In Visio 2019 I always see this first user row in the document shapesheet:
User.msvNoAutoConnect
In Visio 2016 and later, can I count on it always being there in a newly created Visio document?
No idea whether it is *always* created, but it can be deleted quite easily so you can't guarantee it will always be there. Assume not and then you will be safe.
Why?
Whether or not you can count on it??? See Paul's answer.
Under normal conditions, like, Dude, who messes with the Doc shapesheet???, would you expect it? Yes. I think so. I went back to my 1st post on the forum, 2008, and it was there. Made me wonder if V2019 adds it? I don't think so, as that entry was sandwiched between a group of entries before and after it. So, it's been present for a looonnnng time.
Yes good point from Paul, need to check for it in any case.
I understand the document shapesheet user section is seldomly used, but for a specific use case it is actually very effective:
the document shapesheet user section has some use, where else to store user configuration data that needs to work across all pages in the document? (the document shapesheet shape data is also used in this case)
If I store such config in either a page or shape:
1. The user cannot centrally update the config
2. The config would be lost if a page or shape is deleted