Microsoft Office Visio 2003 Inside Out

Mark H. Walker and Nanette Eaton

PUBLISHED BY
Microsoft Press
A Division of Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, Washington 98052-6399

Copyright 2004 by Mark H. Walker and Resources Online

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Walter, Mark H.
Microsoft Office Visio 2003 Inside Out / Mark H. Walker, Nanette Eaton.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-7356-1516-0
1. Computer graphics. 2. Microsoft Visio. 3. Business—Data processing. I. Eaton,
Nanette J. II. Title.

T385.W345 2003
006.6’8682—dc22 2003065173

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 QWT 8 7 6 5 4 3

Distributed in Canada by H.B. Fenn and Company Ltd.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Microsoft Press books are available through booksellers and distributors worldwide. For further information about international editions, contact your local Microsoft Corporation office or contact Microsoft Press International directly at fax [phone]. Visit our Web site at www.microsoft.com/mspress. Send comments to [e-mail].

Active Directory, BizTalk, Microsoft, Microsoft Press, the Office logo, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Visio, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual Studio, and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.

Acquisitions Editor: Alex Blanton
Project Editors: Sandra Haynes and Kristine Haugseth
Technical Editor: Chris Russo

Body Part No. X10-08615

Acknowledgments

Visio has graced my computer since it had version numbers like 4.0. I’ve always enjoyed using it, but I never fully comprehended its power and versatility until Microsoft asked me to write and revise this book. In the course of combing through over nine hundred pages of text, I’ve come to appreciate the magnificent depth of the software and, more importantly, its ease of use.

Nevertheless, despite that ease of use, this book would have never happened without the aid, advice, input, and support of a lot of people. Thanks to Alex Blanton for trusting me to revise the book. Thanks to Sandra Haynes and Kristine Haugseth for their neverending patience and good humor. Speaking of good humor, I sincerely appreciate both the technical editor, Chris Russo, and the copy editor, Teresa Horton. Both grinned and bore my frequent mistakes, and caught my technical and grammatical miscues. In fact, the entire book development team at nSight, Inc., was invaluable. Also invaluable were the book’s first author, Nanette Eaton, and the Visio 2003 Product Manager, Jorie Wackerman. Jorie frequently called in the experts on her team, including, but not limited to, Susan Raisi, Kathy Shoesmith, Jeff Hannibal, Chang Oh, Darrin House, Bill Holt, Jon Price, Shawn Schoenrock, Mark Nelson, Mai-lan Tomsen Bukevec, Dan Clay, Matt Winterowd, Gary Klapel, Cynthia Shelly, and Richard See.

My helpers were almost too many to list, so if I leave someone out here it isn’t intentional. Thanks to everyone, and see you next year!

We’d Like to Hear from You!

Our goal at Microsoft Press is to create books that help you find the information you need to get the most out of your software.

The INSIDE OUT series was created with you in mind. As part of an effort to ensure that we’re creating the best, most useful books we can, we talked to our customers and asked them to tell us what they need from a Microsoft Press series. Help us continue to help you. Let us know what you like about this book and what we can do to make it better. When you write, please include the title and author of this book in your e-mail, as well as your name and contact information. We look forward to hearing from you.

How to Reach Us

E-mail:	[e-mail]
Mail:	Inside Out Series Editor
	Microsoft Press
	One Microsoft Way
	Redmond, WA 98052

Note: Unfortunately, we can’t provide support for any software problems you might experience. Please go to http://support.microsoft.com for help with any software issues.

About the CD

The companion CD that ships with this book contains many tools and resources to help you get the most out of your Inside Out book.

What’s On the CD

Your Inside Out CD includes the following:

• Complete eBook In this section you’ll find the an electronic version of Microsoft Office Visio 2003 Inside Out. The eBook is in PDF format.

• Computer Dictionary, Fifth Edition eBook Here you’ll find the full electronic version of the Microsoft Computer Dictionary, Fifth Edition. Suitable for home and office, the dictionary contains more than 10,000 entries.

• Microsoft Resources In this section, you’ll find information about additional resources from Microsoft that will help you get the most out of the Microsoft Office System. Building on the familiar tools that many people already know, the Microsoft Office System includes servers, services, and desktop programs to help address a broad array of business needs.

