dialogue, click Hatch Fill.
3. Choose a hatch from the predefined hatch gallery.
4. Change the Front and Background color of the hatch.

Change Shape Shadow

Click the Shadow button on the Shape panel, and then choose your preferred built-in shadow effect. If you cannot find your preferred one above, click More… to create customized shadows. This function lets you set customized shadow colors, effects, or offsets.

Shadow Color

To choose a color for the shadow, click Color in the Shadow dialogue, and then click your preferred color. To change to a color that isn't in the theme colors, click More Colors.

Shadow Transparency

To specify how much you can see the shadow, please move the Transparency slider or enter a number in the box next to the slider. You can vary the % of transparency from 0 (fully opaque, the default setting) to 100 (fully transparent).

Shadow Size

To specify the angle of your shadow, please move the Angle slider or enter a value in the shape next to the slider. By using the Angle and Offset options together, you can place the shadow anywhere relative to the shape.

Shadow Blur

To set blur radius on the shadow, please move the Blur slider or enter a value in the shape next to the slider. The larger the radius, the blurrier, or "fuzzier", the shape or line will be.

Shadow Angle

To specify the angle of your shadow, please move the Angle slider or enter a value in the shape next to the slider. By using the Angle and Distance options together, you can place the shadow anywhere relative to the shape.

Shadow X Offset and Y Offset

To set a distance for an Angle of the shadow, please enter a value in the shape next to the slider.

Change Color and Style of Shape Border

1. Select the shape you want to change.
2. On the Style panel, in the Border group, you can change the border color, border round, border style, and dash type
3. To change the border color, click the Border Color button, and then choose your preferred border color.
4. To change the border corner roundness, click the Line Round button, and then click your preferred border round.
5. To change the border style, click the Border style button, and then choose your preferred border style.
6. To change the border dash style, click the Border Dashes button, and then click your preferred dash style.

Change Font

1. Select a shape or multiple shapes.
2. On the Style panel, in the Font group, you can change the font type, font size, alignment, bullet points, boldness, italic, underline, line spacing, or font color.

Click the following buttons to achieve corresponding font effects:

• Bold the selected text.
• Italicize the selected text.
• Underline the selected text.
• Draw a line through the middle of the selected text.
• Align selected text to a special edge.
• Highlight the selected text.
• Change the text color.
• More font options.

The Display Options panel allows you to choose which kind of data will be displayed in the current view. It also lets you set the width, height, photo position, content layout, interval, etc.

Select a box and go to the Display Options on the right panel to open the Display Options menu.

Apply Options

The Apply Options panel allows you to quickly set the ranges and locations of the changes in your chart. With a single mouse click, you can affect everything from the data in the individual box to the look of selected boxes, same level boxes, all colleague boxes, all subordinate boxes, and even the entire chart.

Display

The Display menu determines the visual appearance of the data in a box. You can check or uncheck the Show box on the right of each property to make the data visible or not.

Layout

The Layout option determines the layout and alignment of the data inside a box.

Distance

The "Vertical" and "Horizontal" refers to the interval of the content blocks. The unit of the distance is millimeter and the default value is 5 in both horizontal and vertical direction.

To adjust the default distance value, you can:

1. Click the up arrows and down arrows to increase or decrease the number.
2. Press Enter to set your adjustment to your chart.
3. Or input the number you need in the blanks directly and press Enter.

Change Data Layout Inside a Box

1. Select the target box, and the current data layout inside the box appears on the Layout window.

2. Drag the bar in the Layout window to re-align the data elements in the box. The red line reminds you where you can drop the bar.

3. After you've finished the realignment, you can see the updated box in both the canvas and the Layout window.

Tips: In OrgCharting, you can add a separation line between two adjacent content sections.

1. Hover the pointer on the blank gaps between the two content sections and a black line appears.
2. Click the black line, and a border line will appear in the box accordingly.

Show Photos on a Box

1. Select a box.
2. Click the Display Option on the right panel.
3. Tick the Show Photo box.
4. Change the position of the photo by selecting the drop-down menu of the Position. It determines whether the photo will be aligned.

Change a Box Size

You have 2 ways to change a box size.

1. Select a box, then drag and drop the blue handle at the corners of the box to change its size.
2. Select a box and go to the right sidebar, then click the Data button. The menu displays the shape data and hidden data as in the example below.

Change Font for Each Data Field

Each data field of the box could be adjusted based on the following simple steps:

1. Select a box.
2. Click the Display Option on the right panel.
3. Click the Font button to change a single data field.

Display and Edit Data of a Box

1. Select a box and go to Right Side Bar, then click Data button. The menu displays the visible box data and hidden box data as in an example below.

2. Double click the data you want to edit and type in the correct information.

Search Data

To search a box that contains specific data, you can use Search option.

Import Wizard

Importing files is a powerful and efficient way to take bulk data in other file formats (such as Excel) and convert them into org charts. OrgCharting can import files in .txt, .cvs, .xls, .xlsx, and .sql formats.

