Visio 2007 For Dummies E-Book

John Paul Mueller

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 536

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Reveal your inner business artist with Visio Turn your ideas into diagrams and drawings with Visio's stencils and templates If you have an idea you want to get down on electronic paper, Visio 2007 is for you, and so is this book! They're both flexible and user-friendly. Here's how to use Visio to capture ideas from simple to intricate, update data in a drawing with a single click, add and manipulate text, work with connectors, and more. Discover how to * Create business, engineering, software, or network diagrams * Format an entire drawing using themes * Analyze "what-if" scenarios with PivotDiagrams * Produce layered multipage drawings * Save drawings to publish on the Web

Leseprobe

Visio® 2007 For Dummies®

by John Paul Mueller and Debbie Walkowski

Visio® 2007 For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Visio is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2006934833

ISBN-13: 978-0-470-08983-5

ISBN-10: 0-470-08983-0

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1B/SY/RR/QW/IN

About the Authors

John Mueller is a freelance author and technical editor. He has writing in his blood, having produced 70 books and over 300 articles to date. The topics range from networking to artificial intelligence and from database management to heads-down programming. Some of his current books include a Windows power optimization book, a book on .NET security, and books on Amazon Web Services, Google Web Services, and eBay Web Services. His technical editing skills have helped more than 51 authors refine the content of their manuscripts. John has provided technical editing services to both Data Based Advisor and Coast Compute magazines. He’s also contributed articles to magazines like DevSource, InformIT, Informant, DevX, SQL Server Professional, Visual C++ Developer, Hard Core Visual Basic, asp.netPRO, Software Test and Performance, and Visual Basic Developer.

When John isn’t working at the computer, you can find him in his workshop. He’s an avid woodworker and candle maker. On any given afternoon, you can find him working at a lathe or putting the finishing touches on a bookcase. He also likes making glycerin soap and candles, which comes in handy for gift baskets. You can reach John on the Internet at [email protected]. John is also setting up a Web site at http://www.mwt.net/~jmueller/; feel free to look and make suggestions on how he can improve it. Check out his weekly blog at http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/id/AQOA2QP4X1YWP.

Debbie Walkowski has worked in the computer industry for more than 20 years in a variety of positions from sales and marketing to teaching and training. For the last 14 years, she has made writing her primary focus. Her company, the Writing Works, specializes in writing computer self-help books and providing writing services to companies such as Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett-Packard (formerly Digital Equipment Corporation), and AT&T Wireless Communications. She has authored 18 books on popular computer software, including Microsoft Office, Microsoft Works, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Windows, Visio, Quicken, WordPerfect, and Lotus 1-2-3.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to those purveyors of the medicinal latte, Muhammad and Marilyn Kharbush.

Author’s Acknowledgments

From John Mueller: Thanks to my wife, Rebecca, for working with me to get this book completed. I really don’t know what I would have done without her help in researching and compiling some of the information that appears in this book. She also did a fine job of proofreading my rough draft and page-proofing the result. She also had to do without my help in the garden this summer, which made things mighty tough on her.

Russ Mullen deserves thanks for his technical edit of this book. He greatly added to the accuracy and depth of the material you see here. Russ is always providing me with great URLs for new products and ideas. I really appreciated Russ’ input on several of the new Visio 2007 features. They were helpful in rounding out the information you find in this book.

Matt Wagner, my agent, deserves credit for helping me get the contract in the first place and taking care of all the details that most authors don’t really consider. I always appreciate his assistance. It’s good to know that someone wants to help.

A number of people read all or part of this book to help me refine the approach, test the examples, and generally provide input that every reader wishes they could have. These unpaid volunteers helped in ways too numerous to mention here. I especially appreciate the efforts of Eva Beattie who read the entire book and selflessly devoted herself to this project. Members of various newsgroups and the support staff from Microsoft were instrumental in helping me overcome obstacles. A number of other people helped me in ways too numerous to mention.

Finally, I would like to thank Kyle Looper, Nicole Sholly, John Edwards, Jennifer Theriot, and the rest of the editorial and production staff for their assistance in bringing this book to print. It’s always nice to work with such a great group of professionals.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Nicole Sholly

Acquisitions Editor: Kyle Looper

Copy Editor: John Edwards

Technical Editor: Russ Mullen

Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner

Media Development Specialists: Angela Denny, Kate Jenkins, Steven Kudirka, Kit Malone

Media Development Coordinator: Laura Atkinson

Media Project Supervisor: Laura Moss

Media Development Manager: Laura VanWinkle

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Erin Smith

Layout and Graphics: Lavonne Cook,Stephanie D. Jumper, Clint Lahnen, Barbara Moore, Barry Offringa, Lynsey Osborn, Heather Ryan, Julie Trippetti

Proofreaders: Kevin Broccoli, Jessica Kramer, Christy Pingleton

Indexer: Techbooks

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents

Title

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I : Starting with Visio 2007 Basics

