Visio Guy

Dear friends,
its not long time for to start sharing experiences in this forum, ( just asking questions actually  :P :P :P )
as i discovered there are lots of people using this excellent program from all around the world,
i suggest to share our brief history in visio and life, to meet ppl to share similar experiences more effectively,

as i start,
I work as industrial engineer in Türkiye (in english Turkey) 
i work with visio for Layout designing of Factories & shopfloors, Value Stream Mapping.
  :D

Greetings from a rainy Hampshire, England !
Are you by any chance using the Turkish version of Visio? If so, is there any chance you could have a look at topic http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=551.0 (http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=551.0) ?

Quote from: Paul Herber on January 12, 2009, 01:05:38 PM
Greetings from a rainy Hampshire, England !
Are by any chance using the Turkish version of Visio? If so, is there any chance you could have a look at topic http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=551.0 (http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=551.0) ?

Dear Paul,
check the link for Turkish tranlation!
kind regards.

Hi Everyone,

I'm Chris (aka: Visio Guy). I'm from (also rainy) Seattle, but have been living in Munich, Germany since 2003.

My favorite things to do with Visio are:

• Solving customer problems with graphics, SmartShapes and automation
• "Forcing" Visio into creating high-quality graphics arts (dare I say "beautiful")
• Pushing the ShapeSheet and SmartShapes to new limits
• Sharing my knowledge with the rest of you

Thanks everyone for visiting this site and making it such a success!

- Chris

Hi Evryone
I am Stefan, I have been using Visio since version 4.1, many years ago.

I use Visio for simplfied drawings of petrochemical plant, used for training and reference purposes, personnel find them easier to use than plant P&ID drawings in CAD.     

Quote from: Visio Guy on January 13, 2009, 12:03:12 AM
Hi Everyone,

I'm Chris (aka: Visio Guy). I'm from (also rainy) Seattle, but have been living in Munich, Germany since 2003.

My favorite things to do with Visio are:

• Solving customer problems with graphics, SmartShapes and automation
• "Forcing" Visio into creating high-quality graphics arts (dare I say "beautiful")
• Pushing the ShapeSheet and SmartShapes to new limits
• Sharing my knowledge with the rest of you

Thanks everyone for visiting this site and making it such a success!

- Chris

Nice to meet you all!! Chris thanks for this fantastic website!!!

any more friends ?

Salutations from Yossi in Israel (originally from Baltimore - living in Israel 24 years).

I am an engineer and technical writer, and have been fighting ... er working with ... Visio for over ten years. As with all computer applications, and especially those from Microsoft, I enjoy getting the results I want despite the best efforts of the software authors to prevent it. I loathe bitmap/raster images in my documents so I use Visio extensively to create smooth, scalable, and lightweight graphics.

Endless thanks to Visio guy for creating and sharing solutions that work (and explaining how they do)!

Hello --

Wayne's the name, but I go by Wapperdude (long story).  I've used Visio since it was first packaged with Windows 3.11, and still have my Visio Techical 4.1 install floppies.  It's only been about a year now that I've begun exploring and using the power of Visio beyond making simple, basic diagrams.  I'm a direct descendant of Rip Van Winkle!  Yawn.

Electrical engineer by trade for these past 39 years.  Among other things, I guess I'm known for a quirky sense of humor.  Oh, and I live at the center of the world -- California.   ::)  ;D  ;)

Hi

Andy from the South West UK here (I think we invented rain!)

I'm a software developer of 25 years in SCADA and Power systems (mainly C++ and UNIX).

However, the last 3 years or so have been involved in designing and implementing an application for modelling electrical networks using Visio 2003 (VBA/VB). The network diagram shows circuit breakers, transformers, feeders and other major items of electrical plant. The software then determines each feeder's live/dead/earthed status, and reacts to switching operations just like the real network.

Generally pushing Visio to its limit, it seems.

Jean Dion
Storage Architect at a top 5 server/storage vendor

- Create visio stencils since first release of Visio
- Share part of my work here http://www.jdtools.ca
- Also mentioned on VisioCafe
- Love to create shapes during my spare time and for my day-to-day work

I've done probably over 5000 drawings and probably over 200 commercial stencils with 20 shapes each. 

Unfortunately most of my stencils are no longer available externally (stencils).  Legal reason.

I'm trying hard to have them publish one day.  Stay tuned!

Quote from: jdtools on January 30, 2009, 02:33:22 AM
Jean Dion
Storage Architect at a top 5 server/storage vendor

- Create visio stencils since first release of Visio
- Share part of my work here http://www.jdtools.ca
- Also mentioned on VisioCafe
- Love to create shapes during my spare time and for my day-to-day work

I've done probably over 5000 drawings and probably over 200 commercial stencils with 20 shapes each. 

Unfortunately most of my stencils are no longer available externally (stencils).  Legal reason.

I'm trying hard to have them publish one day.  Stay tuned!

dear Jean what kind of stencils did you make ? warehouse or etc. ?

No  :)  Even if I like to do renovations and create my design with visio too.

I work on computer data storage business along with computers.   For the last 26 years now.

I architect large data storage configuration to hold few TB to several Petabytes of archive like the ones you see at bank, university, libraries, google etc.

The challenge now a days is to archive digital data for centuries...not just days like most of us think.

In other word, I would like to have my visio been available long time after my life on earth is gone. Same as pictures on the pyramids of caverns. 

A big challenge with all the data format and storage device that last 5 years or less on average.

Who keep or read is data on 8 inches floppy or audio cassettes from Tandy computers...  ::)

Scott here -- just north of Boston, MA in the US. I've been actively using Visio for five or six years, Visio 2002-2003-2007 mostly. I have a generalist background -- a bit of data communications and early network technology; some software development; product marketing and product management; technology training...

