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Microsoft Office Excel 2007 isn't all about the numbers. You can pep up any spreadsheet or draw attention to any quantity in a screenful of data by adding predefined shapes to your workbook.
The Shapes gallery, opened by clicking the Shapes command button in the Illustrations group on the Ribbon's Insert tab, contains a wide variety of predefined shapes that you can draw in your worksheet simply by dragging the mouse pointer. Here's how it works:
1. Open the Shapes gallery by clicking its More button (the one with the bar above the downward-pointing triangle).
You see that the gallery is divided into nine sections: Recently Used Shapes, Lines, Rectangles, Basic Shapes, Block Arrows, Equation Shapes, Flowchart, Stars and Banners, and Callouts.
2. Click the thumbnail of one of the preset shapes in this drop-down gallery.
The mouse pointer becomes a crosshair.
3. To create the shape, drag the crosshair across the spreadsheet until it's approximately the size you want.
 | After you release the mouse button, the shape you've drawn in the worksheet is still selected. This is indicated by the selection handles around its perimeter and the rotation handle at the top, which you can use to reposition and resize it, if need be. In addition, the program activates the Format tab on the Drawing Tools contextual tab. |
4. Use the Shape Styles gallery or other command buttons on the Format tab of the Drawing Tools to further format the shape until it's exactly the way you want it.
5. Click anywhere in the worksheet outside the shape to set the shape and remove the selection and rotation handles.
 | When drawing a rectangle or an oval, you can constrain the tool to draw a square or circle by holding down the Shift key as you drag the mouse. Note that when drawing a two-dimensional shape, such as a rectangle, square, oval, or circle, Excel automatically draws the shape with a blue fill that obscures any data or graphic objects that are beneath the shape on layers below. |
In addition to drawing your own basic shapes, lines, and arrows from the gallery, you can draw block arrows, equation symbols, flow chart symbols, banners, and callouts by selecting them from their respective areas on the Shapes gallery. Note that when you draw one of the callouts, Excel positions the insertion point within the selected callout shape, thus enabling you to then enter the text of the callout, which is great for pointing out just how much more money your department has made than the other departments have. After you finish entering the text, click somewhere outside the shape to deselect the callout.
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