Get Shape Data and Generate Charts using Google Sheets™ Integration
Linking to Google Sheets for Shape Data
Any shape in SmartDraw can be assigned a set of fields and values. These show in the data panel and in a tooltip on the shape itself so you can drill down into details without having to clutter the shape itself with the same information.
Shape data is a great way to simplify complexity for diagrams like organizational charts, sales maps, and network diagrams.
Until today, you could add data manually or import a CSV file from your desktop. Now you can also connect to a Google spreadsheet.
You'll want to start by setting up the URL in Google Sheets. Open a document in Google Sheets and go to the File menu and select Publish to the web.
Make sure you choose Comma-separated values (.csv) in the second drop-down and hit Publish.
Now you have a URL you can use in SmartDraw to link to your data.
Generating a Chart using Data in Google Sheets
You can also import data to generate a chart like a bar graph or pie chart.
Previously, you could import a properly formatted CSV to generate a bar graph, line chart, pie chart, or another selected chart type.
You can now import data from Google Sheets to generate a chart.
First, get a public URL from Google Sheets by choosing Publish to the web under the File menu.
Select Comma-separated values (.csv) and hit Publish.
You can copy-paste the URL from Google Sheets into SmartDraw to generate your chart.
If you use a URL as your data source, you can also turn on auto-updating to automatically refresh your chart.