My involvement with Visio started when our four-person consulting company cobbled together Visio and Access and a bit of string and chewing gum to create an easier way for our customers to document their work processes. That evolved into our current product for which I'm the chief architect, primary tech support rep, occasional coder, and all the other stuff that comes from trying to run a small software company.

I am endlessly intrigued by Visio, wish in some ways that I'd stumbled upon it years earlier like Chris, Paul, Al and others who hang around here, but am having a ball discovering new things every day...

Ted.

Working with Visio since 1998 when a friend suggested it for a project.  The following saying is
my view of Visio  "Visio is to powerpoint as a mech pencil is to a crayon".  Still learning stuff all
the time (tricks and such).   Most of my projects are advanced computer server and network configs
everything from using todays stuff in a data center to detailed subsystem designs for things years
in the future).

Hopefully, in Visio 20xx, MS either fills out the capabilities suite to make it more of a PPT replacement
....or....merge the two (Visio precision and shapes with PPT presentation and animation)
....or....open up PPT for things like custom shapes (users need to spend lots of time trying to
figure out how to use the anorexic waterfront of smartshapes in PPT to try to articulate a complex idea).

Shameless plug:   June the Second is a very very very creative Visio developer....definitely extended my understanding of the possibilities

Aleem from Trinidad, I am a chemical and process engineer. Started using visio when it was visio technical 5, I've done mechanical drawings of equipment parts, piping and instrumentation diagrams, process flow diagrams and building plans. If only I could dump all of the connectivity information from the current PFD that I'm working on I would be soooo happy (this one took me 2 months and is very convoluted  ??? :-\)

Hi everybody,

Denis, St. Petersburg, Russia.
I'm an engineer for power plants automation, use Visio already two years (before this I used Autocad many years)

Quote from: zhuravsky on February 20, 2009, 05:57:59 AM
Hi everybody,

Denis, St. Petersburg, Russia.
I'm an engineer for power plants automation, use Visio already two years (before this I used Autocad many years)

Dear Denis,
i work for a electric company in turkey, that switch boards are very familiar to me, like our product Blokset.
from SE

My name is Al, I live near Chicago and work with Visio a lot. I'm a retired network consultant that works part time for a company that does data center relocations. I'm also a Visio MVP, which just means you've raised your hand to try and help and don't mind being shot at  ;D

https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile=F68AD723-357E-4627-8AF3-634FAC663991

These drawings are built from a sql server database and color coded based upon last network status.....

al

sorry  ???, the cable one didn't take,
al

nice to meet you Al!

Lars-Erik, The Netherlands, and as of Wednesday I'll be a Mechanical Engineer.

Used to be pretty active, but had to drop some activities cause of my graduation project (sadly that included this forum).
Now that my eduction is complete, I'm hoping to start helping out on visguy forum again.

Welcome back Oranje!

Don from Baltimore:

I used to be an IT developer and administrator and used Visio in that capacity.  Since retiring, I have been using Visio to do architectural drawings for our local Habitat for Humanity affiliate which rehabs century old row houses in west Baltimore. Visio turns our to be a great tool for that sort of application.

Quote from: Lars-Erik on February 23, 2009, 12:08:22 PM
Lars-Erik, The Netherlands, and as of Wednesday I'll be a Mechanical Engineer.

Used to be pretty active, but had to drop some activities cause of my graduation project (sadly that included this forum).
Now that my eduction is complete, I'm hoping to start helping out on visguy forum again.

Congratulations Lars!!!

Lovin' it!   ;)  With all of you "heavy hitters" east of "the pond", Al and I (well, me anyway, since I'm just about the last to see the sun), can just sit and kick back!   :D

Welcome back Lars.

Living on the north east coast of the uk, can anyone tell me what the 'sun' is!!! our summer last year was June 18-21 inclusive.

Good to know you Lars, I am a newbie but I have learned so much from these guys.
Stefan   

Quote from: Stefan on February 24, 2009, 07:28:42 PM
Living on the north east coast of the uk, can anyone tell me what the 'sun' is!!! our summer last year was June 18-21 inclusive.

Good to know you Lars, I am a newbie but I have learned so much from these guys.
Stefan   

All of my visio friends you are invited to my beautiful country - Sun shines 4 seasons here -  TURKEY :) :)
The spring is about to start here...

I am Philippe C from Flanders and I should be working.  I am looking at the balls of the Atomium right now.
Many years ago I toyed with Visio trying the software reEngineering feature.
Some years ago I was fooled into Visio again for making schemas for electrical installations.  I had the opportunity to have an in depth look into Visio.

This time, last year I attended the Visio conference in Redmond.  I am finishing a two year, one evening a week Autocad course.  I intend to specialise in the next version of Visio.  That's why I answer questions on forums.  Then I'd like to teach it.

I am allready a part time self employed electrician.  In 4 months I'll be a heating technician also.  After that, I'll learn KNX domotics.


I am preparing for a smooth transition into retirement.  Hopefully I'll enjoy playing with 3D building plans, domotics, robotics.

another Chris, here!

...been rendering with Visio since '97/'98.  Of course back then it was the over-lain version called, PoolDraw.

Yeah, ridiculous, right?  Ha ha!  I have had a great time producing visual stimulating construction documentation with Visio that make AutoCad operators envious.

It is great to read all of your applications/uses of Visio. It has truly shown me that I have just barely scratched the surface of the software's capabilities.  I'm trying to learn though.
I'll ask you guys for help, and if any of you run into a "pool" question... don't hesitate to ask.

Hi Chris, could you do a smaller version of your pool picture that will fit on my normal sized screen? !!!

Here you go... 8.5 x 11.  I guess this is better.  I'm still new at this.

What do you think?

Every home should have one, or two!
Was the 8 X 11 Equip Set created with Visio?

