Grouping and ungrouping a shape problem

grant_c · September 09, 2010, 11:40:59 AM

Hi all, i have a problem when trying to edit a shape. See attached.
When i ungroup and then regroup, you can see that the colour blocks are visible. I believe that some command is missing when regrouping from the originally created shape.

My aim is to remove the little man and replace with something else. Simplifying this question, can someone tell me how to manipulate the 3 objects (arrow, green block & clear block) that make up the arrow? I think it may have something to do with fragment, union, merge etc?

Best Regards,

Paul Herber · September 09, 2010, 11:48:59 AM

The problem is doing the ungroup, it can lose information contained within the group shape, this information cannot be regained when doing the re-group. The answer is not to do the ungroup in the first place, you don't need to.
Select the grouped shape, then use the menu Edit -> Open <group>

grant_c · September 09, 2010, 11:55:32 AM

Hi Paul, thanks for your speedy reply. I am using version 2010 and cant find the function "menu Edit -> Open <group>" you refer to. Do you know of a similiar command in 2010 if it is version related?

Best Regards,
Grant

Visio Guy · September 09, 2010, 12:03:58 PM

Hi Grant,

They screwed it up in Visio 2010, but it's actually easier now

Just right-click on a group, go to Group > Open Group.

grant_c · September 09, 2010, 12:50:45 PM

Hi Visio_Guy, i only have 'group' or 'ungroup' options. There doesn't appear to be a 'open group' option?

Best Regards,

Visio Guy · September 09, 2010, 10:08:19 PM

Are you sure you have a group selected? This sounds weird, and it doesn't seem to be dependent on having Developer Mode activated.

Paul Herber · September 09, 2010, 10:40:22 PM

The Open Group option doesn't appear to be on the group menu, it's on the right-click Group menu though.

Visio Guy · September 10, 2010, 07:11:14 PM

As I said...

Quote from: Visio Guy on September 09, 2010, 12:03:58 PM
Hi Grant,

They screwed it up in Visio 2010, but it's actually easier now

Just right-click on a group, go to Group > Open Group.

Paul Herber · September 10, 2010, 08:48:21 PM

You did indeed! Just making a point that the ribbon and right-click menus are different.

Visio Guy · September 10, 2010, 08:58:15 PM

grant_c · September 13, 2010, 07:35:17 AM

Looking at my previously attached visio example, I can only see the 'open group' option on the shape on the right hand side which is the shape that i have ungrouped and then re-grouped to show as an example of my problem. The original unedited shape on the left hand side is grouped and when i right click it, there is no 'open group' option?
Best Regards,

Visio Guy · September 13, 2010, 12:10:32 PM

Hi Grant,

The shape on the left appears to be some sort of metafile. Did you import it from some other source?

Now it makes sense why you don't see the Open Group option in the right-click menu.

You can ungroup it, then regroup it to convert it to pure Visio data. But sometimes this isn't really necessary. Might as well leave the shape as it is, unless you need to modify bits of it.

Also, on the Developer tab's Group drop-down, there is a Convert to Group item. This converts the object to Visio shapes, but leaves them as a group, AND preserves any shape data fields that might have been added. I think this was your original concern.

grant_c · September 13, 2010, 12:58:06 PM

Hi, i got the image from a shape called 'collect data from user' in visio 2010. I was aiming to remove the little man and replace hime with something else. However when i ungroup, replace man with something else then group together, i find that the shape is like you see on the right hand example with all the squares etc showing.