Microsoft visio 2010 for dummies

Full Screen. Print Preview. Display Help. Dec 26, Position shapes by using rulers and guides. Use rulers to align and size Microsoft Visio Step by Step is designed for use as a learning and reference resource by home and business users If you open a file created in Visio or earlier, it will open in compatibility mode, and the Convert button, Wireless Communications.

WordPerfect, and Lotus 1- You can add more stencils for more shape options. Quick Start Guide. Microsoft Visio looks different from previous versions, so we created In Visio What happens?

What should I do? You open a document that was created with. The file opens in Compatibility Mode, which turns off Microsoft Project Step by Step and other books in the Step by Step series are designed for beginning to intermediate-level computer users.

Examples shown in the book generally pertain to small and medium organizations but teach skills that can be used in organiza- tions of any size. Whether you are already Thirdly, there is a Brainstorming tab added to the ribbon, which contains tools required to use the brainstorming diagram. To create the central topic for the brainstorming diagram, drag the Main topic shape onto the canvas.

Unlike the org chart where you had to double-click the shape to enter text, you can start typing text in a brainstorming diagram as soon as you drag the shape onto the canvas. In this chapter, we will learn how to add, edit and place subtopics in the brainstorming diagram using Visio. In a brainstorming diagram, sub-shapes are not directly inserted on top of the main shape.

A sub-shape is inserted as a subtopic. To insert a subtopic, first click the Main topic shape and then click the Brainstorming tab on the Ribbon.

In the Add Topics section, click Subtopic. You can also create multiple subtopics at once by clicking the Multiple Subtopics in the Add Topics section. This opens the Add Multiple Topics dialog box, where you can enter the names of each of the subtopics. Subtopics can be edited simply by clicking the title of the subtopic and typing over it. You can also edit a subtopic by clicking its name twice in the Outline Window.

The Outline Window represents the topic hierarchy of the brainstorm. The subtopics can be dragged by their connectors and placed anywhere on the canvas. They will always be linked to the Main topic shape. The Outline Window makes it easy to edit the order of topics or topic names in the diagram. Any changes made in the Outline Window will be readily reflected in the actual diagram. The Outline Window can be pinned or unpinned by clicking on the push pin icon to the bottom left of the window.

This enables the window to auto-hide when not in use. Topics can be edited by clicking twice on the topic name within the window and typing. The order of the topics can also be changed by clicking and dragging the topic from one subtopic into another. You can also right-click a topic and Move Up or Move Down to change the order of the topics.

To delete a topic, right-click a topic and then click Delete Topic or simply select a topic and press the Delete key on the keyboard. You can customize the brainstorming diagram in a similar manner to other types of diagrams by changing the shape, style, and layout. The shapes of individual topics can be customized into a variety of built-in shapes. Hold down the Shift key, select the topics one by none and in the Brainstorming tab, click Change Topic in the Arrange section.

This opens the Change Shape dialog box, which lists the shape types you can change to. Select a shape type and click OK. The brainstorming diagram can be customized by choosing different themes and theme variants. To choose a theme, go to the Design tab on the Ribbon and select a theme. You can also choose different variants for the theme by selecting a variant in the Variants section. The Variant section has a dropdown using which you can further customize the colors and effects such as drop shadows.

You can also customize the style of the diagram so that it looks more elegant and professional. You can choose from a variety of brainstorming styles and also a couple of mosaic options, which includes a mix of all the styles. Select a style and click Apply to see the result. Click OK to close the dialog box.

You can also customize the layout by clicking Layout in the Brainstorming tab. Select a layout from the Select a layout section. You can also choose the type of connector in the Connectors section.

Select a layout and click Apply to see the result. You can send brainstorming data directly to Word and Excel and in fact, to any program that accepts XML input. Any changes can be saved to this XML file, which can then be imported back into Visio. Note that these options are available, only if you have the versions of Word and Excel installed on your computer. In Excel, the data is organized into topic levels.

For example, T1 represents the main topic, T1. You can add or remove topic hierarchies here and save the XML file, which can then be reimported back into Visio. Similar to org charts and brainstorming diagrams, you can also create timelines in Visio to depict a schedule or a series of events. To create a timeline, go to the New menu in the File tab and click Templates. Go to the Schedule category, click Timeline and then Create to create the timeline workspace.

Since the timeline essentially measures time, units selection is inconsequential. Once the Timeline template is created, click and drag the Block timeline shape from the Shapes pane onto the canvas. This opens a Configure Timeline dialog box, where you can select the duration for the timeline and the Timescale.

