Business process charts like employee routines, document preparation, and approval, or online user navigation path on a website or a Web store are different from academic flows of algorithms. Usually, academic applications use a limited number of standard shape types, but in business, different shapes give a better look and simplify understanding. However, it is hard to decide which shape is appropriate for the specific block.

The Shape Format tab (the Drawing Tools toolbar in the previous version and Word 2016) provides plenty of options for customization of the shape outline, background and text settings. Also, here you can change spacing, and size for multiple shapes at once.

It is worth to know that, instead of cropping a picture to a conventional rectangle, you can crop it to a circle, a triangle, an arrow, or even a thought bubble:

If you work with several objects and have to move them or apply shared formatting to them, you must select these objects every time. Apply formal grouping, and you will be able to operate those objects quickly as a unit.

By default, Word makes objects snap (jump) to an underlying grid laid across the document. If you drag an object, such as a shape, you'll notice that it moves in little jerks rather than smoothly. This is because of the grid - but because the grid is usually invisible, it's not obvious.

A callout is a type of text box that also includes a line for pointing to any location on the document. A callout is helpful when you need to identify and to explain parts of a picture.