SmartDraw lets you add a photo to any shape. To add a photo inside a shape, click the Insert option on the Home tab and choose Picture.
You'll be asked to find the photo you want to import by browsing your system.
Click OK once you selected the image you want inserted and SmartDraw will fill your selected shape with a photo.
The most common reason most people want to add photos to shapes is to add photos to their organizational charts. You can learn how to add photos to org charts in this article.
For organizational charts, you'll want to use a special shape that puts the photo to the left of any text you may have in the shape. You can select the shape you want to add a photo to in your organizational chart and click Add Picture in the SmartPanel to the left of your canvas.
Similar to the full shape above, you'll be asked to find the photo on your system and finish importing it by clicking OK. The finished organizational chart with photos will look like this.
Editing the Imported Photo
Once a photo is inserted into a shape, you can still make adjustments.
You can reposition the photo inside the shape, zoom in or out, or crop or stretch it to fit the shape differently.
We'll cover how to do this using the organizational chart example, but it will work for any photo inserted into a shape.
To enter into photo editing mode, double-click the photo you want to edit.
Once in photo editing mode, you'll see a bright gold outline around your selected image and a modal of controls you can use to modify the image.
Pan and Move the Photo
By default, SmartDraw will adjust the imported photo so it's cropped to fit the available space. If you don't like what part of the photo is visible in the default crop, you can move the photo around by dragging it with your mouse. First, double-click the photo to enter into photo editing mode, then grab the photo and slide it around in the shape to adjust what's visible and pan the view. When you're happy with the visible image, click Apply.
Zoom In and Out
If you want to zoom in on specific details of your imported image, you can double-click the photo to enter into photo editing mode. Then use the magnifying glass icons to zoom the image in or out using the plus or minus icon.
Adjusting the Cropping Mode
By default, SmartDraw inserts a photo so it's cropped to fit the available space. The image will fill the available area proportionally with any excess cropped. There are 3 different modes available.
Crop to fit: proportionally fill the shape fully with the excess cropped
Proportional: proportionally fit the shape to fully display the image using its original aspect ratio.
Stretch: non proportionally fill the shape even if it distorts the image.
Exiting Photo Editing Mode
You can undo any unwanted edits using the undo icon that looks like a circle with a reverse arrow. You can discard all changes and exit photo editing mode by clicking the X icon. You can accept all your changes and exit photo editing mode by hitting the yellow Apply button.