Adding Door, Window, and Furniture Shapes to Office Layouts

One of the many advantages of creating a scaled diagram with a scaled template is that the template includes shapes that are designed to work in the default drawing scale. The Office Layout template includes many specialized shapes that are designed to work in an architectural drawing scale and that have unique smart behavior. Wall shapes join together to form smooth corners. Door and window shapes snap into place on top of walls, rotating if necessary to match the wall's orientation. Dimension shapes display the dimensions of the shape they're connected to, and they stay connected to the shape when you move it.

Office Layout shapes are designed only in standard architectural sizes. Because of this, some shapes are locked to prevent you from manually resizing them with the pointer. To change their size, you must modify the property that controls the shape's dimensions. For example, a Door shape has a Door Width property that you can set to 24, 28, 30, 36, 48, 60, or 72 inchesstandard door widths. Visio resizes the shape based on your selection. You can change a shape's properties by using the Properties command on shape's shortcut menu, which contains other specialized commands for modifying the shape. For example, you can't rotate or flip a door to change its orientation. Instead, you must use the Reverse In/Out Opening command or Reverse Left/Right Opening command on the shape's shortcut menu so that Visio rotates or flips the shape for you.

Tip

Right-click an office layout shape to see its shortcut menu of commands that you can use to modify the shape.

In this exercise, you add door, window, and furniture shapes to an office layout. You use shortcut menu commands to modify the door and window shapes. Last, you add furniture to the office and conference space.

OPEN the OfficeWalls file in DocumentsMicrosoft PressVisio 2007 SBS7_OfficeLayouts.

1.	From the Walls, Doors and Windows stencil, drag the Door shape onto the drawing page and position it in the middle of the top 10-foot wall. Visio connects the door to the wall. Red selection handles indicate that the shapes are connected, and gray handles indicate that the door is locked to prevent manual resizing. The door shape's dimension text appears while the shape is selected.
2.	Right-click the door to display its shortcut menu, and then click Properties. The Shape Data dialog box appears and lists properties for the door.   Troubleshooting If you have trouble displaying the shape's shortcut menu, make sure you are right-clicking the shape and not the grid on the drawing page behind the shape. To ensure that you right-click the shape, position the pointer over the shape text, one of the shape's lines, or the white box that appears in the middle of the shape when it's selected, and then right-click.
3.	In the Door width box, click the down arrow to display a list of dimensions, and then click 36 in. Click OK. Visio widens the door and updates its dimensions to 3'-0".
4.	Right-click the door to display its shortcut menu again, and then click Reverse In/Out Opening. Visio flips the door opening so that it swings down into the office.
5.	From the Walls, Doors and Windows stencil, drag a Window shape onto the vertical wall to the right of the door. Visio flips the window to match the wall's orientation and connects the window to the wall shape, displaying red and gray selection handles. The window shape's dimension text appears while the shape is selected.
6.	Drag the window's bottom selection handle until the shape is 3 feet wide. Use the Width field in the status bar at the bottom of the drawing page window to determine the shape's width. Visio widens the window and updates its dimensions to 3'-0".   Tip You might need to zoom in to specify exact dimensions.
7.	From the Walls, Doors and Windows stencil, drag a Window shape onto the left area of the 16-foot wall. Visio connects the window to the wall shape, displaying red and gray selection handles. The window shape's dimension text appears while the shape is selected.
8.	Drag the right selection handle on the window you just added to the wall to increase the width of the window to 3 feet. Use the Width field in the status bar at the bottom of the drawing page to determine the shape's width. Visio widens the window and updates its dimensions to 3'-0".   Tip You can set the display options for one or all the walls, doors, and windows in an office layout at once. For example, you can show or hide all the door frames and swings, window sills and sashes, and wall reference lines in a diagram. To set the display options for all the shapes in a diagram at once, on the Plan menu, click Set Display Options. To set the display options for a single shape, right-click the shape you want to change, and then click Set Display Options on the shortcut menu.
9.	Hold down the key while you drag the window to the right to duplicate the shape and position the copy on the wall to right of the original. Visio connects the duplicate window to the wall.   Troubleshooting If you move the window instead of copying it, press to undo your action, and then try again. Make sure you release the mouse button before you release the key so Visio copies the window instead of moving it.
10.	Click the Cubicles stencil to show it. From the Cubicles stencil, drag the Straight workstation shape into the corner of the office opposite and to the left of the door. Visio adds the shape to the drawing page.
11.	Click the Office Furniture stencil (at the bottom of the Shapes window) to show it. From the Office Furniture stencil, drag the Multi-chair racetrack shape into the empty room. Visio adds the shape to the drawing page. The shape is selected.
12.	With the shape selected, on the Shape menu, point to Rotate or Flip, and then click Rotate Left. The shape rotates 90 degrees to the left.
13.	On the File menu, click Close, and then click No to close the drawing without saving the changes.