Hello there, welcome to this video! Let's see quickly and shortly all you
need to know to start using Microsoft Visio Professional 2016!
Please leave us comments to improve our next video guides!
Microsoft Visio is a professional software used to draw flowcharts,
diagrams and schematics in a business environment, providing several
ready-made drawing templates, with an intuitive workflow. Let's see all
the main important tools to start working with it.
When you open Visio, this shows the Featured page, with a list of
several new documents that use different kinds of templates: from
business flowcharts, to architectural objects and engineering projects.
To learn how to use Visio, let's just start with a blank document, by
going to Blank Drawing, and choose either the Metric unit or the US one.
The new Visio drawing starts from a blank page sheet, eventually with
Rulers and Grids, that you can show or hide from the View tab on top.
These are used to draw more precisely, and won't be rendered in case you
print or export your work.
Also, under the Design tab, use Orientation to fix the page vertically
or horizontally, and use Size to choose the page size, between several
standard page formats, or a custom one by going to More Page Sizes...
After fixing the properties of the page, you can start drawing by using
the Visio tools.
A Visio drawing is composed by three main kinds of objects: the Shapes,
the Connectors, and the Text.
The Shapes are objects used to represent a topic, a component, or a
symbol. This can be very simple, such as a rectangle, a circle, or a
curve, but it can also represent a computer, a motor, a pump, or an
electrical transistor. These are the main subjects of your project.
The Connectors are simple wires that connect two or more Shapes together.
These are fundamental to show the relationship between the Shapes, giving
a clear representation of the topic.
Text is simply used to describe Shapes and add notes and labels to make
your drawing clearer.
When you start drawing, it is always better to start from the Shapes.
On the far left, you have the Shapes panel, that collects all the
different Shapes available inside Visio by default, all collected inside
different sections, called Stencils. Choose the topic you are interested,
and find the right Shape, and then simply click and drag this on your
page to import a copy.
You can also create fully-customized Shapes. On top, in the Tools
section, use the rectangle button to draw a simple rectangle on your
page. Also, by using the right arrow, you can draw Circles, freehand
Curves, and Arcs, by clicking and dragging on your page.
To check your drawing carefully, remember to zoom in and out by holding
CTRL down and using your mouse wheel.
Once Shapes are dropped, connect them by drawing Connectors with the
Connector tool. If you enable this tool, and hover on the existing
Shapes, these will show several points, called Connection Points. These
are anchor points where you can start drawing by clicking and dragging
your wire from one Shape to another. This creates a connection between
the two Shapes, that can be properly adjusted by moving and dragging
from its blue nodes.
Keep in mind that Visio helps you at drawing. It does not check, at all,
if your connections are correct. So double-check them before printing or
exporting your drawing.
Ready-made Shapes, taken from the default Stencils inside Visio, come
complete with their own Connection Points. But, if you create new Shapes
on your own, these won't have any Connection Point at first, so these
can't work with the Connector tool. To add and manage Connection Points,
use the Connection Point tool.
When this tool is enabled, you won't work with the Shape or the
Connectors, but with the Connection Points on them. When your pointer
shows four arrows, you are hovering a Connection Point, and so you can
click and drag to move it. Also the Connectors attached to it will
follow.
To add new Connection Points instead, hold CTRL down, and click on the
Shape path. These are shown in pink color. You can add Connection Points
also on curves and connection wires.
After creating your custom Shapes, complete with their own Connection
Points, you can save them to use them whenever you like. You can create
your own Stencil by going to More Shapes, New Stencil. Drop there all
your own Shapes, then right-click on your Stencil, and go to Save As to
rename and save it. In this way, you won't need to create your own
Shapes again in the future.
Once your basic drawing is made, you can add annotations with the Text
tool on top. Click and drag on your drawing to fix a text area, which is
the basic contour inside which all your text content will be contained.
Type in, and select your text to edit it on top, through the Home tab:
adjust the font style, size, color and distribution. Click outside the
text box to apply all. If you create text in this way, this will be
completely independent. But, if you double-click on an object, you can
add text linked to it, very useful if you want to add labels. This means
that, if you edit and move the object, also its text follows.
Let's see now how to edit your objects on your page.
Above, under the Home tab, you can use the Pointer Tool to manage and
edit all your objects. When you click on a Shape, a Connector or a Text
Box, you will select it, and several nodes appear on them. Click and drag
the object to move it; use its white nodes to scale, and use the Rotate
icon to rotate. Under Shape Styles, use Fill to add filling color on the
selected object, or use Line to adjust the outline color, width and line style.
Use Effects to add great effects, such as glow, reflection and shadow.
You can also edit and personalize the connection wires. Use Line to
change its color, width, and style, and add effects through Effects if
you need. Plus, if you right-click on the connector, you can make the
connector completely straight, or even curved.
To edit the text linked to other Shapes, you can either double-click on
the object, or enable the Text Block tool to select it straight.
To cut, copy and paste an object, just right-click on it. To undo your
latest action, use CTRL+Z.
While you draw, Visio helps you at placing your objects in the correct
position. For example, if you move an object, you can move horizontally
or vertically only by holding Shift down. Also, by default, Visio snaps
your pointer to the grids or fractions of it. To ignore all snappings,
hold ALT down while moving. You can regulate the snapping settings by
going to Visual Aids and opening the Snap & Glue dialog box.
Inside Visio you can also insert pictures and tables easily. In the
Insert tab, use Pictures to import a picture. You can adjust and edit
it as seen for the Shapes, but you can also adjust the picture
appearance by going to Format under Picture Tools. You can correct
Brightness, Contrast, or add any Outline, or crop the image if you need.
To add charts instead, use Chart under the Insert tab. This will use
the Excel interface to edit and organize your chart and its data.
Check out our graph video guide for Excel 2016 if you need additional
help on it!
Let's see how to save and export your drawing from Visio!
To save your drawing, just go to File and then to Save As... Visio
Drawings are saved in a .vsdx format. When you save this kind of file,
you are able to open it in a later time to edit it again. If you want
to render your drawing into a picture, just choose a picture format from
the list, such as .png or a .jpg.
If you want to print your drawing, go to File and then to Print. A
preview will appear on the right, showing you how your Visio project
is going to be printed. If you want to print your drawing consider
using standard page sizes in order to have the best matching between your
drawing size and your printer.
If you want to save it to share it online, go to Export, and save your
drawing in .pdf.
Also when you save and export your drawing, also all the blank space inside
your page will be rendered in white. For this reason, consider to use
the Fit to Drawing feature to adapt the page to your drawing, unless you
print the drawing on a standard page. You can find Fit to Drawing in the
Design tab, under Size.
When you save and render, remember not to have any object selected. If
you have any object selected, Visio will export it only, ignoring the
rest of your drawing.
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