Harvard Instant Charts

There are eight categories of chart types provided with this program: Groups (accents, headings and categories), Relationships (org charts, orbit, triad, pyramid and puzzles), Processes (flow, fan-in and -out, flow-in and -out and cycle), Comparisons (pro & con, ratings, quadrant, and stock arrows and tables), Tables (simple, grid, rows, columns and totals), Charts (bar, column, pie, pyramid, line and area), Lists (bullets, checklist, paragraphs and quotes), and scheduling (agenda, time line, Gantt, and various calendar types).

Because I am a consultant who does a lot of writing and need to convey the most information with the least page count I use this program all of the time. My favorite tools are time lines and Gantt charts, which are intelligent enough to add dates and watch them auto adjust bars. Comparisons are another group that I frequently use. If you are familiar with the Boston Quadrant, then you will love the fact that you can produce one in mere minutes. Also, you can enter labels and select a different display type and the program automatically transforms to what you select. This is great for quickly examining the best way to display information. After you have your graphic laid out to your satisfaction you can add textures, select color themes and backgrounds with a mouse click and selection. A finishing touch is the ability to add callouts and other graphic elements to add flair to your graphic before saving it. Once you are done you save your masterpiece as a Gif file and insert it into your favorite application. I have inserted my graphics into Visio, Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. I have also used them in web pages.

If you spend a lot of time writing and need a quick and easy way to show with pictures what may take the proverbial thousand words, then this is a "must-have" program. I don't know how I ever got along without it.