Organizing Shapes in Office Layouts by Using Layers

Key Points

• You can create a scaled diagram with a scaled template so that the drawing scale is already defined and the stencils that the template opens contain shapes appropriate for the drawing scale.
• You can change the drawing scale for a diagram by clicking Page Setup on the File menu, and then clicking the Drawing Scale tab.
• You can create walls by positioning Space shapes on the drawing page, uniting them by using the Union command, and then converting them to walls by using the Convert to Walls command on the Plan menu.
• You can easily add doors and windows to walls by dragging them on top of the walls. Visio orients the doors and windows for you.
• You can change the size of doors and windows by either dragging a shape's endpoint or right-clicking the shape, clicking Properties on the shortcut menu, and specifying the shape's width.
• You can set the display options for all the spaces, walls, doors, and windows in an office layout at once by clicking Set Display Options on the Plan menu. You can set the display options for a single shape by right-clicking it and then clicking Set Display Options on the shortcut menu.
• You can see a shape's dimensions by selecting it. To add a dimension line to a shape, use the Controller dimension shape on the Walls, Doors and Windows stencil.
• You can create a new layer and assign a shape to it at the same time by selecting one or more shapes on the drawing page and then clicking Layer on the Format menu.
• You can change the properties for all the shapes assigned to a layer by clicking Layer Properties on the View menu.