Using Microsoft Visio 2010

by Roth, Chris

• ISBN13: 9780789742971
• ISBN10: 0789742977
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-09
• Publisher: Que Publishing

Summary

Using Microsoft Visio 2010is a customized, media-rich learning experience designed to help new users master Microsoft Visio 2010 quickly, and get the most out of it, fast! It starts with a concise, friendly, straight-to-the-point guide to Microsoft Visio 2010. This exceptional book is fully integrated with an unprecedented collection of online learning resources: online video, screencasts, podcasts, and additional web content, all designed to reinforce key concepts and help users achieve real mastery. The book and online content work together to teach everything mainstream Microsoft Visio 2010 users need to know. This practical, approachable coverage guides readers through all facets of working with Visio 2010, and adds coverage on new features and capabilities including: Visio's brand-new Ribbon interface, Live Preview, Auto size, align and adjust, Containers, status bar navigation tools, and data graphics legends. The 2010 edition also includes coverage on Visio services, processes management tools, new diagram types, and much more. Practical, approachable coverage that completely flattens the Microsoft Visio 2010 learning curve Tightly integrated with online video, screencast tutorials, podcasts, and more: the total learning experience for new Microsoft Visio 2010 users Companion website offers supplemental media including video, screencast tutorials, podcasts, and much more

Author Biography

Chris Roth has always enjoyed creating pictures of any kind and absolutely enjoys the combination of computer technology with graphics. He has been working with Visio since The Beginning in 1992, when he was part of the Visio 1.0 team at then-extant Visio Corporation. Since then, he’s continuously been busy helping customers incorporate diagrams, drawings, and visualizations into their daily business and to develop custom graphical solutions based on Visio.

 

A Microsoft Visio MVP since 2002, he has presented sessions at several Visio conferences and has written more than 250 articles about Visio for his “Visio Guy” website (www.visguy.com), which he launched in 2006.

 

Originally from Seattle, he currently lives with his wife and baby daughter in Munich, Germany. Away from family, laptop, and relaxing Bavarian beer gardens, he plays trombone with the TT Orchestra and the wind ensemble Pullacher Blasmusik.

 

