Adding Text to Shapes and the Drawing Page

Most diagrams contain text as well as shapes. By default, most Visio shapes appear either without text or with placeholder text. Adding text or replacing the placeholder text is easyyou simply select the shape and type.

The area in the shape where the text appears is called a text block. When you start typing, a blinking cursor appears at the insertion point so that you can keep track of the text placement. Also, the pointer changes to an I-beam when you place it over a text block, indicating that you can click anywhere in the text to insert new text, delete text, or select existing text to replace or format it.

After you add text to a shape, you can format the text using the same methods you would use in any other program in the 2007 Microsoft Office system. You can change the font type, size, color, style, and alignment by using toolbar buttons on the Formatting toolbar. You can also use the Text command on the Format menu. When you want to apply the same text formatting to all the text in a shape, you simply select the shape, and any text changes you make apply to all the text in the shape.

Tip

You can move, resize, and rotate a text block independently of its shape by using the Text Block tool. For example, you might want to position the text block for an arrow at the end of the arrow rather than over the center of it. Or you might want the orientation of a text block to be different than its shape orientation. To use the Text Block tool, click the Text Tool down arrow, and then click Text Block Tool.

Text Block Tool

You can also create a text-only shapetext that's not associated with a shapeon the drawing page. For example, you can add a title, footer, or bulleted list to a diagram. Just click the Text Tool button on the Standard toolbar, click the location on the drawing page where you want the text to appear, and then type. After you add a text-only shape to a diagram, you can select, move, rotate, and format it just as you would any other shape.

Text Tool

Tip

A text-only shape is simply a rectangular shape without a border around it or color inside it.

In this exercise, you work with a diagram that has already been started for you using the Block Diagram template. You drag shapes from a stencil onto the drawing page, add text to shapes, revise the existing text in shapes, add a text-only shape, and then save the diagram.

OPEN the BlockText file in DocumentsMicrosoft PressVisio 2007 SBS2_Shapes.

1.	From the Blocks stencil, drag the 2-D single arrow shape on to the drawing page and position it directly below the Enter auditorium arrow shape. Notice how the shape snaps to the grid, even though the grid is obscured by the white Registration Area shape.
2.	With the 2-D single arrow shape selected, type Enter auditorium. As soon as you start typing, the text block opens and a blinking cursor appears in the text block. Visio centers the text in the shape. Tip Misspelled words are underlined in red. To correct a misspelled word, right-click the word, and then click the correct spelling on the shortcut menu.
3.	Click the pasteboard to close the text block and deselect the shape. Tip Another way to deselect the shape is to click a blank area of the drawing page. Alternatively, you can press the key to close the text block, but this action will leave the shape selected.
4.	Select the top gold rectangle in the left area of the drawing page. Type Name, press the key, and then type A-M. As you type, Visio displays the text block horizontally for ease of reading.
5.	Click the pasteboard to close the text block and deselect the shape. Visio displays the text vertically in the shape.
6.	Repeat steps 4 and 5 for the bottom gold rectangle, but type N-Z (instead of A-M). Visio displays the text vertically in the shape.
7.	From the Blocks stencil, drag a Box shape onto the drawing page and position it above the Vietnam Booths box shape.
8.	Align the Box shape with the Vietnam Booths box shape by snapping the Box shape to the grid.
9.	With the Box shape selected, type China Booths. Visio adds and centers the text in the shape. Tip Alternatively, you can open a shape's text block by selecting a shape and pressing the key.
10.	Click the pasteboard to close the text block and deselect the shape.
11.	From the Blocks stencil, drag the 2-D single shape onto the drawing page and position it below the Name N-Z box.
12.	With the shape selected, type Enter demo area. Visio adds and centers the text in the shape. Tip Visio centers the text in most shapes by default. You can change the alignment of the text in a shape by using the alignment buttons on the Formatting toolbar.
13.	Click the pasteboard to close the text block and deselect the shape.
14.	If you can't see the Demos and Country Representatives on the drawing page, drag the vertical scroll bar (on the right side of the drawing window) down until the shape is visible.
15.	On the Standard toolbar, click the Text Tool button. Text Tool The pointer changes to a text box icon.
16.	In the Demos and Country Representatives shape, click to the left of the letter D in Demos. The text block opens and a blinking cursor appears at the insertion point.
17.	Type Product, and then press the . The new text appears in the shape. Tip Using the Text Tool button to modify existing text is a good habit because it gives you more control over the text. When you simply select a shape and type, the new text replaces all the existing text. When you click the Text Tool button before you click the text block, however, you can select only the text you want to modify.
18.	If you can't see the China Booths box shape, drag the vertical scroll bar up until the shape is visible.
19.	On the Standard toolbar, click the Pointer Tool button. Pointer Tool
20.	Click the China Booths shape to select it.
21.	On the Formatting toolbar, click the Font Size down arrow to display a list of font sizes. Font Size
22.	Click 12 pt. on the list. The font size of the text in the selected shape increases to 12 points.
23.	If you can't see the top of the drawing page, drag the vertical scroll bar up until it's visible.
24.	On the Standard toolbar, click the Text Tool button.
25.	Approximately one inch above and to the right of the Entrance text, click to create a text-only shape. A text block opens and a blinking cursor appears. Troubleshooting If you click the wrong location, click the pasteboard or press the key, and then try again.
26.	In the text block, type Parking.
27.	Press the key to close the text block. The text-only shape is selected.
28.	On the Formatting toolbar, click the Font Size down arrow to display a list of font sizes.
29.	Click 24 pt. on the list. The font size of the text in the selected shape increases to 24 points.
30.	On the Standard toolbar, click the Save button to save your changes to the diagram. Save