OmniGraffle + Powerpoint = Editable Individual Objects

[GraffleGuru]

@matgtd

Omnigraffle can build a flow chart faster, has stencils, shapes, magnets, text between lines and other things that makes it exponentially faster to use OG than PP. I can move elements with easy and rearranging things quickly.

I know all that, I agree.

Perhaps you misunderstand me. I am trying to help you. I use OG heavily. I have hundreds of diagrams, including flowcharts and data models and network diagrams, that not only exist in a final form (eg. 1 page PDF), but also have to be presented (eg. in 10 progressive increments; eg. “move objects around”). I do not do that presentation in PP or Keynote, I do that presentation in OG.

If you are fixed on the way you do things, I cannot help.

If you are interested in other ways of doing things (but getting the same result on the big screen), please see if these ideas help you at all:

1. Increments

• I draw the entire diagram with the final result in mind, on a single Canvas. I use Layers to separate the increments. Some objects are common, so they are placed on SharedLayers.
  • (Horrible compared to OG4, but hey, that is what we have.)
• Then by turning selected Layers Off/On, I create a progression; a series of increments. (It is still a single Canvas.)
• For each increment, export as PDF.
• Repeat.
• For the final intense single-page lecture note, turn On all layers, and export as PDF.
• Example: here are the first 5 increments of 18 increments, as single PDFs, all created from a single diagram on a single Canvas.

2. Mobile Elements

• Pretty much the same as [1], but don’t create the incremental PDFs, only the final PDF
• Present the OG document.
• Present increments simply by starting with all Layers turned off, and by turning Layers On for each increment.
• Move elements around, as you explain things
• For highlighting text or an object, I use a cursor, which is a rectangle with a 4pt blue Stroke, and a white 0% Fill.
• Yes, this means that your OG doc is set up as a Template, it contains everything that you would put in the PP doc.

It’s like saying why use a computer (OG) when you have a typewriter (PP for flowchart)?

I don’t understand what you mean in your computer::typewriter analogy.

(The typewriter is definitely better for some tasks, and the computer definitely better for other tasks.)

I think we are losing sight of the question and talking theory/usability

Theory, no. Usability, yes. You may be stuck in Maslow’s Law of the Instrument.

I am saying, use the right tool for the job. If the presentation needs to be given in increments, or you need to “move separate objects around”, use OG. I am not suggesting that it is a great presentation tool, or that it is equivalent to PP/Keynote.

The question still remains is there in any way you could take a OG flowchart and move it into PP so you can manipulate the flowchart at it’s individual elements?

Sorry. The answer is no. And I do not see how it can be done within the current limits of OG and PP. Eg. there would be issues re lines joined to objects; shadows; etc. Ooo la la.

Cheers