Visio 2007 For Dummies

Introduction     1About This Book     1Conventions Used in This Book     2What You're Not to Read     2Foolish Assumptions     3How This Book Is Organized     3Starting with Visio 2007 Basics     3Creating Visio Drawings     4Taking Your Drawings to the Next Level     4Advancing Your Knowledge of Visio     4The Part of Tens     4About the Web Site     5Icons Used in This Book     5Where to Go from Here     6Starting with Visio 2007 Basics     7Visio 101     9Getting the Scoop on Visio     9Comparing Visio products     10A quick peek at some Visio features     11What's new in Visio 2007?     13Familiarizing Yourself with Visio Lingo     15Understanding the Vista Difference     16The graphical interface difference     16Helpful user interface changes     16Understanding the security features     17Jumping Head First into Visio     18Getting familiar with the Visio screen     20Checking out the menus     21Working with toolbars     22Getting Help When You Need It     25Using general help     25Don't forget Tooltips     26Closing Visio     27Creating and Saving a Simple Visio Drawing     29Creating a Drawing the Standard Way     29Understanding the Visio Drawing Categories     32Working with Stencils     53Moving and arranging stencils     53Closing stencils     54Opening additional stencils     54Selecting a Pointer Tool Button     56Working with Shapes     56Adding a shape to a drawing     57Selecting a shape     57Selecting more than one shape at a time     58Navigating through a Drawing     59Zeroing In on a Drawing     60Using the Zoom button     60Using the Pan & Zoom window     61Using Drawing Explorer     62Saving Drawings     64Saving a drawing the first time     64Setting up AutoSave     64Saving a drawing as a template     66Saving a drawing in another file format     66Using a Visio Wizard to Create a Drawing     67Opening Drawings     67Printing Visio Drawings     69Understanding How Visio Prints     69Preparing to Print     70Checking the printer paper and drawing page sizes     70Previewing your drawing     73A clear view in Print Preview     74Printing Your Drawing     76Adding Headers and Footers to a Drawing     77Printing Gridlines     80Printing Part of a Drawing     80Reducing and Enlarging Printed Drawings     81Altering the print scale of a drawing     81Printing oversized drawings     82Using online printing services     83Printing to scale     84Setting Shapes Not to Print     85Printing Reviewers' Comments     86Printing a Background Separately     87Printing Layers Separately     88Creating Vislo Drawings     89Discovering What Visio Shapes Are All About     91Discovering What's in a Shape     92Examining open and closed shapes     93Comparing one-and two-dimensional shapes     94Displaying all of the shape handles      95Working with Shapes     96Moving shapes     97Nudging shapes     98Copying and pasting shapes     98Sizing up your shapes     99Deleting shapes     101Controlling Shapes     101Adjusting shapes using control handles     103Adjusting shapes using control points     105Shaping corners     106Rotating shapes into place     107Modifying arcs using eccentricity handles     107Using connection points     108Using automatic connection points     110Finding the Shapes You Want     111Jazzing Up Your Drawings     113Loading stencils from other templates     114Using the Visio Extras stencil shapes     114Using themes     115Adding Text to Your Drawings     119Understanding Text Blocks     119Adding Text to a Drawing     120Working with Text and Text Blocks     123Editing text     123Copying and pasting text     124Moving a text block     125Resizing a text block     126Changing alignment      127Adjusting margins     131Using tabs in a text block     132Creating buUeted lists     135Creating numbered lists     136Setting the indentation and spacing of text     138Changing the Way Your Text Looks     139Changing the font, size, color, and style of text     139Choosing a background color for a text block     142Painting the formatting to other text     143Rotating text     143Connecting Shapes     145Discovering Connectors     145Working with Connection Points     148Adding connection points to a shape     148Deleting a connection point     149Using the automatic connection feature     149Applying Glue (without the Mess)     150Choosing static or dynamic glue     151Identifying glue types     152Switching from one glue to the other     153Setting glue options     154Gluing Connectors to Shapes     155Connecting shapes as you drag them     155Drawing connectors using the Connector Tool     156Saving time with the Connect Shapes feature     158Choosing a custom connector to connect shapes     158Dragging connector shapes into your drawing     160Moving connectors     161Managing Connectors     162Handling connectors that cross paths     162Performing changes on single connections quickly     164Laying Out Shapes Automatically     164Taking Your Drawings to the Next Level     167Perfecting Your Drawings     169All about Measurements and Placement Tools     170Using the Drawing Grid     173Using Dynamic Grid     175Setting Drawing Scale     175Snapping Shapes into Place     178Measuring Up with Rulers     181Using Guide Lines and Guide Points     184Creating guide lines     185Creating guide points     186Aligning and Distributing Shapes     187Creating and