How to Create a Flowchart in Open Office

By Jeffrey Ober

Open Office is a free office suite of applications that can be used for all sorts of office situations. One part of the Open Office suite is the Open Office Writer. That application can be used to draw flowcharts for any of your flowchart needs. The toolbar and tools that are used to draw each piece of the flowchart is automatically included with the software, so if you have installed Open Office, you have the flowchart software.

Start the OpenOffice Writer application and open up a new, blank document.

Click on the "View" menu at the top of the window. This should display a drop-down list of items in the view menu.

Hover the mouse pointer over the word "Toolbars" in the view menu. When you do, another drop-down sub-menu will appear to the right of the "Toolbars" item.

Click on the "Drawing" item in the sub-menu. This will cause the drawing toolbar to appear, usually at the bottom of the page, but you can move this toolbar anywhere on the screen.

Click on the small drop-down arrow on the drawing toolbar that is the fourth drop-down arrow. When you hover over the drop-down arrow, a tool tip will display "Flowcharts." This arrow is next to a box with two lines in it.

Select the flowchart item you wish to draw on your page. When you do, the mouse pointer will turn into a cross-hair, as you decide where to place the item. Hovering over each item in the list will show you a tool tip that describes that item.

Click and drag the mouse to place the item you have selected on the screen. Once you have placed a flowchart item, you can replace it, move it, and resize it by clicking on it again. You can continue to add additional flowchart items as needed by repeating Step 5-7.

Writer Bio