Yes, Sir... both were rendered with Visio.

I have more impressive pdf's but they are larger than the mas allowed to upload.

Very impressive. Saving as a GIF or PNG from Visio might give a better file that can be posted here.

You know  :-\, I thought about that, but to fit all of the info that I'm dealing with on to an 8 x 11 sheet... the resolution gets distorted.  You don't have the opportunity to zoom in to see the detail.

Guess that's why my first post was so huge  :o.  Sorry bout how big it was, btw.

Anyway, I'm looking to learn to take my renderings to the next level.  I want to add custom properties to my master stencil and generate material lists & cost analysis through the report feature.

I'm struggling to find readable articles, how to, or help info that weren't written by a software engineer... They wouldn't get my explanation of Total Dynamic Head Pressure and I'm not getting their approach to custom properties. ???

Chris

great work don,
is it scaled ? how did you managed the dimensioning in 3rd coordinate ?
i know that visio is able to make dimension in 2 axes, X and Y

Yeah, it's 98% scaled & 2% hand-drawn in Visio.

With regard to how... My drafting teacher in highschool would be proud (15 yrs later). He did teach me something!  :D

Isometric drafting is the answer. On paper with pencil or Vdrwg Page, the 2d tricks to add depth are the same.

5yrs ago I took a refresher course; I bought Drafting for Dummies!  ;D

Here's a smaller/less detail project I just finished recently.

Eric Here.  Located for the last two decades in Columbus, IN which is near Indianapolis in the US.

I have been using Visio since 1992 which is probably around Visio 2.0.  My main focus is on software and systems for automotive electronic control systems.  My two favorite diagrams are wiring harnesses (aka looms) and Simulink style control software schematics. 

Although I am sure he doesn't remember me, I met Chris at the Visio Developer's conferences circa 1997 and 1998.

Hi I'm Tim

Currently sitting in the middle of the North Sea listening to our foghorn.

Ive been in the Oil & Gas industry for some time, using Visio since v.2 for Telecom/IT/Network Engineering drawings, as changes usually happen faster than the Drawing Office can cope with.

Constantly suprised to see how far people can push the package into new territory.

Hi,

I'm Mark.

I've been using 2003 for basic flowcharts at work, but realised that I could use it to create plans for my kitchen extension  :D  and a few other things.

Thanks for creating this resource.


Mark

Hi, I use Visio to create process maps and other diagrams at a business in Portland, Oregon.  I've frequently referred to Visio Guy's tips but am new to the forums.  Thanks for this resource.

 ;D

I'm Tom from Lawrence, KS, USA.  I was born here and have returned here.  Inbetween I have lived in Cleveland, TN; Charleston, WV; Toledo, OH; Ann Arbor, MI; Southbend, IN; Louisville, KY; Reston, VA and Raleigh, NC.  Not necessarily in that order.  I have also driven an 18 wheeler over most of the midwest, south east and south west and occasionally along parts of the top tier of the US.

I'm something of a computer geek and former bbs sysop.  Never did completely stop there: http://www.ChatNFiles.com with telnet chatting and 500,000+ downloads (shareware/freeware).

Anyway, I have picked up Visio 2003 because it is the LCD that Business Analyst's work with besides the Microsoft Office Suite.  I am chiefly interested in using it for "Easy Visual Use Cases."  And to learn how to "do" UML 2.2 on it.  I just stumbled over a free BPMN addon that you can put the UML 2.2 Stencils from another website in there too.

I have also finally found a Visio tutorial that uses UML as its teaching tool.  If its any good my major goal has been accomplished.  Something that will jointly teach me a bit of Visio and UML at the same time.

Don't get me wrong.  I learned how to do Flowcharts manually back in 1971 or '72.  And I need to learn to do "Wire Frames" with it or else do them on a WYSIWYG html editor.  So is there a good tutorial on Wire frames someplace?  I am interested in a good beginners book, "the best" instructional video or cbt course and of course a great Visio & UML tutorial.

Its freezing around here at the moment.

Tom Miller
Analyst/Programmer & I.T. Consultant
http://BlueCollar.ChatNFiles.com

Hi all,
I've made a few posts already and I think it's time to introduce myself and explain my many questions  ;D

I'm Ralph from Mönchengladbach (it's near Düsseldorf and Cologne) in Germany and started an apprenticeship in the IT-Support-Section of a small startup company, which is a supplier for special items in heating systems, four month ago.

Part of our Service for our partners is to provide them with plans and maps of how to integrate our products into a heating system.
This is done with the drawing tools in Microsoft Word, of all things, and looks like the example below (made in word and converted to jpg via paint, therefore the bad quality).
A drawing of this kind with word is cubersome and costs hours, especially because word crashes 2-4 times a day.

My first project in this company is to learn Visio and to than develop a Visio based solution for our technicans to make this plans and I want to make this easy, fast and intuitiv. Therefore my many questions here.

I've done a little bit work with Access Databases, so I know a bit VBA, but I have to learn Visio's Objekt Model.
I have no expririences with other programing languages, although I've startet learning plain C in school.

So I hope you accept me as your padawan  ;D

Hello ya'll,
I'm new to VISIO and am using 2007.  I finally broke down and purchased a copy.  I usually use Adobe Acrobat PRO to do presentations but was encouraged to embrace VISIO because of the many other features that it has.  The presentations I make look good when printed and don't look bad on screen until you zoom in and see the short comings of Acrobat to do these presentations.  Normally what I do is take an existing drawing (converted from AutoCAD to PDF) by someone, and annotate it with misc. info.  I'll also start from a blank PDF title block page, and develop what I'll call an "Pictogram".

I've been surfing the web and looking for resources.  This seems to be by far the best.  I've been over to Visio Cafe and seen some interesting stuff but this site is fantastic.  I enjoy the sharing of thoughts, idea's and work...