Customizing Shapes     191Creating Unique Shapes the Fun Way     192Uniting shapes     194Combining shapes     195Fragmenting shapes     195Intersecting shapes     197Subtracting shapes     197Restacking shapes     198Drawing Your Own Shapes      200Drawing with the Line Tool     200Drawing with the Pencil Tool     202Drawing with the Arc Tool     203Creating irregular shapes with the Freeform Tool     204Creating shapes with the Ellipse Tool and Rectangle Tool     204Manipulating Shapes     205Moving and adding vertices     206Moving control points     208Rotating shapes     209Flipping shapes     212Adding Style to Your Shapes     213Changing line style     213Adding fill color, pattern, and shadow     216Copying formats     218Reformatting a shape     218Creating new theme colors     218Creating new theme effects     220Copying new themes     221Managing Shapes by Grouping     223Creating groups     223Editing a group     224Adding a shape to a group     225Removing a shape from a group     225Adding text to grouped shapes     225Working with Pages     227The Role of the Template     227Reorienting a Page     228Setting a Page Size      230Adding and Deleting Pages in a Drawing     233Working with Multiple Pages     237Getting from one page to another     238Displaying multiple pages at once     238Reordering pages     239Renaming Pages     240Viewing on the Big Screen     240What's in a Background?     242Creating and assigning a background page     243Unassigning a background page     244Displaying a background page     245Editing a background page     245Using a background shape     245Rotating Pages     246Layering Your Drawings     249Getting the Essential Facts on Layers and Layering     250Working with Layers     252Toolbars for working with layers     253Adding a layer and removing one     253Renaming a layer     255Hiding a layer     256Assigning Shapes to Layers     256Determining which layer a shape is assigned to     258Activating layers!     258Using Layers on Background Pages     259Protecting Layers from Changes     259Assigning a Color to a Layer      260Selecting Layers to Print     262Snap and Glue Options for Layers     263Advancinq our Knowledqe of Visio     265Creating Stencils, Master Shapes, and Templates     267Working with Stencils     267Using the Stencil toolbar     268Using a Document Stencil     270Creating a custom stencil     271Naming master shapes on a custom stencil     274Adding master shapes to a custom stencil     276Deleting master shapes from a custom stencil     277Creating a custom icon     277Creating a Custom Template     278Managing Shape information. Behavior, and Protection     281Storing Data in Visio Shapes     281Entering custom shape data     284Editing custom property fields     285Reporting on Data Stored in Visio Shapes     291Using a predefined report     292Creating a custom report     294Customizing Shape Behavior     304Changing a shape from 2-D to 1-D     304Setting a shape's group behavior     306Setting a shape's double-click behavior     306Protecting Your Work      308Preventing shapes from being changed     308Keeping drawings secure     310Marking Up Drawings for Review     313Discovering Markup Tools     314Adding Comments to a Drawing     315How Markup Tracking Works     316Working with Markup     318Using the Reviewing toolbar and the task pane     318Adding markup to a drawing     319Viewing markup in a drawing     320Incorporating markup changes in a drawing     321Deleting markup     323Using Digital Ink     324Selecting an ink tool     325Using ink tools     325Changing digital ink shapes to geometry     327Changing digital-ink shapes to text     327Using Visio with Other Programs     329Using Files from Other Programs in Visio     330Generating Drawings from Data Stored in Non-Visio Files     331Creating an organization chart from existing data     332Creating a Gantt chart by importing data     338Creating a calendar by importing Outlook appointments     341Incorporating Visio Shapes and Drawings in Non-Visio Documents     343Linking shapes and drawings      344Embedding shapes in drawings     345Hyperlinking shapes and drawings     346Exporting and importing shapes and drawings     346Using Visio Viewer to Share Visio Drawings     348Saving Visio Drawings for the Web     348Publishing Your Drawing in XPS Format     350Creating Data Links to SQL Server and Spreadsheets     350Using the Data Link feature     351Using the Data Graphics feature     353Working with the PivotDiagram feature     355The Part of lens     357Ten Common Tasks in Visio     359Rotating Shapes to a Specific Angle     359Centering a Drawing before Printing     360Resizing a Page to Fit the Content of a Drawing     360Creating a Drawing That Spans Several Pages     361Saving a Company Logo as a Stencil Shape     361Creating and Adding a Background Design to a Drawing     361Adjusting the Transparency of Shapes and Text in a Drawing     362Adding the Same Shape or Image to All Pages in a Drawing     362Unlocking a Shape     363Copying Formatting from One Shape to Another     363Ten Web Sites Devoted to Visio      365VisioCafe     365IMicrosoft Visio     366Design-Drawing     366Visio The Blog     367Cisco Systems     367Dell     367Microsoft Visio Home Page     368NickFinck     368ConceptDraw     368ABC Amber Conversion and IVIerging Software     369Index     371