How to Express a Continuous Cycle Visually in a Word Technical Document

“Continuous Cycle” is a fairly common idea both in life and in technical communication.

Seasons form a continuous cycle that never ends: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, etc.

In technical writing the process of writing, editing, reviewing, releasing also forms a process that never ends. It’s a continuous cycle that repeats itself.
You can express such a cycle very easily and elegantly in MS Word:


Follow these steps:

1) On the ribbon, select the Insert tab.

2) Select Smart Art > Cycle > Continuous Cycle graphic options to insert the main diagram:
(Click top enlarge the image)

3) To format the diagram with different colors or perspective etc., feel free all the formatting options MS Word offers on the ribbon:
(Click top enlarge the image)

4) Click on TEXT placeholder and type in your text into each cycle element.

5) To delete an element, select it and press Delete key on your keyboard.

6) To add an element, right-click on an element, and from the pop-up menu select Add Shape > Add Shape Before or Add Shape > Add Shape After.