– Free Professional and Technical Research Library of White Papers, Magazines, Reports, and eBooks

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

These consist of a group of XML files inside a Zip file. The only difference between the two types is that VSDM files may contain macros. Looking for a free — and excellent — alternative to Visio? Check out Lucidchart. Lucidchart also has the advantage of being web-based, allowing cloud-based, real-time collaboration. You can even import, view and edit Visio files with Lucidchart, and it works with Macs.

Try out the easy-to-use and powerful Lucidchart. Creating charts and diagrams in Lucidchart is simple and intuitive. Simply drag shapes onto the canvas and draw lines to connect them. If you’re not sure where to begin, check out our tutorial for tips on how to draw a Flowchart. Lucidchart is your one-stop Visio alternative for any diagramming need.

Sign up for a free trial and try it today! Product Product Create powerful visuals to improve your ideas, projects, and processes. Overview Lucidchart overview A visual workspace for diagramming, data visualization, and collaboration.

Lucidscale Visualize, optimize, and understand your cloud architecture. Integrations Connect to the apps your team uses daily. Paid plans Individual Team Enterprise. Solutions Work smarter to save time and solve problems. By team Remote teams Collaborate as a team anytime, anywhere to improve productivity.

Engineering Plan, understand, and build your network architecture. IT Speed up security reviews and troubleshoot issues quickly. Operations Define, map out, and optimize your processes. Product Plan projects, build road maps, and launch products successfully. Sales Align your revenue teams to close bigger deals, faster. Education Bring collaboration, learning, and technology together.

By need Improve processes Identify gaps, pinpoint inefficiencies, and mitigate risk in your workflows. Optimize organizations Create custom org charts to fit your business.

Visualize technical systems Gain visibility into your existing technology. Replace Visio Diagram, share, and innovate faster with Lucidchart. Resources Helpful insights to get the most out of Lucidchart. Learning campus Blog Templates Webinars. Support Case studies Diagrams Newsletter. I’m new to diagramming and want to learn more.

I want to make my own diagram in Lucidchart. I want to make diagram from a Lucidchart template. Contents What is Visio? Make a diagram. What is Visio? How Visio started Visio originated in the s as a product of Shapeware Corp. Visio versions through the years The first Visio versions were labeled v 1.

How Visio is used. Also determine which chart type best illustrates the information for your needs. In Visio, choose and open the template for your chart type. Different shapes represent different things in the various types of diagrams, and they range from simple rectangles, ovals and arrows to hundreds of highly specialized shapes and symbols.

You also can import your own shapes if necessary. If you have Visio Plan 2, you can download and install the Visio desktop app. Select the template you want, or select Basic Diagram to start from scratch. You can also browse for more templates by clicking Categories , and you can enter terms to search for templates.

If you’re using the desktop link, you may have to specify a specific type of that template and then select Create. To create your diagram, you drag shapes from the stencil in the Shapes window to the canvas and connect them.

There are several ways to connect shapes, but the simplest way is with AutoConnect arrows. Note: AutoConnect is available by default when your drawing is based on a template for a type that typically requires connections, like a flowchart.

If do not see the AutoConnect arrows when you hover the mouse pointer over a shape, AutoConnect is not active. Visio shapes are ready-made objects that you drag onto your drawing page — they are the building blocks of your diagram. When you drag a shape from the Shapes window onto your drawing page, the original shape remains on the stencil. That original is called a master shape. The shape that you put on your drawing is a copy — also called an instance — of that master.

You can drag as many instances of the same shape onto your drawing as you want. Instead of static pictures, you can create data-connected Visio diagrams that display data, are easy to refresh, and dramatically increase your productivity. You can use the wide variety of diagram templates and stencils in Visio to understand, act on, and share information about organizational systems, resources, and processes throughout your enterprise.

The round handle located above a selected shape is called a rotation handle. Drag it right or left to rotate the shape. The connection arrows help you easily connect shapes to one another, as you saw in the previous section.

You can use the square selection handles to change the height and width of your shape. Click and drag a selection handle on the corner of a shape to enlarge the shape without changing its proportions, or click and drag a selection handle on the side of a shape to make the shape taller or wider. You can add data to each shape by typing it in the Shape Data window — on the View tab, in the Show group, click Task Panes , and then click Shape Data.

With Visio Professional Edition, you can also import data from an external data source. Data is not displayed in the drawing by default. If you want to display the data for lots of shapes at once, you can use a feature called data graphics, also on the Data tab. The following illustration shows the data for two trees at once.

Many Visio shapes have special behavior that you can find by stretching, right-clicking, or moving the yellow control handle on the shape. For example, you can stretch a People shape to show more people, or stretch the Growing flower shape to indicate growth. Tip: A great way to find out what a shape can do is to right-click it to see if there are any special commands on its shortcut menu. The shapes automatically connect to show the hierarchy.

Hold your mouse over one of the arrows and a mini toolbar appears with the top four shapes in the Quick Shapes area. Select the shape you want and it’ll automatically connect to the arrow you selected. You can also drag all your shapes onto the canvas.

Then hold the mouse over a shape until the arrows appear. Then grab an arrow and drag it to a shape you want to connect to. If you’re using the Visio desktop app, you can also drag a new shape directly from the Shapes window to an existing shape’s arrows and connect them automatically. Now it’s time to add details to your diagram by adding text. For more details about working with text, see Add, edit, move, or rotate text on shapes and Add text to a page.

