1. Using SmartArt to Step Up Your PowerPoint Emily Warner Graduate Student
Select a graphic
Add your text
Edit to perfection

5. To add text to my SmartArt graphic, I simply click in a text box and start typing. To give you some idea of what it will look like, I’ve already filled in the first box with my text. If it’s not already showing, I can click the left-facing arrow on the left border of my graphic to pull up the text pane. Another way to pull up the text pane is to go to the Design tab in SmartArt Tools and select Text Pane.

6. As you can see, I have filled in all the boxes with my content
As you can see, I have filled in all the boxes with my content. Another way to add text is to use the Text Pane. If I want to type more quickly, I can type in this text pane rather than in the individual shapes of my Smart Art graphic. Simply press enter to create another bullet point in the text pane. You can even use the text pane to add more shapes to your graphic, but I am going to do so by clicking Add Shape from the Design tab in SmartArt Tools.

7. As you can see, the Design tab in SmartArt Tools gives me options for changing colors and styles. You can even change your layout on the fly if you aren’t happy with the SmartArt graphic you chose. The Vertical Block List was starting to look boring to me, so I chose a new, more attractive layout from the Layouts menu. This new graphic that I chose is called Hierarchy List. But now I need to fix the sizing of my text so that it fits in the new graphic format. I can do this in the same way I would for text in a word document.

10. This looks alright for now
This looks alright for now. If I decide to add more effects, I’ll come back to it later. Right now I’d like to show you some of the other kinds of SmartArt graphics, to give you an idea of just how useful SmartArt can be for you!