Like Chris, I'm from the rainy Northwest as well (Tacoma Actually), but am originally from Germany, so his post below strikes a cord with me.

Quote from: Visio Guy on January 13, 2009, 12:03:12 AM

I'm Chris (aka: Visio Guy). I'm from (also rainy) Seattle, but have been living in Munich, Germany since 2003.

So far I've just been being a lounge lizard trying to absorb the information.  I'm trying to create a title block at the moment, that resembles our companies standard AutoCAD title block.  I'v tried using some of the Visio parts and pieces (sorry not yet conversant in the Visio Lingo yet) but am not getting the results I want on my 11 x 17 paper, at a 1 to 1 scale.  It would appear that I'll have to resort to creating most of it from scratch.

I've been following along with the threads, and trying to get ideas on how I can apply what I've read with what I typically do (i.e present ideas and concepts for fire protection).  I've read that Visio isn't a 3D program and while this particular section of the forum may not be the place for this tidbit, is it possible to write code to make a symbol that sat on top of another symbol, smart enough to "Move Back" and "Change Shape" so that it has the appearance of being 3D?  I'm thinking about a cylinder valve with a gauge for example, where the gauge is facing forward, until the cylinder valve is rotated (where is changes shape), until it eventually disappears behind the valve?

Anyway..., some pointers on title blocks would be appreciated.

Regards,
Dan
-------
"Real world Knowledge isn't dropped from a parachute in the sky but rather acquired in tiny increments from a variety of sources including panic and curiosity."

Hi,

I'm Bruce, a systems/sustainability engineer in Atlanta. I have worked in IT for almost thirty years, mostly with the big server hardware companies and resellers and have been using Visio for about half that time.  I use Visio to build proposed and as-built systems diagrams.  I use a lot of shapes from visiocafe.

I have been working lately with the external data feature, tieing data from an Excel spreadsheet to IT systems components in the drawings and then saving them as web pages.

I've hit some walls and will be posting descriptions and seeking some help.

Bruce
"In theory, theory and practice are the same.  In practice, they rarely are."
sample of my work:

Hi My name is Jen.  My husband uses Visio for work.  When he has a problem he asks me for help.  I've never used visio.  it's very frustrating.  i'm excited about this bulletin board and you will probably see me periodically asking questions.  thanks for any help you can provide.  i currently hate visio...with a little more instruction i may love it.  we'll see.

Hello All from New Jersey, USA!

I'm somewhat new to Visio and using the 2007 version. I work for Metaplan http://www.metaplan.com/ as an IT/Graphics/Logistics manager. I've been tasked with importing a sound profile into Visio and after Googling extensively found one thread on this site that discussed that. I'd sure appreciate help from anyone that can further assist me with this quest!

If you check out the Metaplan website I bet you will be able to guess how we use Visio!  ;)

Jake here, working as a Graphic Designer/Training Developer in the nuclear industry... was thrown into Visio with no previous experience with the program when I started here but have come to love it.  Looking forward to learning as much as I can from these threads and gaining knowledge and experience from this site

Hello Everyone,

I am Ricky Phillips from Arab, Alabama (small town about 20 miles south of Huntsville, AL).  I use my visio program almost daily and have since about 1995 or so.  I am now the Fire Chief here in Arab and use the program for drawing pre-incident drawings of buildings, drawings of fire scenes and during investigations.  I have tried many different programs for diagrams and drawings and have always come back to visio!

I love this site so far!  I have found several useful post already.  Thank you to everyone for their info!  It's all great.

Ricky Phillips
Arab, AL

"Everyone Goes Home"
www.arabfd.com

Hey Everyone!  I'm Tracy Black, for the past 10 years I've been a network & systems admin for the City of Va Beach.  My job has morphed the past few months due to budget cuts and now I'm kind of in the same boat as Nuketrain.  I had to learn Visio fast and on my own in order to hit the ground running creating custom floor plans for our computer replacement  program, but now folks outside my dept. are coming to me with their wish lists and so far I've been able to deliver some pretty amazing stuff and I've gotten help along the way from this site!  Thanks youse guys!

Hi I'm Dave from Cirencester in England.

Have been using Visio as a visual reporting system - creating drawings from databases for racks, networks, itil service maps etc. It's a bit different when you have hundreds of diagrams to create, maintain and update so we are heavily into diagram automation where possible.

Regards

Dave

Hi,
I am totally new to Visio and am trying to create my first network diagram with Visio 2010 Professional.
Probably come back for assistance.

Hi everyone,

I'm trainmam, should have been 'trainman' but can't get everything right !  :D

I have been using Visio since the early 1990's, right through from version 1 to 5 ( the versions before Microsoft bought the original designer company out), finally bought and settled with MS Visio 2003.

I am retired and are currently occupying my spare time, on a personal basis, in designing graphic images for a group model railway program to augment the look of the layout.

Up until recently, I have only used Visio in doing drawings and presentation documents in, one might say, simplistic terms, only now have I begun to use Visio for more artistic images (and realising my own artistic potential, not that any of my images would be exhibited in the Tate gallery).  :D

I am sure I will need some help in the graphics field, hence joining this forum.

Regards,

Trainmam.

Hey, I'm Schwabe and using Visio in my mobile app design workflow to present UI sequences and export them to PDF.

Greetings!

I work in London, having done various aspects of server IT for twenty years.

I'm a relatively newcomer to Visio, professionally at any rate - making Dungeon Floorplans for my son doesn't really count!

I'll try not to annoy with too many questions - I've already managed to discover three bugs in my first week  :o

Hi guys i'm Chris, also from rainy Hampshire, i'm not an engineer, nor an electrician. i use visio for crime scene mapping, absolutely brill for this.