To open the Import Wizard - go to the Data tab and select Import Wizard.

Select Sources

To import a data file, launch the wizard and proceed through the following steps.

1. This step is to choose which file to import (see below).


When you choose the file to import, there will be the following options:

• Click the Browse button. The Open menu will appear.
• Next - proceed to the next Import Wizard screen.
• Cancel - close the Import Wizard without saving and return to the main work area.
• Get help from "How to create an organizational chart from data...".
Tips: When you click Browse, there will be 5 sample data source which you can use as demos. If you don't need the samples, simply go and navigate your own data files.

2. Modify data and define Name and ReportTo
Tips: During this step, you need to select the Name column and ReportTo column correctly, so that the chart could be built in the right hierarchy.


3. Set data field and display options

The Display on shape option determines which data fields will be shown in each box of the org chart. OrgCharting shows Name, Title, and Department by default. You can choose to show more data by clicking the check boxes.


4. Click Finish to complete the wizard and return to the main work area.

Quick Export

This function supports to export the data displayed on the chart quickly to the following formats:

• Excel Workbook (*.xlsx)
• Excel 2003 Files (*.xls)
• Text Files (*.txt)
• CSV Files (*.csv)

Export wizard

Exporting is the process of saving org charts in formats that can be opened and utilized by other programs. You can choose what specific data you want to export. This function supports to export the data displayed on the chart quickly to the following formats:

• Excel Workbook (*.xlsx)
• Excel 2003 Files (*.xls)

After you have selected the data fields you want to export, you can add them to the "Fields to export" box on the right of the window and click Export to save them in a storage location.

OrgCharting provides the latest dynamic project creation through Data Synchronization. This tool can be used to update an org chart's information in almost real-time.

You can constantly update your org chart by linking it to a database which contains your latest information. To enable Data Synchronization function, the information must be imported from an external database file firstly.

After you've created an org chart with the imported file, you can use Data Synchronization under Data tab.

Resync Data Only

This option only synchronizes data on boxes. It won't change the relationship between the boxes and add or delete shapes.

Resync Entire Chart

This option can get the whole chart rebuilt according to the updated data source, including the data and the relationships.

Add Slide Pages

Once you have created a slide deck, you can add new slide pages to the slide deck. Any shapes or branches could be added as a slide page.

1. In the Slide Preview panel, select the Slide Deck you need to add pages.

2. Go to your chart, select a branch or shape, and click the Add Slide button on the Slideshow tab.
3. The branch or shape will be added as a slide page. You can see it at the bottom of the Slide Preview panel.

Rename Slide Pages

Options of renaming a slide page are as follow:

1. Select a slide page from the Slide Preview panel, click Rename button on the Slide Preview panel and type your preferred name.
2. Double click the slide page name and edit the name directly.
3. Right click a slide in the Slide Preview panel and click Rename in the context menu, you will see its current name turn blue so that you can type your preferred name.

Slide Preview

Once a slide is created, the slide preview panel will open automatically. You can close or reopen the slide preview panel by click the Slide Preview button on the Slideshow tab. Click a thumbnail of the slide page in the Slide Preview panel, and you can preview the full slide page in the main window. Click the close button on the top of the main window, and you can close the full slide page.

Reorder Slide Pages

Right-click on a slide preview thumbnail, and click Move Up or Move Down.

Delete Slide Pages

To delete a slide page, you can:

1. Select the slide page in Slide Preview panel and click the Remove Current button.
2. Right click the slide in the Slide Preview panel and click Delete the Current Slide Page in the context menu.

Delete the Whole Slide Deck

To delete the whole slide deck, you have the following options:

1. Click Remove Slide Deck button in the Slide Preview panel
2. Right click the slide in the Slide Preview panel and click Delete All Slide Page in the context menu.
3. Click Delete the Current Slide Deck in the context menu.

Click the Play Slides button on Slideshow tab or on Slide Preview panel to start a slideshow from the first slide.

Navigate Slides

There are 3 ways to navigate your slides in slide show view:

1. Press the Down or Right arrow of your keyboard to jump to the next slide. Press the Up or Left arrow to go back to the previous slide.
2. Click your mouse once on anywhere of the screen to jump to the next slide.
3. Move the cursor on the lower part of the canvas, a toolbar with seven buttons will appear. Click the up and down arrow buttons to navigate your slides.

Click the following buttons to achieve corresponding effect:

• Broadcast automatically.
• The previous page.
• The next page.
• Zoom in.
• Zoom out.
• Fit in view.
• Close the slide show.

Exit

You can end the slide show by pressing the Esc key on your keyboard, or click the Close button on the slide show toolbar.

Traverse Boxes or Branches

In the full-screen mode, you can navigate and highlight specific boxes or branches with the direction arrow keys.

1. You can click the Present by Boxes or Present by Branches option.

2. You can also click the Full Screen icon on Slideshow tab to view your document in full screen mode.