Click Ok. Milestones represent specific points in time during which an important event has occurred or is scheduled to occur. To add a milestone, click and drag the Line Milestone shape onto a chosen interval on the timeline. It need not be dropped exactly on a specific interval, since you can manually configure the exact date and time of the event.

When you drag the milestone onto the timeline, the Configure Milestone dialog box appears, where you can specify the exact date and time of the milestone along with a description of the event.

You can also choose from the standard date formats to better represent the time and date. Click OK to create the milestone on the timeline. The milestone can be dragged along the timeline, and the date and time of the milestone will be updated accordingly.

When adding many milestones, it is possible that the description text of the milestones will run into each other creating a messy look. It is possible to avoid collisions by changing the position of the milestone text. If you happen to have a colliding text, simply grab the yellow end of the milestone and drag to a separate position, such as the bottom or higher up. You can also angle the yellow end by simply turning your mouse to a desired angle. Once the yellow end is dragged and released, the Line milestone shape adjusts itself accordingly.

You can also use the guides to glue the yellow ends of multiple milestones so that they are all aligned. An interval denotes a block of time over the course of which an event occurs or is scheduled. To add an interval, drag the Block interval shape onto a location on the timeline. It opens the Configure Interval dialog box. In the Configure Interval dialog box, you can select the duration of the interval, the date format and add a description. Click OK to add the interval to the timeline.

Intervals can overlap milestones or other events. By formatting the interval shape to make it transparent, any other shape behind it can be made visible. Markers and indicators can be used to denote specific events such as current date or elapsed time.

Markers help to gain a perspective of where you currently stand with respect to your objectives in the current timeline. You might want to adjust the yellow end to ensure that the marker text does not overlap with your milestone or other information. Another marker or indicator that can be useful is, Elapsed time. The Elapsed time indicator helps in gauging the time elapsed since the beginning of the timeline. It is indicated by a green rectangle along the duration of the elapsed time.

Of course, just like any other shape, the color of the Elapsed time shape can be customized. Expanded timelines are useful to get a zoomed in view of the finer aspects of a time period. For example, the expanded timeline can show many details of events in a particular period, which might not be visible on the main timeline. To create an expanded timeline, drag the Expanded timeline shape onto the main timeline. This opens the familiar Configure timeline dialog box in which you can specify the start and finish dates.

Since this is an expanded timeline, you can choose a lower scale such as weeks instead of months if you have a packed agenda for the week. The expanded timeline is connected to the main timeline by means of two dotted connectors with yellow ends. The yellow ends can be used to move or change the orientation of the expanded timeline. You can also add milestone events to the expanded timeline. However, any event or interval added to the expanded timeline will not show up in the main timeline.

You can apply the usual formatting techniques, such as themes and variants to a timeline. You can also select a background so that all successive timelines are created using the background template.

You can also change the timeline and other shapes to make it look like a block, cylinder, or a bracket by right-clicking the shape and selecting the corresponding type from the menu. 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.

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. You can create calendars in Visio to help you better organize and deliver information.

To create a calendar, go to the New menu in the File tab and click Templates, then Schedule. In the Schedule category, click Multi week Task Calendar and then Create to create the calendar workspace. Depending on your version of Visio, you might just notice the template as Calendar.

You will see that there is a default calendar created. You can however, create your own calendar by dragging the Month shape onto an empty canvas. This opens the Configure dialog box, where you can specify the calendar month. Days of the month are automatically filled and the weekends are differentiated from the weekdays.

To add a single day appointment, click the Appointment shape in the Shapes pane and drag it on to a location in the calendar. This opens the Configure dialog box, where you can enter the details of the appointment. Click OK to add the appointment on the prescribed date. Sometimes, appointments can stretch over multiple days.

To add a multi-day appointment, click and drag the Multi-day event shape from the Shapes pane onto the calendar. This again opens a Configure dialog box, where you can specify details of the event along with the start and end dates.

Once the multi-day appointment is created, you can drag the appointment handle to cover additional dates, if needed. Calendars can be customized just like any other Visio drawing by applying themes and variants. Calendars can also be customized to show weather conditions or even moon phases.

To add a shape such as weather icons, scroll down the list of shapes in the Shapes pane and drag the desired icon onto a date in the calendar. You can align multiple shapes using the dynamic grids that appear when you try to align shapes next to each other. You can also change the look and feel of the calendar by selecting themes and variants from the Design tab in the Ribbon.

Adding additional months is simple in Visio. You can rename the page by double-clicking on the page title. Once you add a new page, create a new calendar by clicking and dragging the Month shape onto the new page. Configure the calendar for the new month. To add additional months, simply create new pages by duplicating the current page.

