Margin offsets in SmartArt?

[cayce]

Where do you change the margin offsets in SmartArt shapes to determine how
close the text can come to the shapes within the boundary? I have gone
through the Format Object dialog box and the SmartArt tools tab on the
navigation ribbon and do not seem to find it. I am trying to reduce the large
empty spaces within the text boxes so that the SmartArt boundary is closer to
the text. I am using text wrapping of in line text and have no boundary line
defined.

thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Right-click the edge of the text box and choose Format - Text Box. Click the
Text Box tab, and use the Internal margin (Left/Right/Top/Bottom) to reduce
empty spaces inside the text box.

If there's still too much space, then select the text inside the text box
and right-click, and choose Paragraph. Make sure that the Spacing Before and
After are both set to 0, and that Indentation is set to 0.

Wrapping and In line with text affects only how exterior text interacts with
the text box. When using In line with text, you will have text above and
below the text box, but not to the left and right. For that, you would need
Square or Tight wrapping.

 

[cayce]

thanks Herb for the suggestions.

The text box settings are set to internal margins of only .06 inches and I
think those are as they should be. I also verified that I don't have some
empty paragraphs since show/hide doesn't work inside a SmartArt object. As
for paragraph, it is set to single spacing and 0 pt space above, 3 pt space
below; so, this is not the culprit. I still have a huge gap in the text boxes
that appear inside the boundary of the SmartArt object.
As for the explanation you gave me for the text wrapping, the in-line choice
should only affect paragraphs that are outside the SmartArt object, correct?

If it makes any difference, the SmartArt object I am using is basic timeline.

I am still stuck here. Please let me know if there is something else I
should be looking into.

thanks!

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

The gaps you're seeing... are they inside the individual text boxes within
the larger graphic shape, or are you talking about gaps between the
individual boxes?

I find that I can drag the handles of the individual text boxes and make
them as small as I want. This automatically resizes the text inside, but I
can select the text and apply a larger font and the text boxes keep their
new size. But, I'm not seeing any gaps I can't get rid of by dragging.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[cayce]

Herb..thank you. I find you are right. I abandoned my earlier atttempts to
change the text boxes because of its font resizing behavior. I didn't know I
could get it to size up later and have it "stick."

Also, when I change the text box size, Word also moves its related button on
the basic timeline. So, if I manually resize each box, then reposition each
button, I do get rid of the large amount of white space, accomplishing my
goal.

With all this being said, I like the theory behind SmartArt; but, this is
just too much maintenance.

thanks for sticking with me on the problem.

Peace

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Yes. If it looks the way you want it "right out of the box," it's wonderful.
If you aren't happy with the defaults, however, it can be a bear to change
it.

Once changed, however, when you get it just the way you want it--save the
shape as a Building Block for future use. That way, you won't have to go
through this each time, and you can create a "library" of custom shape
templates that use your preferences as a starting point.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com

 

[cayce]

thank you... I did not know this. This is good advice and may make the
maintenance worthwhile.

Ciao