Hello, live in Norfolk UK - work mainly in London.  I'm a presales engineer to a large telco. Cheers, Rob. (age 37).

Well, I'm Tomas, living in Sweden, Boras 70km east of Gothenburg

Been using Viso since V3, I think, now on 2k10.

Working mainly with designing larger Refrigeration systems and using Visio to create Schematic diagrams/PID.

Have been customizing Visio heavily so I now basically have an automated design and simulation tool for these systems.

Also using Visio for anything else, where AutoCad/Inventor is to heavy.

gday, I am Cliff from down under

33 yrs in telecommunications industry broadband transmission area. I found Visio could document a Network in a way that pen and paper could not. The visualisation of data  creates a model of a telecommunication network that some may call a flight simulator.

Found  a way in the VBA environment to download config data from real Network nodes and display the results in the vector environment ,  desktop radar on a teleco network.

I also do caricatures and found visio to be an excellant environment to explore animation and 3D rotationals  and create on the fly drawings from base data.

Cheers !

are you enjoying the cricket?

Howzaaaat ! Paul  :)

I prefer it when they loose

attached example of my visio output .. GPS data converted to a horizonal rotatable 3D slab  all the controls on the custom toolbar to pan, zoom and rotate a GPS plot.

splash page of NetworkMap. the "Rat" with the auger is the nose art of this Visio app. yes "NetworkRat" is animated on a dble click. clients drill into a state wide network via the Visio interface... static pages display physical connectivity of the telco archectecture...clients trigger macros to discover logical connections and trace paths through broad band transmission network.. on the fly drawings can be activated via active X interfaces in the Visio interface....the system communicates with a state wide transmission network comprising of over 650 nodes .. downloads real network data to detect moves and changes from previous audit.. data coverage can determine how many fibres in any cable ... how many wavelengths on any fibre .. how many bitstreams on any wavelength... bitstream archectecture covers STM-16  down to 64 kb ( voice traffic)

Very nice,
al

Hi there, My name is Jerald, and I am doing some diagramming for my employer on a contract basis.  I am new to visio as a user, but was aware of what it was and what it can do.  Very cool application!  I look forward to helping those I can, but more likely will thank those that can help me!

Cheers, Jerald!

HI Y'all From Texas!

Actually I'm from Phoenix (I'm in Texas right now and missing the western us quite a bit!), and not to long ago I would have hated that greeting, but hearing it daily here in Texas it gets to you!  Anyway, I noticed there are a lot of great people here, a huge bank of experience, and everyone seems very respectful, intelligent, understanding and helpful.  As I read through the evolution of these blogs, I see many people here who've devoted a great deal of time to master this program, and contribute to its success.  It may take months to read through the wondrous knowledge base here, so if I ask a question that may have been answered, I apologize in advance, and will gladly follow a link to where a subject may have been answered.

To the great many contributors here, I give a sincere "Thank You!"

Jay Campbell

"Please call me Jay"

Note:
My experience with Visio is limited, but expanding daily.
I have 15 years of Architecture and Design Experience.
Two Years of Programming Experience
If I may help with anything, I'd be glad to try.

Hi,
I'm a P3M specialist in Warwickshire in England, though I have Welsh roots.

For many years I worked in the automotive industry in CAD design using Catia and CADDS, so visio is familiar on the 2D side.  About 15 years ago I took on a lot of the IT side of the business and these days I do project management and related techniques in all kinds of industries.

I like visio as a diagram tool and I'm trying to encourage others to use it.  At present I'm making a few drawings and templates for project management information.  I've been a reader of this site for a few years and I thought it was time to join and get involved. At the moment my visio skills make mostly questions but I'm keen to help where I can.
  :)

Hi, Im Shaun from Swindon in the UK.

I've just started a new role designing Military/Areospace harness systems using a specially developed Visio add-on called Harnware.

I look forward to speaking to some of you soon...

Cheers
Shaun  8)

Hi folks,

Ryan here from Saratoga Springs, NY. 

I am pretty new to Visio and am using it to do layouts and ground plans for the convention center here in town.  My background is in theatrical production management and events management in NYC.

Glad to see that a sight like this exists.

Ryan

Hello All ..

Gregory Jackson (rabalam):

Seattle Washington (Emerald City)

I've been using Visio for several years I love the program. I am a Sr. Network Engineer been doing that for about 16 years now. I am often the go to person in Visio. I am still learning sooo much though. I just joined this site a few weeks ago but I have been  a Visguy follower for years now and he's one of the best resources if not the best resource  for Visio help, tips and tricks.

~r

Yay, the great Pacific Northwest, birthplace of Visio. (Visio Guy is from there too, by the way :) )

Might have to find him take him to lunch .. the least I can do...

;)

Good Day all!

Mike from San Antonio, TX here!

Tech Writer/Documentation Engineer that spends most of my time building Marketecture documents for Director/Executive level audiences.

hi, im bill,
i am new to this but find it a great program to work with, not as difficult as autocad but a very usefull program.

im from the netherlands but im scots (just live and work here for last 15 years).
i specialise in security systems, private protection and survelliance systems,
if you want to ask or know anything your welcome ;D
i also work as a tattoo artist part time and weekends..
and ....euro's......terrible currency...!!!

I'm in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, working as a Data Analyst and Database Admin for a large hospital.  I use visio for database schemas, web mapping, flow charts, interface design and mockups, fishbone diagrams, timelines, and anything else I can possibly use it for.

I've been using visio for many, many years, and have tried other options but always come back to it.  Once I get visio '10 I'm hoping to start back into integrating Excel / Access with Visio...

Anywho, I should get back to work - hope you are all having a great day and not working too hard :-)
Chris

Hi, I am an applications trainer (Microsoft Office programs mainly) based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 8). I have taught Visio 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2010 but at a fairly basic level. 

