Category: microsoft Visio

Microsoft Visio – Subordinate Layouts ”; Previous Next We can continue building on the org chart previously created. Based on the organizational hierarchy, corresponding shapes can be added to the existing shapes. Visio will then automatically create the connection and align the new shape in the diagram. Adding a Position Belt A position belt is used to indicate a position under an executive. In the following example, several position belts have been added to each of the three manager sub-shapes. To add a position shape, simply drag the Position Belt shape from the Shapes pane over any of the manager sub-shape. Visio automatically creates the Position Belt shape and connects it to the manager shape above. Adding a Vacancy Belt In an organization, not all positions will be always full. There will be a few vacant positions that need to be filled. You can indicate a vacancy by dragging the Vacancy Belt shape onto any of the managerial shapes. A vacancy shape is different from the other shapes and can be easily identified. Adding Consultant and Secretary Shapes Similarly, you can also add the consultant and assistant shapes to the org chart. In the following example, a consultant has been added to the CTO and an assistant to the CEO. Drag the Consultant Shape on top of the CTO shape and the Assistant shape on top of the CEO. Visio will automatically adjust the spacing and connections between the shapes. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Applying Theme Colors and Effects ”; Previous Next Themes are useful to customize the appearance of the document. Visio goes a step further and allows to customize the themes themselves. Themes come with variants that can be further customized as needed. Theme variants can be accessed from the Variants section in the Design tab. You can use the stock variants or click the dropdown menu to customize many other aspects. In the Colors menu, you will find that there many color combinations to choose from. The Effects menu shows some of the effects that can be applied onto the selected shape. You can also choose from a range of connectors. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Blocking Themes from Affecting Shapes ”; Previous Next Sometimes, it becomes necessary to prevent themes from affecting one shape or a group of shapes, especially if they have important information that has to be presented in a particular way. Visio allows to protect a shape, thereby preventing any theme changes from affecting the shape’s intended design. To enable protection for a shape, click a shape or a group of shapes. Go to the Developer tab in the Ribbon, click Protection in the Shape Design section. (Note − You may need to first enable the Developer tab by customizing the Ribbon). This opens the Protection dialog box that allows to select which components of the shape to protect from being overridden. We will focus on protecting the theming of the shape for now. So, select the checkboxes for Text, Format, From theme colors, From theme effects, From theme fonts and finally, From theme index. Click OK. If you now select any theme from the Design tab, you will notice that the shape that is protected is unaffected by the theme change. To reverse the changes, simply go to the Protection dialog box again, click None and finally click OK. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Microsoft Visio – Sharing Timelines ”; Previous Next Timelines can be shared just like other Visio drawings as PDFs, Visio drawings, or graphic files. Visio also allows you to let others edit the drawing, if provided access. This happens via Microsoft OneDrive and you need to be signed in to Visio to access this feature. To share a drawing for editing or review, go to the File menu and click Share. The document has to be first saved to the cloud, so click Save to Cloud to save the document to your personal or official OneDrive folder. Once the document is saved to your OneDrive folder, you can invite others by sending them the link to the shared drawing. You can define whether people just get to view it or get to edit it as well. Your collaborators can then open the shared drawing in the cloud and open the drawing directly in their Visio installation. Note − Visio Online is available to Office 365 customers who have Visio included in their cloud subscription. They can open and review the drawing online in their browsers; however, any changes to the drawing itself requires the users to have a local copy of Visio installed. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Prototyping Software Using Wireframes ”; Previous Next Wireframe diagrams are typically used by software developers to prototype the design of the software user interface. Wireframes help to visualize the position and behavior of various elements in the UI before the software can be deployed. Opening the Wireframe Template Click the File menu and then click New. In the Templates section, click the Software and Database category and scroll down to select the Wireframe Diagram template. It opens the template for the Wireframe Diagram and the Shapes pane lists all the controls and buttons commonly used in a software UI as shown in the following screenshot. Creating a Wireframe Dialog Box In the following example, we will create a wireframe dialog box for the Print command. Click the Dialogs category in the Shapes pane and drag the Dialog form shape onto the canvas. You can resize the default shape as needed. Double-click the header text in the dialog box and type Print. We now have the outer frame for the dialog box. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Microsoft Visio – Themes and Styles ”; Previous Next Themes and Styles are useful to give the diagram a design makeover and make it stand out. Visio provides a standard set of themes and styles, which are customizable. Themes Themes apply to the entire diagram. Themes comprise of a set of colors and effects that generally blend well with each other. They are a great way to quickly give the diagram a polished look. Themes also affect other parts of the document such as titles, headings, text, etc. To apply a theme, go to the Design tab and select a theme from the Themes section. The dropdown arrow provides more choices categorized by theme type. When you click a theme, all the aspects of the diagram and other parts of the document reflect the theme settings. A theme can have many variants, which can be selected from the Variants section of the Design tab. Styles Styles are different from themes such that, they are applicable to a selected shape or a group of shapes. Styles help in customizing the aspects of a particular style. To change a style of a shape, select the shape and from the Home tab, then select a style from the Shape Styles section. Style can be applied to both shape elements in the diagram as well as to individual text boxes. You can select multiple shapes to apply the style to all of them together. . When you change a theme after applying a style to a shape, the shape will take up the characteristics of the theme but will still remain distinct from other shapes. Of course, you can continue to customize the style even after applying a theme. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Microsoft Visio – Team Member Re-ordering ”; Previous Next It may be necessary to re-order team members in the org chart. Shapes can be moved to the left and right or to the top and bottom, depending on how you’d like them to be ordered. Since this is an org chart, there will be an Org Chart tab in the Ribbon. Click the tab and in the Arrange section, click either of the arrows in the Move command. Depending on the position of the shape in the drawing, moving left and right can also mean moving up and down. When you move a shape, all sub-shapes also move along with it. In the following example, the COO shape was moved to the right and with it, all positions below it also move. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Microsoft Visio – Publishing to PDF ”; Previous Next Visio includes several ways to create a PDF of the drawing, which is extremely useful for sharing with others. You can directly save the document as a PDF, print to PDF, or email the drawing directly as a PDF. Save as PDF You can save the drawing as a Visio drawing (.vsd or .vsdx) by default or save it as a PDF, which can then be opened by any freely available PDF reader such as Adobe Reader. To save as PDF, go to the File menu, click Save As and then click Browse. This opens the Save As dialog box. Select PDF in the Save As type field to save the document as a PDF. Print to PDF You can also directly print to PDF if you have a compatible software printer such as Adobe PDF or Microsoft Print to PDF installed. You might want to use this if you need to have fine grain control over the PDF document such as PDF version or compatibility properties. Email PDF You can also directly email the diagram to a recipient. To do this, go to the File menu, click Share and then click Send as PDF. This creates a new email in your default email client with the PDF file readily attached. Just enter the email address of the recipient to send the attachment. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Publishing Organizational Charts ”; Previous Next The completed org chart can be saved as a PDF or any of the image formats by going to the File menu and clicking Save As. Select from any of the file types in the Save As type field. If you save the drawing as a JPG or GIF file, you will get another dialog box, which allows to further specify the output options. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Microsoft Visio – Reporting Structure Views ”; Previous Next Individual manager shapes can be collapsed and shown as needed. Collapsing shapes is useful to reduce the clutter in the diagram. To collapse the hierarchy under a shape, right-click a shape, go to the Subordinates menu and click Hide Subordinates. The subordinate shapes then collapse under the manager shape. This is indicated by a tree icon under the manager shape. If the shapes are synchronized, any changes made to them elsewhere will be automatically reflected in the main shape. To reveal the subordinates again, right-click the manager shape, go to the Subordinates menu and click Show Subordinates. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;