4. Taking Control of Your Diagrams

In Chapter 3, “Working with Basic Diagrams,” we discussed making great visuals by using templates. We’ll continue that discussion as we consider ways to keep your drawings organized and avoid cookie-cutter looking diagrams. Visio is one of the best pieces of software ever made in terms of instant gratification. You can make impressive and colorful diagrams in a matter of minutes.

When we say “colorful,” we do not mean throwing color at our diagram until something looks good. Themes and backgrounds can quickly jazz up a diagram, in part because the color combinations are well thought out and locked into tasteful color sets, which is a good thing for us artist-wannabes. Having said that, themes and backgrounds contain enough flexibility that you will not feel limited when it comes time to express yourself.

To add a page, click the plus symbol (+) to the right of your current page tab below the drawing. (See Figure 4.1.)

The new blank page has the same page properties as the previous page with the same stencils and shapes. You get the same results if you use the Insert tab, New Page, and Blank Page from the upper ribbon.

1. Right-click the Page before the point of insertion.

2. Select Insert. A Page Setup window appears.

3. Modify the properties of the new page. For now it may be enough to provide a name for this new page. Click OK to apply.

You are presented with the Page Setup dialog box (see Figure 4.2). There are 5 important tabs here:

• Print Setup provides settings specific to printing the page.

• Page Size allows you to change settings related to the drawing window. This is separate from print settings.

• Drawing Scale provides settings to establish or modify a scale for the drawing.

• Page Properties indicate whether this is a normal foreground page or a background page, the page name, and units of measurement used.

• Layout and Routing allow us to tweak basic settings used for laying out the shapes relative to one another and how connectors behave on the page.

These same adjustments can be made to an existing page if you right-click the page and select Page Setup. The different features of the Page Setup dialog box are discussed throughout this book.

1. Select File and New. Select the Basic Diagram template. You now have a default page named Page-1.

2. Open the Design tab; from the Backgrounds section on the ribbon, click the Backgrounds button and then select a background image.

3. Click the Borders & Titles button located next to the Background button and choose a combination.

4. From the Design tab, choose a theme from the Theme gallery and apply a theme variation from the Variant gallery. Notice how this modifies both the background graphic and the border title set (see Figure 4.3).

5. Open Page-1 and drag a couple of shapes to the left side of the page. Notice that you can move and resize the shapes.

6. Compare Page-1 with VBackground-1. The shapes do not appear on the VBackground-1, only the background image and Title set.

7. While you have Page-1 open, add a new page by clicking the New Page (+) button below your work area.

8. A new page opens with the background elements but no shapes.

9. Open the VBackground-1 page, and add two shapes to the right side of the page.

10. Return to Page-2 and notice that two shapes now appear on the right. You cannot select or move them.

11. Return to Page-1; you see two shapes to the left and two to the right. Notice you can manipulate only the shapes to the left that were added to Page-1.

12. Right-click the page tab for Page-2 and then select Page Setup. Change the background to None. Click OK.

13. Notice that you now have a blank page with no background effects at all.

14. On Page-2 select the Design tab and choose a different background. Notice that a new VBackground-2 background page was created.

As you can see, background pages allow you to easily maintain a uniform look and add as much or as little to a page before you even start working on the drawing. If you decide later that the theme you chose for the background is too distracting, just modify the background page; the change applies instantly to all the pages using that background. Background pages can be removed from print jobs with a simple click.

→ To learn how to remove Background pages from print jobs, see page 217.

If the border you chose displays a page number, those numbers update automatically as pages are added and moved. The title your border displays is whatever title you create on the VBackground page. To modify the title, simply select and edit the text.

→ To learn more about the use of borders and titles in your Background pages, see page 157.

To change a page name, follow these steps:

1. Right-click a page tab.

2. From the right-click menu select Rename. The cuurent name will appear highlighted.

3. Type a new name in and press Enter.

You could also open the Page Setup page we looked at previously and rename the page from the Page Properties tab. The easiest way to change a page name is to double-click the name on the Page tab which selects the text. You can now type the new name. Easy peasy.

