Adding Auxiliary Lines

You can add auxiliary lines between boxes to show additional information about reporting relationships, such as dotted line reporting.

Auxiliary lines connect two boxes by attaching to an anchor point symbol on each box. Anchor points are used to connect one box with another. Each box has twelve functional anchor points - three on each side - and another in the center that works as a default point, automatically selecting the best anchor point for a connection. A box can conceivably be connected to twelve other boxes with auxiliary lines. However, one or two auxiliary lines is more common.

In the following example diagram, a dotted line shows the reporting relationship between Sue Watkins and Tina Nomura.

Click to enlarge

You can add labels to auxiliary lines as well. See Adding Labels for more information.

For information on formatting auxiliary lines, see Formatting Lines.

To draw an auxiliary line between two boxes:

1        Click the Insert tab, then click the Lines menu expander from the Illustrations & Text section and choose Auxiliary, or click the Auxiliary Line tool from the left-side toolbar.

 

2        Move the pointer over a box. The anchor point symbols appear on the box:

3    Move the mouse to one of the anchor points and click and drag toward another box.

4       Once over the other box, the same anchor point symbols are displayed. Release the mouse button over the desired anchor point. Releasing the mouse over the center anchor point will automatically pick the optimal anchor point. The auxiliary line is drawn between the two boxes.

If auxiliary lines overlap, the connecting line appears dashed, as in this example:

Note: When importing data from an external data source, you can use the AuxReportsTo advanced data field to define auxiliary lines in your charts. See Including Advanced Data Fields in the Importing and Exporting Data book for more information.