Use the Fill and Outline options found in the same menu that opens when you select and right-click on the shape. At this point, you can change the color and the outline of the swimlane. You can easily ungroup them the same way, if needed (right-click and select Group > Ungroup). Then, select them both, right-click and select Group > Group. To do this, first position the shapes as needed. Select the two items, then right-click and choose Group from the small menu that opens. Group the two shapes so that you can apply changes to both at once from now on. This will be the main part of your swimlane.Īdd another rectangle on the left to use it as the title section of your swimlane. Go to the Insert tab again, select Shapes, and add a large rectangle to your slide. Otherwise, you will find that objects on your chart are randomly repositioned, or connectors removed from their associated shapes when making a change to any other parts of the graphic. Working in a drawing canvas allows you to properly use all the program’s drawing features to their full extent. Go to the Insert tab and select Shapes, then New Drawing Canvas. To optimally use MS Word’s drawing capabilities, you’ll need to insert a “drawing canvas”. Open a new Word document and change the default page layout from “Portrait” to “Landscape” to make more room for a diagram with horizontal lanes. How to manually make a swimlane diagram in Microsoft Word 1.