Text Along a Connector’s Path in Microsoft Visio 2010
February 9, 2010 – 8:46 am | One Comment | 1067 views

A feature lacking in Visio, like for-EVER, is the ability to align text along a connector’s path.
Now, Visio 2010’s new ShapeSheet functions and capabilities finally deliver.
Today we’ll show-off the cool new connector that I’ve developed …

Read the full story »
Development

Tips & code for programming Visio & using the ShapeSheet

Maps & Geography

Maps & geography shapes & templates galore!

Network

Shapes & tools for Visio network diagrams.

News

Find out what’s new in the Visio world!

Shapes

Download useful & attractive Visio shapes. For free!

Home » Archive by Category

Articles in Power User

Faking 3D in Visio
December 10, 2009 – 5:25 pm | 5 Comments | 2768 views
Faking 3D in Visio

In this Visio Tutorial, you’ll learn how to use drawing tools to create a 3D effect of an arrow poking through a 3D plane!

Understanding Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Professional Pivot Diagrams
November 17, 2009 – 5:59 pm | No Comment | 2912 views
Understanding Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Professional Pivot Diagrams

If you’ve ever created pivot tables in Excel, then you’ll want to see how you can create Pivot Diagrams in Visio 2007 Professional.
Visio lets you drill in and roll up the data to understand structure …

Remove Backgrounds From Images With Office 2010!
November 11, 2009 – 11:13 am | No Comment | 2228 views
Remove Backgrounds From Images With Office 2010!

The upcoming release of Office 2010 from Microsoft has a cool feature that helps you to remove backgrounds from images. Now you can cut yourself out of a picture and place it into your Visio diagrams, while the background details show through!

Kill the Reviewing Toolbar!
November 9, 2009 – 5:28 am | 2 Comments | 1487 views
Kill the Reviewing Toolbar!

Do you ever have this problem?
Every time you open a particular Visio diagram, the Review toolbar pops up. No matter how many times you close it, reset the toolbars and menus or scream, it never …

Getting a Handle on Selecting and Subselecting Visio Shapes
October 13, 2009 – 12:28 pm | 4 Comments | 2760 views
Getting a Handle on Selecting and Subselecting Visio Shapes

Did you know that Visio allows you to select shapes inside of groups and manipulate them without ungrouping or opening new windows?
The feature is convenient and powerful, but the visual cues that tell you what …

Visio Network Server Shape Icon Customization Tool
September 11, 2009 – 12:48 pm | 7 Comments | 11163 views
Visio Network Server Shape Icon Customization Tool

If you’ve ever needed to customize a Visio network server shape, then today is your day. We’ve got a tool that allows you to load custom icons into server shapes lickity-split.
The tool is easy to …

Visio Tutorial: Advanced Fill Effects
September 9, 2009 – 4:10 pm | 5 Comments | 3706 views
Visio Tutorial: Advanced Fill Effects

Learn two methods for creating sophisticated fill patterns for your Visio shapes!

Why Visio Shape Smarts Makes Your Life Easier
July 22, 2009 – 7:59 am | 2 Comments | 3787 views
Why Visio Shape Smarts Makes Your Life Easier

It’s easy to use Visio and not notice some of the things that make it a great diagramming application.
One great feature is how shapes resize–or more aptly–how parts of shapes resize. If you’ve wondered about …

Draw Tangent Lines in Visio!
July 2, 2009 – 5:02 am | 4 Comments | 3659 views
Draw Tangent Lines in Visio!

What? Visio has a curve-to-curve tangent tool? Find out how to use it in this exciting video.

Trilogy-meter Data Graphics Part III
February 25, 2009 – 2:00 pm | 5 Comments | 3467 views
Trilogy-meter Data Graphics Part III

Today, we continue with the movie-trilogy theme, but concentrate on advanced tips for importing and working with multiple shapes automatically.
This is the third and final piece in our trilogy of articles on Visio data graphics …

Trilogy-meter Data Graphics Part II
February 24, 2009 – 9:52 am | No Comment | 3475 views
Trilogy-meter Data Graphics Part II

Today we’re going to talk about adorning Visio shapes with data graphics, and the extreme flexibility that Visio data graphics offer.
This is slightly different than what we discussed previously in Trilogy-meter Data Graphics Part I. …

Trilogy-meter Data Graphics Part I
February 23, 2009 – 12:42 pm | 2 Comments | 5243 views
Trilogy-meter Data Graphics Part I

Learn how to create a bar-graph Visio shape which visually responds to data. Once you’ve built this SmartShape, we’ll then show you how to link it to external data imported from Excel!

Create Clean & Tidy Visio Shapes Using Images With Transparent Backgrounds
February 17, 2009 – 11:54 am | 6 Comments | 9617 views
Create Clean & Tidy Visio Shapes Using Images With Transparent Backgrounds

Learn how to create clean & tidy Visio shapes from .png images that you get from the web! You’ll learn how to remove background clutter from the images so that your images look more like genuine Visio shapes!