I am now trying to take my Visio knowledge a bit further and hope to find this community a good source of answers to tricky questions I (or my students) might have :o. I will also let my Visio students know about this site so that they, too, can "share the knowledge".

I've already posted one question and got a very prompt and concise answer (thanks John). I'll try to do my best to answer other's questions if I can. :D

Hi all,
   I'm a lean technician working for a manufacturing plant in North Carolina.  I'm a brand new user to Visio and am using it for Value Stream maps of our various processes.  So far I am loving the program and it seems to keep getting better as I learn more about it.
   I apologize in advance for the stupid questions I'm bound to ask and am thankful for any help that is thrown my way.

Hello everyone,

I've been diagramming on the computer for about 25 years.  I started using Visio in 2003 and am very familiar with 2002, 2003, and 2007.  We use Visio primarily for flow charts and diagramming highway.

Hi everybody,

my name is Thomas, and I live in Paderborn, Germany.
We use Visio in our company to document electrical cabinets (HIL simulators).
But the main documentation and manufacturing instruction is a handwritten Excel sheet (horrible!).
First I started to create some generic and some company specific electrical stencils to document our work more efficient and consistent.
Last year I discovered the data connection feature, and since two weeks I dabble in VBA programming.
Now the main engineering platform is Visio and everything else is generated from there.
I'm really impressed, what is possible in Visio with such little effort.
But even though it works fine for me, at present it is more a concept than a suitable tool for the whole department.
So there are still lot of things to do.
I guess that my code and especially the design are not optimal, as I started with zero knowledge.
At the moment everything is stored in the template, which is a problem in terms of maintenance as documents are increasing.
Also I would like to integrate the interface seamless into Visio to achieve a smooth workflow.
And then of course there are lot of ideas to implement.
But before I go too far in the wrong direction, I want to investigate how such a complex project should be designed in Visio, what is possible and what is not.

Best regards,
Thomas

Hi, I'm Tomas from Sweden.

I work as a safety of machinery engineer an technical writer consultant. I've used Visio to and from through the years at work but do not currently use it at work but at home for documenting my house renovation. Floor plans, detail drawings, electrical installations etc. My company (large Finnish-Swedish consultancy firm) has this deal with MS allowing us employees to buy Office cheaply, so I bought it. Visio 2010 that is.

I find Visio a great tool for non-perspective illustrations such as the above.

Regards,
Tomas

Hello from Perrysburg Ohio!

I need to visit this thread more often, I find it interesting and fascinating. Thanks all for sharing your stories and introducing yourselves.

In case I haven't written this somewhere else, the Visio Guy's name is Chris Roth. I'm from Seattle, but live in Munich, Germany.

I worked at Visio Corp. before the 1.0 product launched, and somehow have not been able to get away from it in all this time. I love helping customers produce the myriad different diagrams that they need to make their jobs easier. I spend most of my time helping them remove the drudgery by providing code and tools to automate the hard and boring parts of diagramming.

Hi all,

after asking around several questions about Visio development now it is the time to introduce myself.

I am a currently 27-years old software developer from Hannover, Germany. I work in a small team developing an business process modelling software. I am very new to my current role which is to integrate Visio as a graphics engine in order to draw and show business processes.

Visio seems to be a great piece of software but is also very complex.

Network engineer living in Canada
I use Visio every day and I am lookingfor new ways to make smarter diagrams and automate network related tasks in Visio

My name is Nikolay Belykh, now live in Vienna, Austria

For the last 6 years I've been working for the Process4.biz GmbH (small Austrian company) as a software developer.
We develop business process modeling suite based on Microsoft Visio, also reference models for Dynamics AX, Navision, COBiT, etc
We are M$ Visio "partner of the year" 2012! Still not sure if it is because we are good or because all other candidates have already been "partner of the year" at least once  :)

Developed for Visio before it was acquired by Microsoft.
Last year started a Visio site (http://unmanagedvisio.com) and Visio blog (http://unmanagedvisio.blogspot.com), however due to personal issues (no,  no laziness involved!) the site got a little bit abandoned..
Hope to fix this soon :)

Been programing in VBA for years (mainly excel) and recently found Visio can be much more than a layout/drawing tool.

Network Engineer/Architect by Trade, documentation genius by birth. Anyways.. hello all!

Hello everyone,

My name is Alexander. I am from Moscow-city, Russia. i work in telecom company.
I started using Visio Technical 4 in 1998.
---
My portfolio (https://surrogate--tm-github-io.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ru&_x_tr_pto=wapp)

Hi

I'm in the UK and have used Visio on and off for a number of years for producing flow charts and floor plans etc. for work, new bathroom layout (plan and wall elevations) for myself and the drawings for a house extension for my sister. The latter came about when she asked me to produce drawings after moving house and I had "retired" my drawing board having been an architectural technician/building surveyor/project manager etc. and didn't fancy setting it back up/using it again. I was recovering from a minor operation at the time and thought why not have a go in Visio - I wanted to do it in CAD but our IT dept. wouldn't let me have it.  :(

Whilst Visio isn't designed for this; fine for the plans, but not really for the elevations and sections etc. I have to say I was very pleased with the results, that matched the quality of CAD, but it was a good job I wasn't been paid for it because it took me twice as long as it would have done on the drawing board (!)  :) due to windows etc. having to be drawn from scratch.

Reason for joining the forum is that I have a specific problem I'm looking for help with (which I'll post elsewhere) but having joined I'm certain to be coming here again for the interaction and tips from other forum members.

Hello!  I've referenced this site for years.  Thanks for the tremendous volume of tips/insights/best practices.

