Home » Archive by Category

Articles in Shapes

BPMN Process Modeling: A Conversation With Bruce Silver
August 18, 2010 – 12:27 pm | No Comment | 493 views
BPMN Process Modeling: A Conversation With Bruce Silver

If you’re excited about the new Business Process Modeling features in Visio 2010, we’ve found an interview with BPM industry expert Bruce Silver that you’ll find interesting!

Visio in Concert!
July 22, 2010 – 11:00 am | 13 Comments | 1125 views
Visio in Concert!

See how Visio is used to layout stage details for orchestral performances in concert halls.

Sample Chapter for Rules & Validation Book
July 21, 2010 – 7:20 am | 2 Comments | 2192 views
Sample Chapter for Rules & Validation Book

You might have heard about David Parker’s new book about Visio 2010 Premium’s Rules and Validation for process diagramming.
We’ve just discovered that there’s a free chapter available online, so you can kick the tires before …

New Book: Visio 2010 Rules, Validation & Business Process Diagramming
July 19, 2010 – 11:42 am | One Comment | 1361 views
New Book: Visio 2010 Rules, Validation & Business Process Diagramming

Read about David Parker’s new book about Microsoft Visio 2010 Business Process Diagramming and Validation that helps you to create custom rule sets for validating your Visio 2010 Premium-based solutions!

Visio 2010 Flowchart Shapes Get Smarter
July 1, 2010 – 1:53 pm | No Comment | 1868 views
Visio 2010 Flowchart Shapes Get Smarter

Learn how Visio 2010′s flowchart shapes have gotten smarter and save you work!

World Cup 2010 in Visio…and SharePoint!
June 28, 2010 – 11:01 am | One Comment | 1580 views
World Cup 2010 in Visio…and SharePoint!

See a neat, visual example of Visio 2010, Visio Services and SharePoint 2010 at work.

Jump to Any Page With Visio SmartShapes
June 24, 2010 – 2:55 pm | 9 Comments | 1490 views
Jump to Any Page With Visio SmartShapes

Read about an interesting ShapeSheet technique to help you navigate big documents more easily.

Visio Touch Gesture UX Shapes
June 17, 2010 – 11:26 am | No Comment | 1941 views
Visio Touch Gesture UX Shapes

The frenzied launch of Apple’s sadly-named iPad really highlights how big touch-based user interfaces are these days. If you are a UX designer or are working out user interfaces, then you’ll need to include touch …

Visio World Cup 2010 Bracket
June 14, 2010 – 2:39 am | One Comment | 3160 views
Visio World Cup 2010 Bracket

The world’s biggest sporting event has just started and 32 national teams have descended upon South Africa to fight it out!
We’ve got a Visio diagram/bracket/elimination chart to help you track progress or document your picks …

Visio Wood Grain Fill Pattern
June 8, 2010 – 6:46 am | One Comment | 2568 views
Visio Wood Grain Fill Pattern

One of my customers asked me about wood-grain fill patterns for Visio.
I had thought that Visio shipped with some wood-grain custom patterns, but when I went looking, I didn’t find much.
So…

Register Now for analystView Process-analysis Webinar
June 5, 2010 – 7:37 pm | No Comment | 1794 views
Register Now for analystView Process-analysis Webinar

Are you the type that wears I Heart BPM T-shirts? Or maybe: Give me Some BPMN Lovin’ ? Or do you just like to go around improving processes, regardless of your apparel?
Note: this event is …

Using Visio 2010 Containers & Lists to Create Server Drilldowns with Excel Data
June 5, 2010 – 4:41 pm | No Comment | 3546 views
Using Visio 2010 Containers & Lists to Create Server Drilldowns with Excel Data

Learn about new features in Visio 2010 that will help you to build better network rack diagrams, and download code to help you automate the process!

The Best Things Come in 3’s: Visio 2010, analystView, & Easier Process Improvement
June 2, 2010 – 12:00 am | 2 Comments | 2851 views
The Best Things Come in 3’s: Visio 2010, analystView, & Easier Process Improvement

Microsoft MVP Scott Helmers introduces you to Global360′s new analystView product and explains how it will help you to easily improve your business’ processes.

Playing with the Shape of Data
May 31, 2010 – 9:17 am | 3 Comments | 2429 views
Playing with the Shape of Data

Are you interested in data visualization, presentation and graphical representations?
Me too!
I spent this morning playing around with various visual forms, to see how well they convey information. You might enjoy my mini-study, and like to …

World Cup 2010 Team Flags Visio Multi-shape
May 30, 2010 – 7:10 am | 2 Comments | 4584 views
World Cup 2010 Team Flags Visio Multi-shape

It’s almost here! The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa!
Time to spruce up your Visio diagrams!