Table of Contents

Introduction     1

How This Book Is Organized     2

Using This Book     3

Special Features     4

About the USING Web Edition     4

1  Introducing Visio 2010     5

What Is Visio?     5

Getting Started: Creating a Simple Flowchart     6

Creating a Simple Visio Flowchart     7

What Kinds of Diagrams Can Visio Create?     9

Examples of What Visio Can Do     12

Connected Diagrams     12

Block Diagrams     13

Measured Drawings     15

What Visio Isn’t     16

Understanding Visio 2010 Editions     17

What’s New in Visio 2010?     17

Updated User Interface     17

Enhanced Diagramming Features     18

Getting Around in Visio Using the Fluent UI     20

The Ribbon     20

The Quick Access Toolbar     25

Right-click Context Menus     27

The Backstage Area     27

Status Bar     28

Working in the Visio Drawing Window     30

Task Panes     31

Page Tabs     32

Ruler & Grid     32

Multiple Drawing Windows     32

Getting a Handle on Shapes     33

Working Faster with Keyboard Shortcuts     37

Summary     38

2  Working Around the Diagram     39

Getting Started with a New Drawing     39

Navigating the Template Gallery     39

What Happens When You Start from a Template?     41

Creating a Blank Drawing     42

Creating a New Drawing from an Existing Drawing     44

Using Templates Online     46

Saving Diagrams     48

Saving Documents Using Save As     48

Saving Documents Using Save & Send     49

Configuring Auto Save     49

Finding and Managing Shapes     49

Navigating the Shapes Window     49

Quick Shapes—Accessing and Managing Frequently Used Shapes     51

Opening Other Stencils     53

Searching for Shapes     55

Saving Favorite Shapes     59

Managing and Organizing Your Favorite Shapes     60

Editing Existing Stencils     61

Creating a Custom Master Shape and a Custom Stencil     62

Understanding the Document Stencil     64

Managing and Styling Pages     66

Inserting Pages     66

Working with Background Pages     69

Inserting Backgrounds, Titles, and Borders     73

Renaming Pages     74

Reordering Pages     74

Controlling Page Size and Orientation     75

Setting Page Scales     77

Using Themes to Change the Look of Pages and Documents     79

Using the Theme Gallery Control     79

Setting Themes, Theme Colors, and Theme Effects     82

Applying Themes to Pages versus Documents     82

Preventing Theming     83

Setting Color Palettes and Themes     83

Using Visio Windows     84

Managing Windows     86

Using Full-Screen View     88

Summary     89

3  Organizing and Annotating Diagrams     90

Containers and Lists     90

Containers     90

Lists     95

Groups     100

Creating a Grouped Shape     101

When Not to Use Groups     103

Editing Inside a Group     103

Callouts     105

Using Visio 2010’s New Callouts     105

Using Legacy Callout Shapes     108

ScreenTips on Shapes     110

Adding ScreenTips to Shapes     110

Strategies for Using ScreenTips     111

Headers and Footers     112

Inserting Fields into Shape Text     114

Inserting Text Fields in Shape Text     115

Layers     117

Basic Layer Skills     117

Practical Application of Layers     120

Visio Layers for Power Users     121

Markup & Review     122

Comments     123

Markup     124

Ink     126

Summary     127

4  Connecting Shapes     129

Understanding Visio Connectors     129

Connecting Basics     129

Using the Connector Tool     133

Connectors Are Shapes, Too!     134

Connecting to Shapes versus Points on Shapes     135

Connecting Shapes in Multiple Ways     138

How Do I Connect Thee? Let Me Count the Ways     138

AutoConnect Arrows     139

Dragging, Splitting, and Deleting     140

Changing the Appearance of Connectors     142

Formatting Connectors     142

Changing Routing Style for Connectors     143

Controlling Line Jumps for Connectors     145

Manually Editing Connector Paths     147

Adding and Editing Connection Points     148

Adding and Removing Connection Points to Shapes     149

Summary     151

5  Aligning, Arranging, and Laying Out Shapes     152

Aligning and Arranging Shapes     152

Using the Dynamic Grid to Align Shapes as You Draw     152

Using Auto Align & Space to Clean Up Connected Diagrams     156

Aligning and Distributing Shapes Using Position Functions     157

Using the Grid, Ruler, and Guides     162

Nudging Shapes     164

Controlling Front-to-Back Positioning     165

Laying Out Shapes     167

Using Visio’s Layout Features     167

Fine-tuning Layout     173

Summary     177

6  Working with Individual Shapes     178

Copying and Duplicating Shapes     178

Constraining Drag and Repeating Copies     179

Creating a Table of Boxes     179

Quickly Formatting a Table of Boxes     181

Resizing and Rotating Shapes     182

Resizing 2D Shapes     183

Resizing 1D Shapes     183

Rotating 2D Shapes     183

Formatting Individual Shapes     185

Changing Line, Fill, and Text Attributes     185

Which Formatting Attributes Can Be Edited?     186

Curing Menu Cascade-itis     187

Finding More Options     189

Formatting Groups     190

Setting Default Formatting     192

Working with Text     192

Creating and Editing Text Blocks     193

Editing and Formatting Text     196

Text Resizing Behavior     200

Using Special Shape Features     201

Right-Click Actions     202

Shape Data Fields     202

Control Handles     203

Hyperlinks     204

Action Tags     206

Double-Clicking     206

Importing Graphics     207

Using Images as Shapes in Visio     207