Chapter 1: Visio 101

Getting the Scoop on Visio

Familiarizing Yourself with Visio Lingo

Understanding the Vista Difference

Jumping Head First into Visio

Getting Help When You Need It

Closing Visio

Chapter 2: Creating and Saving a Simple Visio Drawing

Creating a Drawing the Standard Way

Understanding the Visio Drawing Categories

Working with Stencils

Selecting a Pointer Tool Button

Working with Shapes

Navigating through a Drawing

Zeroing In on a Drawing

Saving Drawings

Using a Visio Wizard to Create a Drawing

Opening Drawings

Chapter 3: Printing Visio Drawings

Understanding How Visio Prints

Preparing to Print

Printing Your Drawing

Adding Headers and Footers to a Drawing

Printing Gridlines

Printing Part of a Drawing

Reducing and Enlarging Printed Drawings

Setting Shapes Not to Print

Printing Reviewers’ Comments

Printing a Background Separately

Printing Layers Separately

Part II : Creating Visio Drawings

Chapter 4: Discovering What Visio Shapes Are All About

Discovering What’s in a Shape

Working with Shapes

Controlling Shapes

Finding the Shapes You Want

Jazzing Up Your Drawings

Chapter 5: Adding Text to Your Drawings

Understanding Text Blocks

Adding Text to a Drawing

Working with Text and Text Blocks

Changing the Way Your Text Looks

Chapter 6: Connecting Shapes

Discovering Connectors

Working with Connection Points

Applying Glue (without the Mess)

Gluing Connectors to Shapes

Managing Connectors

Laying Out Shapes Automatically

Part III : Taking Your Drawings to the Next Level

Chapter 7: Perfecting Your Drawings

All about Measurements and Placement Tools

Using the Drawing Grid

Using Dynamic Grid

Setting Drawing Scale

Snapping Shapes into Place

Measuring Up with Rulers

Using Guide Lines and Guide Points

Aligning and Distributing Shapes

Chapter 8: Creating and Customizing Shapes

Creating Unique Shapes the Fun Way

Drawing Your Own Shapes

Manipulating Shapes

Adding Style to Your Shapes

Managing Shapes by Grouping

Chapter 9: Working with Pages

The Role of the Template

Reorienting a Page

Setting a Page Size

Adding and Deleting Pages in a Drawing

Working with Multiple Pages

Renaming Pages

Viewing on the Big Screen

What’s in a Background?

Rotating Pages

Chapter 10: Layering Your Drawings

Getting the Essential Facts on Layers and Layering

Working with Layers

Assigning Shapes to Layers

Using Layers on Background Pages

Protecting Layers from Changes

Assigning a Color to a Layer

Selecting Layers to Print

Snap and Glue Options for Layers

Part IV : Advancing Your Knowledge of Visio

Chapter 11: Creating Stencils, Master Shapes, and Templates

Working with Stencils

Creating a Custom Template

Chapter 12: Managing Shape Information, Behavior, and Protection

Storing Data in Visio Shapes

Reporting on Data Stored in Visio Shapes

Customizing Shape Behavior

Protecting Your Work

Chapter 13: Marking Up Drawings for Review

Discovering Markup Tools

Adding Comments to a Drawing

How Markup Tracking Works

Working with Markup

Using Digital Ink

Chapter 14: Using Visio with Other Programs

Using Files from Other Programs in Visio

Generating Drawings from Data Stored in Non-Visio Files

Incorporating Visio Shapes and Drawings in Non-Visio Documents

Using Visio Viewer to Share Visio Drawings

Saving Visio Drawings for the Web

Publishing Your Drawing in XPS Format

Creating Data Links to SQL Server and Spreadsheets

Part V : The Part of Tens

Chapter 15: Ten Common Tasks in Visio

Rotating Shapes to a Specific Angle

Centering a Drawing before Printing

Resizing a Page to Fit the Content of a Drawing

Creating a Drawing That Spans Several Pages

Saving a Company Logo as a Stencil Shape

Creating and Adding a Background Design to a Drawing

Adjusting the Transparency of Shapes and Text in a Drawing

Adding the Same Shape or Image to All Pages in a Drawing

Unlocking a Shape

Copying Formatting from One Shape to Another

Chapter 16: Ten Web Sites Devoted to Visio

VisioCafe

Microsoft Visio

Design-Drawing

Visio The Blog

Cisco Systems

Dell

Microsoft Visio Home Page

Nick Finck

ConceptDraw

ABC Amber Conversion and Merging Software

Part I

Starting with Visio 2007 Basics

In this part . . .

V isio is an amazing program! If you can imagine it, you can probably sketch it using Visio. Many people use Visio as their only drawing application because it does provide great output, but many others use it for sketching their ideas and sharing them with others. In some respects, Visio is a tool for showing your dreams to others.

Other drawing applications help you create graphics. Visio, however, is a different animal. It’s not really a drawing program, and it’s certainly not a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) program. In this part, you understand what Visio is and what it does, you discover how to “speak” and “think” Visio, you negotiate your way around the screen, and you find out how to get help when you need it. You also print a drawing, something you’ll no doubt find useful if you want to be productive!

This part of the book also provides a complete listing of the templates that Visio provides so that you better understand what comes in the package. Of course, you can always add to these basic templates. Look at the Visio offerings as a place to start.