Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

Hello,

I did a lot of searching, but I am still unable to find out how to create connectors for a flowchart in Calc. I downloded few templates for Excel where the connectors work (when I move an item connected to another item, the links (lines) are automatically updated and keep attracted to the items). Even when I copy such connector from the Excel template to a new Calc document, it still works as expected. However, I have no idea how to create my own 'connector' from scratch, which would behave the same way (I do not want to use Draw, it is not installed and I don't want it to be). Any suggestions?

Thank you

Is there any particular reason why you don't want Draw? It's the application in OOo that provides the best drawing tools, and it doesn't take up any noticeable disk space. You can easily embed draw objects in a spreadsheet or text document.

The reason most often heard is about using as little disk space as possible. Last time I tested, the difference between installing one single application and the full suite was roughly 100 KB, compared to the total of roughly 300 MB of the suite install. That's 0,03% saved space on the install. If you have a 100 GB disk, you'd save 0,0001% of your total disk space from being wasted.

If you insist on using Calc for drawing, you could just draw up your objects in Draw, then copy them to Calc in the required amounts and manipulate them from there. That'll work too, but to me it feels a little clumsy for complex drawings like what flowcharts tend to be. If you still insist you don't want Draw, you'll find the full selection of connectors and shapes in Impress, too, as well as the tools for making custom connection snap points (called "glue points" in Open Office).

There is freeware available for doing flowcharts. I'll have to dig through all my available software, but if I find it, I'll post the reference here. In the meantime, you might try a web search.

David.