A few issues ago (December 2008), we discussed Excel’s off-the-rack graphics known as Smart Art. These preformatted options offer professional looks and easy setup of complex graphics such as process charts. But sometimes you may want simple graphics to illustrate a point or jazz up a workbook. You can do this with the Insert tab’s Shapes button. Click it to see a huge variety of shapes you can insert by clicking and dragging.

Add some life to your workbooks by inserting graphics and then tweaking their looks by adjusting the shape, adding gradient fills, and more.

After you place shapes in the workbook, you can customize them in just about any way you can think of. This month, we cover some of the most popular options for editing graphic objects. Editing Smart Art graphics and other graphics is quite similar. Just remember that changes you make to Smart Art elements often affect surrounding pieces of the larger graphic they’re in.

The fundamental tools for changing objects are the familiar handles you see around objects in most programs. You can adjust an object’s size by clicking and dragging the handles on the corners and sides. To enlarge or shrink an object while keeping its proportions even, hold down the SHIFT key and drag one of the corner sizing handles. This lets you, for example, enlarge a circle or square without accidentally skewing it into an oval or rectangle. Objects that include angles, such as rectangles with slanted corners, feature a yellow diamond handle. Drag this handle to alter the angle of that side of the object. The diamond handles on curved shapes let you alter the curve.

All objects also include a little ball that sticks out of the shape. Click and drag this handle to rotate the object. If you’d like to rotate the shape exactly 90 degrees and don’t trust yourself to eyeball it, select the object, click the Ribbon’s Format tab, and click the Rotate button. Here you can choose to rotate 90 degrees left or right or flip the object vertically or horizontally. To apply the same rotation angle to several objects, hold down SHIFT as you click each one. Then drag the rotation handle on one of the objects. To copy a rotation angle from one object to another, right-click the object, choose Size And Properties, and note the angle in the Rotation box. Then, enter the same angle in the next object’s Size And Properties box.

Shape Effects

You’ll find more detailed graphic-editing options on the Drawing Tools/Format tab that appears on the Ribbon when you click an object. Among the offerings is the Shape Effects button, which adds eye-catching looks, including 3D modeling, shadows, reflections, and glows.

Change Colors & Fills

Give graphics a little more custom styling with fill colors and textures. Click a shape and choose Shape Fill on the Format tab. Choose a set color from the palette or mix your own by clicking More Fill Colors. Add shading with gradients.

Don’t forget to right-click the object and choose Format Shape to check out your options for both colors and gradients. On the Fill tab, you can adjust a color’s transparency and easily do some cool stuff with Gradient Fill. You can choose the direction in which the shading changes (such as in a circular or linear pattern) and play with the transparency, which provides some really eye-catching effects.

When you’re working in this dialog box, you may discover an upgrade in Excel 2007 that can be both highly convenient and confusing. As you make changes in the Format Shape dialog box (such as moving the Transparency slider), you’ll see your changes immediately take effect on the object. It makes experimentation much easier. However, it can get confusing. In older Excel versions, clicking Cancel in the dialog box wiped out the changes. But clicking Close here doesn’t change what you just did. You’ll have to use the Undo button (or press CTRL-Z) to erase your changes.

You also can add text to any object by right-clicking it and choosing Edit Text. Once the text is in place, you can alter its size, font, color, and more with the options on the Home tab.