Sci-fi Movie Quotes Visualized
May 27, 2010 – 9:48 am | 2 Comments | 2127 views
Sci-fi Movie Quotes Visualized

Nathan over at FlowingData has been wasting time visualizing quotes from Sci-fi flicks.
It’s not his fault. The people at Sci Fi Wire gave him the bug.
Now I’m infected.

Get Web Hex Color Values from Visio Shapes
May 14, 2010 – 9:05 am | No Comment | 2314 views
Get Web Hex Color Values from Visio Shapes

Web designers and AI folks need to know what colors they are using. And they need to know precisely.
Bright red, Fuchsia  and Mauve just won’t do. They need exacting names like: #FF0000, #FF00FF and #E0B0FF.
Since …

3D Beveled Button Visio Smart Shape
April 22, 2010 – 10:12 pm | 4 Comments | 3541 views
3D Beveled Button Visio Smart Shape

This 3D beveled button shape looks good, no matter what color you make it. It comes with lots of options so that get it to look just right!

Text Along a Connector’s Path in Microsoft Visio 2010
February 9, 2010 – 8:46 am | 18 Comments | 5991 views
Text Along a Connector’s Path in Microsoft Visio 2010

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 …

SQL Server 2005 Microsoft Visio Stencils
February 4, 2010 – 11:23 am | 6 Comments | 10699 views
SQL Server 2005 Microsoft Visio Stencils

Browse preview images of SQL Server 2005 shapes for Microsoft Visio. Take a quick glance at all 6 stencils, 6 templates, 102 master shapes and 9 out of the 34 sample drawings available in this free download!

See New Perspectives with 3D Geometry Shapes
January 28, 2010 – 3:01 pm | 4 Comments | 9762 views
See New Perspectives with 3D Geometry Shapes

Take an up-close look at all twenty-five 3D Geometry shapes that come as part of the Visio Educational Shapes stencil set, free from Microsoft: .

Angle Shapes Help You Illustrate Geometry in Visio
January 26, 2010 – 3:29 pm | 2 Comments | 6103 views
Angle Shapes Help You Illustrate Geometry in Visio

Get a sneak peek at all the cool angle-related Visio shapes included in this free educational shapes stencil from Microsoft!

Visio 2010 Year-calendar (Jahreskalender) Template
January 20, 2010 – 11:02 pm | 4 Comments | 6680 views
Visio 2010 Year-calendar (Jahreskalender) Template

This single-sheet Viso year-calendar, or “Jahreskalendar” shows you all twelve months of the year 2010 in one compact format.

Faking 3D in Visio
December 10, 2009 – 5:25 pm | 5 Comments | 7024 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!

Advent Calendar 2009
November 29, 2009 – 11:52 pm | No Comment | 4521 views
Advent Calendar 2009

This year’s fresh, new advent calendar has 25 Visio-related goodies, hidden behind doors 1 through 25!

Get the Super-smart Visio Divided Box Shape!
November 25, 2009 – 5:43 am | 5 Comments | 11246 views
Get the Super-smart Visio Divided Box Shape!

Visio Guy reader Sim sent me a request a few months ago for a Divided Box Shape. You know, title at the top, description in the bottom portion.
I’ve built lots of variations of this shape …

Storyboard Frame Shape
November 22, 2009 – 4:50 pm | 2 Comments | 4517 views
Storyboard Frame Shape

Download a Visio frame shape that allows you to dynamically change the border thickness and move the caption.

Visio Dino-gramming with Visrassic Dinosaur Shapes (for the kids)
November 18, 2009 – 5:58 pm | 4 Comments | 4461 views
Visio Dino-gramming with Visrassic Dinosaur Shapes (for the kids)

Get these ancient Visio dinosaur shapes, and make Visio drag-and-drop fun for the whole family!

Top Visio Guy Downloads (as of November 2009)
November 10, 2009 – 2:52 pm | 5 Comments | 8663 views
Top Visio Guy Downloads (as of November 2009)

See what other Visio Guy readers are downloading, and see how I visualized the download statistics!

Radial Elements Tool
November 5, 2009 – 1:51 pm | 6 Comments | 5952 views
Radial Elements Tool

Download a tool that allows you to create a circular array of custom tick in seconds!

“Follow the Money” Visio Sankey Diagram
October 26, 2009 – 6:13 pm | 4 Comments | 8298 views
“Follow the Money” Visio Sankey Diagram

See how one user used line-weight to make a sophisticated Sankey diagram in Visio!

Free Visio Partner Products for IT & Process Management
October 16, 2009 – 12:01 am | 7 Comments | 9286 views
Free Visio Partner Products for IT & Process Management

The kind folks over in Redmond have informed the Visio Guy of some deals regarding add-on products from Visio partners.
If you are an IT guy or do business process management, then you should probably check …