I'm a workflow analyst for a hospital system now, having done process improvement and workflow analysis for many years at other firms.  I'm working at least a few hours per day in Visio 2010, mapping out hospital and patient care processes.  Good times!

I'll post my questions elsewhere... thanks again for this great forum.

JC

Hey, I am Sam.  I am new to Visio 2013 and want to install Visio 2013 viewer. 

Hi Everyone -

I use Visio as an aid in both program planning and scheduling. I'm currently working on a project to take an excel dump from primavera and use it to generate a more useful and quasi interactive scheduling tools for the leads of different stream.

I was born in the U.S.A. but I now live in Austria. Herr VisioGuy I habe auch im Stuttgart gewohnt.

I would like to find a comprehensive vision/vba guide. Any suggestions.

Cheers,

Chris

Hello all - James here, from Boston, U.S.; currently trying to make head/tail of a whole bunch of Visio diagrams being maintained by another team, and trying to come up with some novel ways to manage them better. Wish me luck :)

James

Newbie Sundog here, in Alien Country (Roswell NM). Looking forward to demystify knotty Visio problems (or even smooth ones) via this forum.

Hi guys,

I'm a Hardware Consultant working for Oracle and I'm using Visio for creating hardware diagrams.

I'm a Visio User since 2010.

Regards

Hello To All,
  I am a new Visio user who works for Veteran Affairs.  My assignment is to take the inventory of a data center.  There are over 100 racks in the center with 25 more coming.  If i cannot find an archive, then I will ask questions.

Yours,
Rick 'Kaveman' Kachur

Hello All,

Carlos from Cali. New to Visio. Using it for create and convert drawings at work.

Cheers.

Greetings from Madison Wisconsin!  8)

Hi TChris,

I'm a Seattle Seahawks fan, and I'd love to thank you folks in Badger country for Russell Wilson! :)

Hello everybody,

I'm Jean-Marie from Paris, France (so excuse me in advance for my occasional deficient English...)
I'm using Visio Premium 2010 since one year, as part of my work (pharmaceutical industry) for technical drawing, reports and feasability studies.

I'm using this forum to help me in my technical progression in Visio and to learn tips for my personnal use.

Nice to meet all of you.

Hi,

This is Dave from Hampshire I work from home as systems engineer for a small company in Germany and often need to make simple drawings with Visio 2003.
Other life is restoring old motorcycles from the 1970's
Dave

Welcome Dave from Hampshire, <fx waves from north east Hampshire near Fleet>

Total visio noob here just tasked with creating a network map for my company,  so you will all be seeing alot of my noobness displayed daily. Excuse typos, on galaxy tab

Howdy from Leeds, Yorkshire UK
Computer Operator on Secondment to use Visio - thrown in at the deep end and trying to learn fast :S

Grüetzi! - from Switzerland
After asking enough Questions I finally introduce myself.

I'm Audio Technican. Planing and integrating Pro. Audio and Video Products to Broadcast applications.
Working with Visio and different other CAD programs since 2006. I found out that Visio is the most flexible tool on Market. And with some time-investment its possible to Automate great functions.

best regards,

novski

Hi All,
Application support consultant looking to create interactive stuff with Visio

Hello from an engineer in Washington DC.  I've been working with excel for years but a new job has me working with Visio.  I have some basic knowledge but would like to climb to the point where I could be a little more useful that basic diagramming

HI Everyone,

I'm a CS Engineer, specialized in BPM.

I've just found visio and the power it can have (I had, of course, done some diagrams in visio previously) with data graphics.

I prefer the non programming option whenever I can, which is strange for a Computer Science guy. :)

So, hope to learn a lot from the guys up here.

Cheers
Jose

Hello everyone! I am from Tacoma, just like Visio Guy, and teach computer software in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada. I am glad to find this community because I use and teach Visio intermittently and it's great to get to chat with power-users.

On another note, I played trombone with Visio Guy in Junior and Senior high school band.  ;D I still play professionally, and so does he, which is very cool.

Hello,
Name Stephen

I am new to this group, I am a Visio 2010 basic user and came here looking for help with time line issues.

Hi, all. I am Keith in Orlando (FL), and I have been using Visio on and off ever since Version 4, before it was owned by Microsoft (I think). I mainly use it for process mapping, but have used it for network diagrams, flowcharts, object-relationship models, database models, org charts, and sequence diagrams. I'm currently using Visio 2013's BPMN functionality to map out processes for utility and government software.

Thanks all, I really need to set a reminder to check this thread more often, it's really fun.

Karin also-from Tacoma, woot woot!

Hello. I'm new to this forum but have been using VISIO since Y2K.
Use it to produce drawings for U.S Navy.
Have a question re VISIO 2013 STANDARD.
I have [or will] post it in GENERAL section rather than here if I don't find the answer in what has already been posted.

Hi all. I live in Southland, New Zealand. I'm a retired builder who's spent the last 20 years building and servicing computers. I installed Visio (2007) because I want to fool about with a house plan. Frankly, I'd rather use a drawing machine, but I don't have the space to set one up (hence the need for a plan), so I'm stuck with a software solution. So here goes. I look forward to talking with you nice people  :)   

FYI....may want to consider sketchup

That said, Visio is much much much (oh did I say much) easier to use than sketchup

Hi Everyone,

I have been working as IT support for the last 10 years but embarrassingly, have only just discovered Visio.  :-[
I require it now as part the documentation process for recording the layout/weight of our server room kits...and am having some trouble acquiring the templates I need.

I figured this may be the best place to find help...and who knows learn some bonus techniques along the way.

:) :) :) :) :) :)

Hi all,

my name is Rolf, located in Germany, and I have known Visio since 2000. Did use it mostly to explain stuff/circuits for pcb hardware design (simple overviews).