• Extending Visio In this section, you’ll find great information about third-party utilities and tools you use to further enhance your experience with Visio 2003.

The companion CD provides detailed information about the files on this CD and links to Microsoft and third-party sites on the Internet. All the files on this CD are designed to be accessed through Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 5.01 or higher).

Note

Please note that the links to third-party sites are not under the control of Microsoft Corporation, and Microsoft is therefore not responsible for their content, nor should their inclusion on this CD be construed as an endorsement of the product or the site.

Software provided on this CD is in English language only and may be incompatible with non- English language operating systems and software.

Using the CD

To use the companion CD, insert it into your CD-ROM. Accept the license agreement that is presented to access the starting menu. If AutoRun is not enabled on your system, run StartCD.exe in the root of the CD or refer to the Readme.txt file.

System Requirements

Following are the minimum system requirements necessary to run the CD:

• Microsoft Windows XP or later or Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 3 or later

• 266-MHz or higher Pentium-compatible CPU

• 64 megabytes (MB) RAM

• 8X CD-ROM drive or faster

• Microsoft Windows–compatible sound card and speakers

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher

• Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

  Note

  Note System requirements may be higher for the add-ins available on the CD. Individual add-in system requirements are specified on the CD. An Internet connection is necessary to access the some of the hyperlinks. Connect time charges may apply.

Support Information

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the book and the contents of this companion CD. For feedback on the book content or this companion CD, please contact us by using any of the addresses listed in the “We’d Like to Hear From You” section (page xxv).

Microsoft Press provides corrections for books through the World Wide Web at http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/support/. To connect directly to the Microsoft Press Knowledge Base and enter a query regarding a question or issue that you may have, go to http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/support/search.asp.

For support information regarding Office 2003, you can connect to Microsoft Technical Support on the Web at http://support.microsoft.com/.

Conventions and Features Used in This Book

This book uses special text and design conventions to make it easier for you to find the information you need.

Text Conventions

Convention	Meaning
Abbreviated menu commands	For your convenience, this book uses abbreviated menu commands. For example, “Choose Tools, Track Changes, Highlight Changes” means that you should click the Tools menu, point to Track Changes, and select the Highlight Changes command.
Boldface type	Boldface type is used to indicate text that you enter or type.
Initial Capital Letters	The first letters of the names of menus, dialog boxes, dialog box elements, and commands are capitalized. Example: the Save As dialog box.
Italicized type	Italicized type is used to indicate new terms.
Plus sign (+) in text	Keyboard shortcuts are indicated by a plus sign (+) separating two key names. For example, Ctrl+Alt+Delete means that you press the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys at the same time.

Design Conventions

New Feature

This text identifies a new or significantly updated feature in this version of the software.

Tip

Tips provide helpful hints, timesaving tricks, or alternative procedures related to the task being discussed.

Cross-reference

Cross-references point you to other locations in the book that offer additional information on the topic being discussed.

Caution

Cautions identify potential problems that you should look out for when you’re completing a task or problems that you must address before you can complete a task.

Note

Notes offer additional information related to the task being discussed.

Inside Out

This statement illustrates an example of an “Inside Out” problem statement.
These are the book’s signature tips. In these tips, you’ll get the straight scoop on what’s going on with the software—inside information on why a feature works the way it does. You’ll also find handy workarounds to different software problems.

Troubleshooting

This statement illustrates an example of a “Troubleshooting” problem statement.
Look for these sidebars to find solutions to common problems you might encounter. Troubleshooting sidebars appear next to related information in the chapters. You can also use the Troubleshooting Topics index at the back of the book to look up problems by topic.

Sidebar

The sidebars sprinkled throughout these chapters provide ancillary information on the topic being discussed. Go to sidebars to learn more about the technology or a feature.

About the Author

Mark H. Walker has written numerous computer-related books and software user manuals, including the Visio Bible. He has also authored numerous articles on Visio and general computing for a variety of companies and publications, including Visio Smart Pages, Interaction magazine, SoftSeek, Deep Canyon, Smart Solutions, Alaska Airlines, and Informant Communications.