Customizing the Visio Environment

Most of what you see in the Visio environment can be customized to suit the way that you like to work. For example, you can hide the grid if it makes the drawing page look too cluttered for your taste. You can also hide the rulers, as well as show or hide any toolbars.

Tip

To display a list of the Visio toolbars that are available for the template that you have open, right-click the toolbar area to display the toolbar shortcut menu. Then click the name of the toolbar you want to appear. A check mark next to a toolbar's name indicates that it is currently shown.

If you're working with a low-resolution monitor and want more space on the screen, you can move, resize, or close the stencils. If you don't want to have to scroll down a stencil to see all its shapes, you can make the list of shapes more compact by hiding the shape names and showing only the icons. You can also float, or detach, windows and stencils from the drawing window, so that you can quickly resize them as you work. After you're done working, you can dock, or snap, them back in to their default position.

For quick access to related commands or drawing shortcuts, you can use the tools in various windows, such as the Pan & Zoom and Size & Position windows. The Pan & Zoom window displays a miniature version of your entire diagram that you can use to quickly move to different parts of the drawing page. If you want to enter precise dimensions for the shapes in your diagrams rather than resizing shapes with the pointer, you can do that in the Size & Position window.

Tip

By default, the Visio menu bar and toolbars are docked on the Visio window. However, you can float any toolbar or the entire menu bar, or you can dock them in a different location if it's more convenient for you. Position the pointer over the move handle on the menu bar or a toolbar, and when the pointer changes to a four-headed arrow, drag the bar to a new location. If you drag a floating menu bar or toolbar to an edge of the Visio window, Visio docks the item in that location.

Four-headed arrow

In this exercise, you customize the Visio environment. You start by opening a diagram that displays the proposed layout for a tradeshow hosted by Wide World Importers, the fictitious company used throughout this book.

OPEN the GettingStarted file in DocumentsMicrosoft PressVisio 2007 SBS1_Start.

1.	Start Visio. On the Standard toolbar, click the Open button to display the Open dialog box.   Open
2.	In the list of files and folder names, double-click the Microsoft Press folder, and then double-click the Visio 2007 SBS folder.   Troubleshooting By default, Visio opens the Documents folder in the Open dialog box. Also, by default, all of the practice files for this book are installed in the Microsoft PressVisio 2007 SBS folder in Documents. If you don't see the Visio 2007 SBS folder, go to the DocumentsMicrosoft Press folder. If you installed the practice files for this book in a different location, you need to go to that location when you use practice files throughout this book.
3.	Double-click the 01_Start folder, and then double-click GettingStarted.   Tip If the file extensions on your computer aren't hidden, the file name you will see in the Open dialog box is GettingStarting.vsd. The .vsd file extension stands for Visio drawing. Visio opens a diagram displaying the layout of a tradeshow and four stencils.
4.	On the View menu, click Rulers to hide the horizontal and vertical rulers.
5.	On the View menu, click Grid to hide the grid on the drawing page.
6.	On the View menu, click Pan & Zoom Window. Visio opens the Pan & Zoom window. If you have never opened it before, it is docked in the upper-right corner of the drawing window. If you have opened this window before, the window reappears in the location where it was last displayed.
7.	In the Pan & Zoom window, drag to draw a selection rectangle around the green area in the upper-right corner of the window. Visio zooms in to the diagram to show the selected area, which is highlighted with a red rectangle in the Pan & Zoom window. The Zoom box on the Standard toolbar displays the new zoom level.
8.	In the Pan & Zoom window, drag a corner of the red rectangle out to enlarge the selection area. Visio displays the new selected area and changes the level of zoom in the drawing window so that more of the page is visible.
9.	On the title bar of the Pan & Zoom window, click the AutoHide button, and then move the pointer away from the window. Visio slides the window out of sight until only the title bar of the Pan & Zoom window is visible.
10.	Point to the title bar of the Pan & Zoom window. Visio opens the window. As long as the pointer is over the window, it stays open.
11.	Click the AutoHide button again. Visio turns off AutoHide so that the Pan & Zoom window stays open.
12.	Click the Close button in the lower-right corner of the Pan & Zoom window.   Close Visio closes the Pan & Zoom window.
13.	Press to zoom out to the whole-page view.
14.	On the Standard toolbar, click the Shapes button.   Shapes Visio displays a menu of stencil categories.
15.	Point to Visio Extras, and then click Callouts. Visio opens the Callouts stencil, which contains annotation shapes, and displays it in the Shapes window on top of the other stencils.
16.	On the Callouts stencil, click the green stencil icon on the title bar. Visio displays a menu for the stencil.
17.	Point to View, and then click Icons Only. Visio displays the shape icons without their names. Notice that Visio also displays the shape icons without their names in the Blocks stencil. The View options on the View menu change the view for all of the stencils.
18.	On the Callouts stencil, click the green stencil icon on the title bar, point to View, and then click Icons and Names. Visio displays both the shape icons and names on all of the stencils.
19.	On the Callouts stencil, click the green stencil icon on the title bar, and then click Close. Visio closes the stencil.
20.	On the File menu, click Exit. Visio closes.

Customizing Colors and Other Options

You can customize many other aspects of the Visio environment by using the Options dialog box. For example, if you get tired of the green stencil window or the white drawing page, you can change those colors and others used by Visio. To choose different colors, on the Tools menu, click Options. In the Options dialog box, click the Advanced tab, and then click the Color Settings button. You can even create a new toolbar and add the commands that you use most often to it. On the Tools menu, click Customize to view the options for customizing toolbars.

Keep in mind that the more you customize Visio, the less your screen will match the images shown in this book.