Add text to a connector the same way. Click and drag it up, down, or beside the connector. To see other available themes, click More. Your diagram gets a new background, and, a new background page called VBackground This page you can see in the page tabs along the bottom of the canvas. To edit other text in the border, first select the entire border, and then click the text you want to change and start typing.

You may have to click more than once to get the text selected. Click Page-1 in the lower-right corner of the page to return to the drawing. Open Visio on the web. Note: If you have Visio Plan 2, you can also download and install the Visio desktop app. Select Create under the template you want, or select Create under Basic Diagram to start from scratch. To create your diagram, you drag shapes from the stencil in the Shapes pane to the canvas and connect them.

There are several ways to connect shapes, but the simplest way is by auto-connecting them. Note: See Add and connect shapes in Visio for the web or Change the size, rotation, and order of a shape in Visio for the web to learn more about using shapes.

For more details about working with text, see Add and format text in Visio for the web. Drag a shape from the Shapes window and drop it on the page. Leave the mouse pointer over the shape until four arrows appear around the sides. These are AutoConnect arrows, which give you several ways to automatically connect shapes.

Hold the mouse pointer over one of the arrows and a mini toolbar appears, holding the top four shapes in the Quick Shapes area. Move the pointer over each to see a preview of that shape on your diagram. Click the one that you want, and that shape appears with a connector between it and your first shape. Drag a shape from the Shapes window and hold it over a shape on the page until the arrows appear, then drop the shape on top of one of the arrows.

Hold the pointer over a shape until the arrows appear, then grab an arrow, drag it to a shape you want to connect to, and drop it in the middle of the second shape. Note: Some templates have other handy ways to add and connect shapes. Click a shape once and start typing. Select a shape that has text.

Click Home and use tools in the Font and Paragraph groups to format the text. On the Design tab, in the Themes group, move the pointer slowly over the different themes. Each theme adds different colors and effects to the diagram. Click the one you want to apply. Click one of the background designs. Now look down at the bottom of Visio, just under the drawing page. There are two tabs: Page-1 and VBackground Page-1 is the page with the shapes on it, and VBackground-1 is a background page you just added.

Click VBackground-1 to see just the background page, and then click Page-1 to go back to the diagram. Click one of the options to add it to the diagram. Notice the border and title are added to the background page, so if you want to add the title, click the tab for the background page. Now click Title once and start typing.

The title changes to your new text. Visio allows you to apply built-in templates, to apply your own custom templates, and to search from a variety of templates available on Office. To use one of the built-in templates, under Template Categories , click the category that you want, and then click the template that you want and click Create. To use your own template that you previously created, under Other Ways to Get Started , click New from existing , navigate to the file that you want and click Create New.

To find a template on Office. Note: You can also search for templates on Office. To search for templates on Office. In the Search Office. Note: You are in the Backstage view when you first open Visio.

If you have just opened Visio, proceed to the next step. When the diagram template opens, most of the space is taken up with a blank diagramming page. Along the side is the Shapes window, which contains several stencils full of shapes. The stencils are identified by title bars at the top of the Shapes window; you might need to scroll the title bar pane to see them all. When you click a stencil title bar, the shapes appear in the pane below.

In the left pane of the Open dialog box, click the drive or folder that contains the drawing. In the right pane of the Open dialog box, open the folder that contains the drawing that you want. You can save your diagram as a standard Visio file that you can share with other people who have Visio. In addition, there are many different formats that you can save your diagram in directly from the Save As dialog box. Click Save As , and then select a format in the Save as type list. Web page in HTM format.

Image files and other resource files are saved in a subfolder of the location where you save the HTM file. For more information about how to add shapes, see Use the Shapes window to organize and find shapes and Find more shapes and stencils.

To add a shape to the drawing page so that it is automatically connected when it is added to the page, do the following:. Hold your pointer over the shape that is already on the page. Notice that small blue arrows appear on the four sides of the shape. These are AutoConnect arrows that you can use to connect shapes. A mini toolbar that contains four shapes appears, and a preview shape might also appear on the page.

As you move the pointer over the shapes in the mini toolbar, previews of the shapes appear. The shapes on the toolbar are the top four shapes from the Quick Shapes area. To automatically connect two shapes when you drag the second shape onto the page, do the following:. Drag a second shape onto the drawing page and hold it so it covers the first shape, but do not drop it yet.

Notice that the AutoConnect arrows appear. Move the second shape down over the AutoConnect arrow that points in the direction that you want, and drop it on the arrow. The Analyze shape is spaced a standard distance from the Service Request shape, and is connected automatically.

 
 

 

Microsoft Visio – Free Quick Reference Card | Microsoft visio, Reference cards, Microsoft.Free CustomGuide Research Library of White Papers, Magazines, Reports, and eBooks

 
Microsoft Excel Intermediate – Quick Reference Guide · Office Essentials Microsoft Visio – Free Quick Reference Card · Microsoft Access. Get free cheat sheets for Microsoft Excel, Word, Access, Outlook, PowerPoint, Windows 10, and more! These handy quick references can be printed or shared. The ultimate guide to understanding Microsoft Visio diagramming software. Learn about its history Try Lucidchart. It’s quick, easy, and completely free.