The dashboard is the first screen you see when you start up SmartDraw. This screen is dynamic and it will vary in look depending on your history and usage. It's your home base for finding documents you created, picking new templates for making new diagrams, connecting storage services, importing other files, and more. This article will go over all the options available to you.
As a first time user, you'll see the New Document view on your Dashboard. Depending on what you were interested in drawing, you may actually see a specific sub-category of templates like flowcharts or floor plans. You can navigate the content tree from here and select other categories of templates easily.
On the home of the New Document view, you'll see all the categories of templates available to help you get started.
As a returning user, the Dashboard will take you to the Home view that shows your recent documents and recent templates you've used.
Let's go through all the different views available to you on the dashboard.
Home View
Home is the view you'll see most often as a returning user. This view has a list of your most recently worked on documents and recent templates you've used.
To see all your documents, click on the blue All Documents link or click Documents in the left bar.
You can easily access all the template options from here by clicking the blue link that says All Templates next to your Recent Templates or just selecting New Document from the left panel.
Clicking on Integrations will let you connect to other tools you use, import data for data visualization, as well as show you third party storage options.
Clicking on Import will take you to a screen with options to import legacy files from Visio, Lucidchart, and the old desktop version of SmartDraw.
New Document
The New Document view contains SmartDraw's extensive template and example collection. This is organized into a handful of categories to make browsing easier.
To see the templates and examples in each category, click on the name of the category. You can navigate the categories using the icons or the alphabetical tree to the left. For example, click the Floor Plans - Residential category to see all the floor plan related templates and examples.
To open a template or example, simply click on it.
Search Our Template Collection
If you don't want to browse, you can use the search bar located above the template icons in the Templates view. This search is context sensitive. If you search at the high level Templates view, it will search through all SmartDraw templates. If you search at a lower level category view, it will only search through the category currently selected.
Choosing the right template to get started is important because it determines what tools and libraries you'll have access to. Learn more about choosing the right template.
Documents
Clicking on the Documents view, you'll see a list of your documents with the most recently worked on documents at the top. The documents are organized not just by recency, but also where they're stored or if they were shared with you.
Folders and Files Stored on SmartDraw's Online Storage
Clicking on SmartDraw under Documents, shows you to all the documents stored on your SmartDraw online account. This will include your files as well as files shared with you. If you've created folders, you will see those here:
Shared folders on your license will have a team avatar to identify they're shared with others .
Accessing Files Shared With You
If individual files have been shared with you by someone else on your team, they will be stored in a folder called Shared with Me. Shared files will be organized by the name of the person who shared them with you.
Accessing Files Stored on 3rd Party Storage Services
You can also access files stored on third-party services you connected like Google Drive or OneDrive. Click on the service at the top of your Documents view and it will bring up any folders and files you've saved to that service.
Here are some files stored on a connected OneDrive under the Marketing Plans folder.
Gallery View vs List View
By default, your files will appear in a gallery view with thumbnails. This is SmartDraw's Grid view. If you prefer a list view where files appear using their name and the date they were last modified, click on the icon in the upper left corner of your Documents view and choose the List view.
Switching to List View gets you a document list like this:
Searching Your Documents
You can search for documents you've created in the Documents view. Like the Template search, this search is context sensitive. Select the storage provider you want to search first. If you want to find files stored on your SmartDraw account, click on SmartDraw first and then search. If you want to find files stored on your OneDrive, click on OneDrive and then search.
Adding Storage Services
The Documents view, also lets you quickly connect to a variety of Cloud Storage Services including Google Drive™, OneDrive®, Dropbox®, or Box®.
Click on Add Storage at the top of the Documents view to see the storage options you can connect to. Choose a provider and follow the instructions to connect
Learn more about connecting providers: https://smartdraw.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042324852-Add-a-Storage-Provider-Box-DropBox-Google-Drive-or-Microsoft-OneDrive
Integrations
SmartDraw lets you connect to the tools you already use from the Integrations view on the Dashboard.
There are three types of integrations:
- Apps that let you create and insert diagrams using a SmartDraw app natively from the the 3rd party environment
- Visualizers that let you generate a diagram automatically by importing data from a 3rd party source
- Storage that let you save diagrams to a 3rd party service your organization already uses like OneDrive or Google Drive
Importing Files
You can also import files from the Dashboard. In the Import view, you can choose from Visio, SmartDraw, or Lucidchart.
Learn more about importing a Visio file.
Learn more about importing a Lucidchart file.
Learn more about importing a SmartDraw desktop file.
Favorites
You can add any template you use more frequently to the Favorites view. By default, this view is empty and ready for you to customize.
To add a favorite, first find a template under the New Document view and right-click on it to add to Favorites.
Once you added some favorites from the New Document view, you can access them by clicking on Favorites.
Entering a License Key
If you're using a trial copy of SmartDraw, but have a License Key, you can use the Dashboard to enter the License Key and activate the full copy of SmartDraw. Click on the Options menu in the lower left corner and choose Enter License Key.
Accessing Your Account
You can also access your Account information near the bottom left corner of the Dashboard.
Click on the My Account.
This will open a separate tab with your account information. You can look at your invoices, change your address, or payment information. If you're managing a multi-seat license, this is also where you can access your administrative features like setting up shared folders or restricting default storage locations.
Logging Out
To log out of your SmartDraw account, click Log Out at the bottom left corner of the Dashboard.