To duplicate a page, right-click the name of the page and click Duplicate. This creates duplicate of the current calendar page. Now, simply reconfigure the calendar on the new page by going to the Calendar menu on the Ribbon and clicking Configure. When you change the month, you get a warning message that all scheduling information will be lost.

Click OK to reconfigure the calendar on the new page. You can import existing calendars from Outlook directly into Visio. Follow the steps in the wizard to import the calendar into Visio. You can import into an existing Visio calendar or create a new calendar with the Outlook data. If you are importing into an existing Visio calendar, make sure to select the correct date range for importing, otherwise the data will not be shown in the Visio calendar.

Floor plans help to visualize the layout of a room or a floor in a building. Floor plans help architects to understand the placement of objects on the floor, and the design of doors and windows as well as other rooms. Visio provides extensive assets for working with all kinds of floor plans and maps. To create a floor plan, go to the File menu and click New. In the Templates section, click Map and Floor Plans. Select Floor Plan from the list of available templates. Select the units of choice and click Create to create the floorplan.

You will notice that the options for floor plans are varied. The rulers now measure in feet instead of inches. The Shapes pane shows different shapes categorized under various headings for each component of the floor plan as shown in the following screenshot. Before adding elements to a floor plan, it is important to set the scale correctly.

Setting the correct scale ensures that elements within the floor plan scale well according to the dimensions of the output paper. In the Page Setup dialog box, click the Drawing Scale tab to set a defined scale.

You can use a predefined scale or enter a custom value. You can set the Page size in measurement units fields to the appropriate page size. Click Apply to see the changes in the dimensions of the ruler and click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.

In architectural drawings, it is important to know the right measurements. Visio helps you make accurate measurements of the various shapes in your floor plan. For accurate dimensions, it is important to set the scale of the diagram correctly.

To see the dimension shapes, click Dimensioning — Architectural category in the Shapes pane to reveal the measurement tools. In this example, we will measure the vertical dimension of a wall. To measure the vertical dimension, click and drag the Vertical shape in the Dimensioning — Architectural shape category and release it along the wall to be measured. You will see that the Vertical shape now has two yellow dots and two white dots. The white dots are used to glue either end of the Vertical shape to the top and bottom length of the wall.

The first yellow dot helps to separately visualize the Vertical shape from the actual wall. The second yellow dot helps to visualize the dimension value distinctly. Glue the white dots to the top and bottom of the wall. Then, drag the yellow dots as needed to properly visualize the dimensions. You can add objects, such as furniture and office equipment to the floor plan to get a complete perspective.

Visio provides a lot of shapes, which can scale according to the dimensions of the floor plan diagram. To begin, we need to ensure that the required shapes for furniture and office equipment are visible in the Shapes pane. In the submenu, make sure that Office Furniture and if needed, Office Equipment options are checked.

You can then select the Office Furniture category in the Shapes pane to reveal a list of commonly used furniture. You can now select the Office Furniture category in the Shapes pane to reveal a list of commonly used furniture.

Drag the desired furniture shape into the floor plan and adjust the position as needed. Make sure that the Shape Data pane is visible so that you can adjust the length and depth of the shape according to scale. You can add titles and other text information to a floor plan to convey information, such as the scale of the diagram, title of the designing company, etc.

To add text information to the floor plan, select the Text Box from the Insert tab in the Ribbon and draw a text box in an empty area in the diagram. The text box can be used to then enter information, such as the scale of the diagram, so that the reader gets a perspective of the real object size.

The scale information can be derived from the Drawing Scale tab of the Page Setup dialog box in the Design tab. You can also add page titles and backgrounds as a background page so that it is reflected across all pages of the diagram. In the following example, we will add a background title information. In the dropdown list of designs, select one that matches your theme. It creates a background layer that applies to all pages of the document. Double-click the text area to zoom in and type the title of the document.

You can also change the date, if needed and even apply themes and variants to the floor plan for a more sophisticated look. 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.

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.

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. They should be comfortable in the Windows environment and be able to use Windows to manage information on their computers.

Specifically, they should be able to launch and close programs; navigate to information stored on the computer; and mange files and folders. Click for details. Click here to use one of our self-assessment tools to determine which level class is most appropriate for your current skill set. All Rights Reserved. Course Description Course Objective: You will design and manage basic diagrams, workflow, and flowcharts.

Prerequisites: To ensure your success, it is recommended that you take the following CompuTrain course:. Click for details. Click here to use one of our self-assessment tools to determine which level class is most appropriate for your current skill set.

All Rights Reserved. Course Description Course Objective: You will create custom elements and a custom template, represent external data as a drawing, and share your work with others. Design a custom stencil.