Amazon Kindle 2 Visio Network Shape
February 10, 2009 – 3:08 pm | 2 Comments | 7526 views
Amazon Kindle 2 Visio Network Shape

I think the time is overdue for another “vanity” Visio network shape.
And since Amazon.com has been making a lot of noise lately about its new Kindle 2 book reader, I’ve been inspired to oblige.
This version …

Super Mask Visio Clipping Shape
November 28, 2008 – 4:39 pm | 9 Comments | 5314 views
Super Mask Visio Clipping Shape

Download a Visio SmartShape that allows you to mask/clip your drawings and diagrams. You can temporarily highlight just a particular portion of the drawing without being distracted by the rest of the details.

Visio Multi-shapes
November 10, 2008 – 1:08 am | No Comment | 11803 views
Visio Multi-shapes

Learn about Visio Multi-shapes, where to find them, how to use them, and how they can save you time!

Title Blocks #1: How to Display Existing Document Information
October 21, 2008 – 11:51 am | 12 Comments | 8216 views
Title Blocks #1: How to Display Existing Document Information

Create more intelligent title block shapes by inserting fields into the text of your Visio shapes that automatically link to information about the document! Your title blocks will be smarter, your drawings completed more quickly, and you’ll spend less time re-keying information!

Add Multiple Layers At Once With This Neat Trick
September 18, 2008 – 1:24 pm | 2 Comments | 4877 views
Add Multiple Layers At Once With This Neat Trick

Learn a handy tip for adding multiple layers to a Visio page or Visio shape in one, quick, easy operation!

Battle Zone Theme Template
June 28, 2008 – 7:47 am | 4 Comments | 8102 views
Battle Zone Theme Template

1980 witnessed the launch of the classic arcade game Battlezone by Atari.
In 2007, Microsoft launched Visio 2007, which included the new Themes feature.
For 28 years, the two have been on a collision course with destiny…linked …

Importing Images as Backgrounds for Scaled Drawings
May 21, 2008 – 9:43 pm | 4 Comments | 9152 views
Importing Images as Backgrounds for Scaled Drawings

You’ve already got your plan…but it’s only available in paper format. Not to worry, you scan it and use it in your scaled Visio drawing anyway!
Recently, we talked about techniques for using images as backgrounds …

Understanding Arc-Resize Problems in Visio
April 28, 2008 – 10:16 pm | 6 Comments | 5273 views
Understanding Arc-Resize Problems in Visio

If you’ve ever drawn arcs in Visio, then grouped them together, you may have noticed that they behave oddly when you resize the group. In this article, we’ll explain why this happens and how to fix it. You’ll also learn about the two shape interaction styles that Visio shapes have: 1D and 2D shapes!

Sewing Patterns With Visio
April 28, 2008 – 7:20 am | One Comment | 5671 views
Sewing Patterns With Visio

Relatives ask me now and again if That Visio software can help me make quilting patterns?. I start to answer Well, maybe… and then we get side-tracked by family gossip and questions about When ya …

Importing Images as Backgrounds for Tracing
April 16, 2008 – 12:30 am | 7 Comments | 8500 views
Importing Images as Backgrounds for Tracing

Many Visio users create detailed elevation drawings of network and audio/visual equipment. The quality of these drawings can impress customers and enable equipment to be more quickly recognized in a diagram.
While vendors such as Altima …

Center-sizing Smart Shapes
April 15, 2008 – 6:01 am | 4 Comments | 10092 views
Center-sizing Smart Shapes

Visio has tons of keyboard shortcuts, including modifiers for constraining the resizing and moving of shapes. For instance, with the Shift key depressed, you can constrain a shape to move only vertically or horizontally. Neat-o!
But …

How Big Is My Shape?
April 13, 2008 – 6:00 am | 13 Comments | 11504 views
How Big Is My Shape?

There are many ways to view or change the size of your Visio shapes. In this article, you’ll learn about a whole slew of methods to do this!

Effects of Imported Images on Visio File Size
April 12, 2008 – 1:20 am | 14 Comments | 8980 views
Effects of Imported Images on Visio File Size

Learn what happens to your Visio file sizes when you import images and bitmaps of differing file formats.

Work Faster With Our Top Visio Keyboard Shortcuts
April 9, 2008 – 1:02 am | 24 Comments | 12981 views
Work Faster With Our Top Visio Keyboard Shortcuts

An old Visio Corporation coworker of mine used to talk about “…being a two-handed Visio user, as opposed to being a one-handed Visio user.”
What he meant was that you can get a lot more done …

How to Draw Glass in Visio
March 18, 2008 – 6:31 pm | 11 Comments | 13036 views
How to Draw Glass in Visio

Learn how to create see-through, shiny glass effects using basic, end-user features of Visio!

How Many Fill Colors Can You Put on a Visio Shape?
March 4, 2008 – 5:15 pm | 10 Comments | 7166 views
How Many Fill Colors Can You Put on a Visio Shape?

Learn how to apply four colors to a single shape, make use of advanced gradient and transparency techniques, and download a shape that does it all!

Resize Text With Metafiles!
August 24, 2007 – 3:35 am | 3 Comments | 10038 views
Resize Text With Metafiles!

Learn how to create non-changing text that resizes with your Visio SmartShapes by using metafiles!

Save As Web Link Problem: Visio 2003 & IE7
November 8, 2006 – 4:12 pm | 7 Comments | 7382 views
Save As Web Link Problem: Visio 2003 & IE7

Learn about some issues and work-arounds for an export problem with Visio’s Save As Web feature in Visio 2003 as it applies to IE7.