Adding Clip Art to Your Diagrams     211

Adding Excel Charts to Your Diagrams     213

Importing Vector Graphics     214

Importing AutoCAD Drawings     215

Summary     219

7  Working with Data     220

Introducing Shape Data Fields     220

Exploring Shape Data     220

Types and Uses of Shape Data     223

Creating and Using Shape Data Fields     224

Adding Simple Data Fields     225

Choosing Shape Data Field Types     226

Creating Lists and Controlling Formatting     227

Saving Sets of Shape Data Fields     229

Displaying Shape Data in Shape Text     232

Shape Data Labels versus Names     234

Creating Reports     237

Introducing the Report Definition Wizard     238

Grouping and Totaling Items in a Report     241

Using Reports with Other Documents     244

Linking External Data to Shapes     245

Preparing the Data     246

Preparing the Light Bulb Shape for Data Linking     247

Using the Database Wizard     248

Using Link Data     257

Introducing Data Graphics     262

What Is a Data Graphic?     262

Creating Data Graphics     264

Applying Data Graphics to Shapes     267

Other Data-Enabled Solutions in Visio     268

Summary     270

8  Tips for Creating Specific Types of Diagrams     271

Tips for Creating Process and Flowchart Diagrams     271

Working with Autoresizing Flowchart Shapes     271

Connecting to Decision Shapes     272

Creating Subprocesses to Drill Down to Details     273

Managing Swimlanes and Phases in Cross-functional Flowcharts     275

Numbering Shapes     277

Validating Diagrams     277

Business Process Diagrams (BPMN) and SharePoint

Workflows     278

Tips for Creating Network Diagrams     279

Logical Network Diagrams     279

Rack Diagrams     280

Tips for Creating Block Diagrams     282

Blending Block Shapes Together     282

3D Perspective Block Diagrams     283

Corner Rounding and Other Tips for Architecture Block Diagrams     284

Tips for Creating Timelines     286

Tips for Creating Organizational Charts     287

Drawing and Editing Org Charts by Hand     288

Generating Org Charts from Data Using the Wizard     290

Using Walls, Windows, and Doors in Office and Space Plans     293

Creating Building Plans Using Wall Shapes     293

Using Window, Door, and Space Shapes with Walls     295

Dimension Lines     297

Summary     299

9  Printing     300

Printing Basics     300

Printing from the Backstage Area     300

Print Preview     304

Experimenting with Printing Without Wasting Trees     307

Understanding Printing     310

Keeping Print Variables in Mind     310

Looking at a Complicated Print Job from a Simple Document     311

Headers and Footers and Print Margins     314

Printing Scenarios     316

Printing Part of a Diagram     316

Selectively Printing Elements in a Drawing     316

Printing Tiled Drawings     318

Printing Complex, Mixed-Orientation Drawings     321

Printing Any Size Drawing on Any Size Paper     322

Printing Multiple Drawings on a Single Sheet     325

Printing Scaled Drawings at Reduced Size     328

Printing High-Quality Materials     329

Summary     332

10  Sharing, Publishing, and Exporting Visio Diagrams     333

Sending Visio Files in Email     333

Sending a Visio File via Email     333

Creating Web Pages from Visio Drawings     334

Saving as Web Page     335

Exploring Visio-Generated Web Pages     337

Fine-tuning Web Pages and Battling Bugs     340

Saving as PDF or XPS Files     346

Saving a PDF or XPS Document     346

Saving Visio Files in XML Format     347

Saving Files in Older Visio Formats     348

Using Visio Graphics with Other Applications     349

Copying from Visio     349

Default Paste Behavior     349

Using Paste Special and Matching Themes Across

Applications     350

Using Visio Graphics Outside Office     352

Exporting Visio Graphics to Other Formats     352

Saving Bitmapped Images     353

Saving to Vector Formats     356

Working with SharePoint     357

Working with Files in Document Libraries     357

Introducing Visio Services for SharePoint 2010     360

Cleaning Up Documents     361

Setting Document Properties     361

Removing Personal Information     362

Reducing File Size     363

Summary     364

Index     365

 

 

The following chapter can be accessed online at quepublishing.com/using:

 

11  Developing Custom Visio Solutions     PDF: 1

Introducing the Notes Shape     PDF: 1

Using the Developer Ribbon Tab     PDF: 2

Creating SmartShapes with the ShapeSheet     PDF: 3

Introducing the ShapeSheet     PDF: 3

Creating Smart Geometry in the ShapeSheet     PDF: 5

Understanding Visio’s Coordinate System     PDF: 9

Controlling Grouped Shapes with the ShapeSheet     PDF: 10

Linking Subshape Text to Shape Data Fields     PDF: 14

Modifying the Text Block Using the ShapeSheet     PDF: 17

Adding Right-Click Actions to the SmartShape     PDF: 18

Introducing Automation and VBA Code     PDF: 20

Exploring the VBA Development     PDF: 20

Using the Macro Recorder to Generate Code     PDF: 24

Calling VBA Code from a SmartShape     PDF: 27

Distributing Templates and Stencils     PDF: 29

Creating a Template with a Document Stencil     PDF: 29

Creating a Separate Stencil for Shape and Code Delivery     PDF: 32

Creating a Template with a Separate Stencil     PDF: 35

Locating Visio Development Resources     PDF: 35

Books About Visio Development and Customization     PDF: 36

Websites About Visio Development and Customization     PDF: 36

Summary     PDF: 37