Create a Flowchart

Quick reference

• 00:03 One of the great things that people use Visio for, is making a flow chart.
• 00:08 So let's go into Visio.
• 00:10 And you're going to see that here,
• 00:12 the basic flow chart template should be available for you.
• 00:16 So I'll pick on basic flow chart.
• 00:18 And then, if you pick one of these,
• 00:20 then they'll actually make your diagram look exactly like that.
• 00:25 And it'll give you a great head start.
• 00:27 So you can certainly pick one of those, but I'm going to go ahead and
• 00:30 pick on the blank flow chart over here, and I'll click on create, and
• 00:33 I'm going to use US Units.
• 00:36 Now, notice how it's using the basic flowchart shapes and
• 00:41 some other stencils as well.
• 00:42 Now I'm going to close this other window that we used in the previous lesson.
• 00:47 Okay, now, remember in a previous lesson, I said that if we turn on the connector
• 00:52 tool, then things will automatically be connected as we add things in.
• 00:57 So I'll pick on connector.
• 00:58 Now typically, the flowchart will start with the start and end tool.
• 01:03 So, I'm going to go ahead and pick on the start and end, and
• 01:06 just drag it into the blank page.
• 01:08 And notice how those lines come up the guides,
• 01:11 which will help you do your diagram quicker.
• 01:14 Now also, another thing that we talked about as these arrows come up,
• 01:18 that was called the auto connect.
• 01:20 So I could actually just click on this arrow, and then just use,
• 01:24 let's say the process shape.
• 01:27 Okay, so at this point, I could just click on the arrow and
• 01:31 there's add another shape there and so on.
• 01:34 So, the flowcharts, the ones that we use,
• 01:37 the process is like an a specific step or a specific action.
• 01:42 The decision can be like, is it going to be yes or no.
• 01:46 We could have a sub process, data entry.
• 01:51 Here's a document, and then the start and end.
• 01:54 And then we have the databases and so on.
• 01:56 But these, maybe like these top six up here or
• 01:59 these top eight are the ones that were used all the time.
• 02:02 Now, I don't want that particular shape.
• 02:04 So watch what I could do.
• 02:05 I'm actually going to go back to the pointer tool for a second, and
• 02:09 then up on the home menu, I'll pick on change shape.
• 02:11 Really, that should be just another process, good.
• 02:15 Now, if I move the mouse to that shape, I just can keep on clicking on the arrow.
• 02:19 And notice how it's automatically connected this, we'll do another process.
• 02:24 And then we'll pick on the arrow again, and this time I'll pick on the decision.
• 02:29 Now again, you can drag them in from over here, but
• 02:32 notice how that auto connect makes things much quicker.
• 02:35 So I'll click on the arrow to the left, and I want a process there.
• 02:39 Or let's say we have a sub process there.
• 02:42 So I'll pick on the sub process.
• 02:44 Actually returned the connected tool back on connector, and
• 02:47 I'll pick on sub process and drag it over here.
• 02:50 And then, if I drop that, then it automatically connected that, right?
• 02:55 So, in this case, we'll add another sub process and drag it over here.
• 03:01 Good. Now see how that one connected to
• 03:04 this particular shape, because if you have the auto connect on,
• 03:07 it's going to connect it to the most recent shape.
• 03:10 So in this case, I'll pick in the pointer tool, click on that other connector and
• 03:15 delete it.
• 03:16 And then to add your own connector, I'll pick on the connected tool again, and
• 03:21 just go down here to get the connect point and
• 03:23 drag it to the connect point of this one, good.
• 03:26 So, then at some point, we want to end this.
• 03:30 So I'll click on the arrow for the sub process, and
• 03:34 we'll do another shape there, another process and then maybe will end it.
• 03:40 But, I'm going to click on that arrow and pick on the end process here, good.
• 03:44 And then we'll do something similar over here, I'll add the process shape,
• 03:47 and then maybe one for the end.
• 03:49 Then what you will do, I'm going to click on the pointer tool,
• 03:53 then you will click on each shape, and then type in the text for each shape.
• 03:58 So, you can see with a flowchart template, and with the flowchart shapes, especially
• 04:04 with the auto connector, it helps you make that flowchart relatively easily.

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