Another way to reorganize your pages is to right-click a page tab and select Reorder Pages. The window shown in Figure 4.4 will open. You can select pages and use the Move Up and Move Down buttons. As a bonus, when using the default page names, you can enable them to rename themselves by selecting the Update Page Names check box.

Notice in Figure 4.6 that Drawing Page and Printer Paper are also shown. These two separate settings may not always be the same. The Page Size tab allows you to configure the size of your canvas in the drawing window, whereas the Print Setup tab is limited to the paper size and orientation when printing. The Preview image on both tabs is a nice feature to confirm that the Print Setup and Page Size tabs complement each other. Chapter 11, “Printing Visio Diagrams,” discusses printing process and settings in more detail.

When you create a flow chart, some diagrams can easily outgrow their page as new processes are added. The flow chart in Figure 4.7 has spilled over the edges of the page. One click to Auto Size can create a bigger canvas to accommodate the sprawling flowchart, as seen in Figure 4.8.

The Auto Size button toggles this feature on or off. Rather than a one-time execution, it continues to adjust the size of your drawing page as you work until you toggle it off.

You don’t need to worry about calculating the correct scale for your drawing because Visio takes care of this for you. Notice the Drawing Scale tab and settings in Figure 4.9. It tells you that every half inch on this page is equal to 12 inches using U.S. measurements. You also can see that the 11×8.5 piece of paper represents 22×17 feet. The furniture on the drawing was rendered to this scale automatically when it was dropped onto the page.

From the drop-down items for predefined scale, you can choose from other standards, including engineering and metric. Also, there are options to use no scale (1:1) or a custom scale that suites your needs.

Changing these scale settings immediately resizes all components in the drawing to conform to the new scale. The drawing maintains its accuracy and usefulness.

Themes are more than just pretty colors, though; they can influence the effect a diagram has on your audience. In Figure 4.10, notice the categories used: Professional, Trendy, Modern, and so on. These categories help you make intelligent choices to better suit your audience and your message. A rather simplistic diagram that might otherwise appear to have been quickly thrown together can instantly appear polished and well thought out when you apply a tasteful theme.

The Visio developers did an outstanding job of assembling an assortment of themes and variations. It’s easy to express your individual tastes and match established color schemes used by your business.

Each theme has four variants that enable you to alter the tone or colors a bit. The effect can be subtle or bold. The variants are indicated to the right of the themes on the Design tab. Again, the hover preview works for them as well (see Figure 4.11).

While you are looking at the Variant gallery on the Design tab, click the More button nested under the up/down arrows to the right of the variants. Shown in Figure 4.12, this opens up a few menus that allow you to further customize the major components of the themes. The menu items labeled Colors, Effects, and Connectors are all pretty straightforward.

If you like the way everything appears but wish you could use the colors from a different theme, you can choose just the color scheme from a different theme. To do so, follow these steps:

1. From the Variant gallery on the Design tab, select the More button.

2. Select Colors from the menu.

3. Choose a color set from one of the themes listed (see Figure 4.12). Notice that only the colors are changed, no other modifications to shapes or connectors are applied from the theme.

If you do not see a theme color combination you like, or if you want to create a theme combination to fit the colors you have established in a business logo and artwork, you can choose to create your own custom theme.

1. From the Design tab, click the More button in the Variants section.

2. Click Colors and then choose Create New Theme Colors from the fly-out menu.

3. In the New Theme Colors dialog box (see Figure 4.13), choose from six accent colors and dark, light, and background colors for your theme.

4. Give this color set a name in the Name text box and then click OK.

5. Now when you open the Design tab, and select More from the Variants gallery, then Colors from the menu, you see your new creation in the Custom section above the Built-In themes (refer to Figure 4.12).

You can also choose to change the theme color for a selected shape using styles. Shape Styles can be seen on the Home tab, or you can right-click the shape and select Styles, which provides a plethora of theme styles or variant styles that still complement the theme you are working with (see Figure 4.14).

You can also change colors by right-clicking the shape or connector and selecting Format Shape. This opens a task pane that gives similar choices, but with even more granular control. For example, you can use a slider to change the Transparency setting or use gradients and patterns, as shown in Figure 4.17.