Since 2007 used to do electrical block diagrams and schematics, wiring diagrams and detailed mechanical overviews (19 inch racks). Have used connection points (over-)extensively and discovered VBA, shapesheet programming and data connections and used it to create part lists, fill quotation templates or order forms. Currently using Visio 2010.
Looking forward to share experiences and get all my questions answered  :D

Hi
I've used the awesome knowledge on this site in the past to stand on the shoulders of giants and do things with Visio that I am pretty proud of :)

One of the things that I have managed to do is take information from MS Project (a project management / planning tool which is brilliant at what it does and terrible at producing pretty pictures which can be shared with senior managers) and export it to Excel and use this to drive a Visio drawing which produces the required prettiness and level of summary.  Each drawing has 3-500 links to be updated each time - which I use "database refresh" to do.

Miles

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to the great things Visio can do.  I have over the years only used it for very basic flow charting.  I work at a low level IT help desk am am trying to branch out and get some more skill sets under me. Really enjoying the community here and the wealth of knowledge.  I hope I can contribute in some small way in the future.

Thanks.

Hi All,

Working as an engineer down under... That's Australia for those not understanding the lingo...

I'm new to visio - trying to use it for our Network Layout - ran into a problem putting links into the background page and them not working on foreground pages... seems to be a feature - but it did lead me here :)

Hello,
I'm didijaba, from Zagreb, Croatia. I'm big fan of Excel and Vba, and I have discovered Visio and it is my new passion :). Cheers

Aloha from Serbia.
I'm SysAdmin in one large public company and I have poor knowledge of this excellent piece of software. :)

G'day G'day.. another Visio fan from downunder...   8)
Mech engineer found Visio 4 years ago, use for inspection plans, report drawings and now for home use building plans for renovations.

Cheers

Been using visio for couple of years for building automation.  worked for a company that had a "VBA guy" and he automated a lot repetitive tasks with VBA.  At a new company with no "VBA guy" >:( and drowning in the muck. 


Is there a best way to get into the meat and potatoes of Visio?  Attaching VBA code to stencils, importing a spreadsheet.

Coming here to the Visio Guy forum is the best way to find out more about Visio. Just browse and read, read, read. And ask.

is the some guide to get started with VBA in visio?  The code VBE is not like Excel, found a simple piece of code here about zooming out (page width) on all the pages in within a Visio document.  How does one make a VBA stencil and how do you execute it?

Am I really the first person to reply to this sence 2009?  Well, I just joined today.  I have used Visio for nearly 15 years.  I work for a large engineering company and have become know as the Visio king.  I am always looking for a new trick in Visio. 

Opps made a first post before i saw this. What can i say except i know about as much about Visio as an Ant does about nuclear physics, in fact an ant may well know more that i do about Visio.

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to Visio but for a non-profit organization having to do a deep dive helping them to develop some custom diagrams they need. Visio certainly has its peculiarities but I am already in love with how much I can do with it, so its great there is a forum like this to learn about all those little but o so critical Visio details :).

Looking forward to being here regularly and learning a lot about Visio!

Jim

Hi, I am Mark.  I have been involved with Air Craft Carriers and Submarines for over 30 years.
I have used Access and Excel until my fingers bleed. Over the years I was involved with having to keep timelines updated by using Power Point. Kinda like drawing on your screen with crayons. Very time consuming. Visio (2010) Pro changed my life. Now I have  a multi leveled architecture structure using the combination of Artemis 9000 ex, Access, Excel and Visio to create a much needed automation to the timeline functionality.

I'm a Sr. Technical Writer / Technical Designer - USA

I specialize in Infrastructure Diagrams

I've been working with Visio for years (Since 2003)

I try to design unique diagrams... I hate when people use this wonderful tool and design diagrams in the 1980's format...

I'm learning something new each day... I have yet to conquer the ability to turn lines into Wires... on a flat surface, but I will. 

I hate the Visio 2013... and MS Office 2013... Too Cartoonish for me...

Nice Intro. I agree so much with your statement about V2013 and the 1980 style.
Welcome.

Hi there, just like to say hello to everyone. I'm Jon and i work in IT in the great city of Bristol, UK, and have been using Visio for around 7 years, although only the superficial functions to document comms room layouts, comms cabinet layouts and my voice network. Love Visio but sometimes need a little help on the next step up, as I'm sure I could do way more with Visio.  Love that there are great free repositories for stencils, I have found everything I ever needed and more so far.

Wish I had found this great site and resources before.

Jon

Afternoon all. Thought I'd introduce myself as a new "Old-Timer" with Visio. Just gone back to Architecture from Management and having to get back into Visio. Haven't used it since 2000 and have just installed 2016 Pro. Crikey, what a difference  8)
Anyway, more reading to do but already found some really useful tutorials on here. Most seem to be for 2010 though but I'm making sense of it.
I probably won't be posting much initially as I think there's months of learning to happen first but I know what I need to achieve, just a case of figuring it all out now.
Cheers. Dom.

Welcome

Hi,

I'm an occasionaly french user of Visio 2013, using it for its data-graphic feature to display network architecture of more than 200 machines.
I need some help to create more concise graphical data.

...and on those other occasions, when you're not French, what might you be?   ???

On a serious note, post a more detailed question in one of the other areas of the forum.  This introduction area doesn't draw very much attention.  So, re-post your last question, say, in the General  Visio topic, and include what you mean by more concise.

Cheers,
Wapperdude

Whoops!  My bad.  This is General Visio area...the title threw me off...sorry. :P

What I meant was, start a new topic. ::)

LOL, I mean bienvenue.

Hey, folks:

   Well, since I've been posting here for years and lurking many years more, I figure it's way past time I introduced myself.

   First off, I love Visio.  I discovered it in 2003, and it set me free from the tyranny of graph paper, green plastic IBM flowcharting stencils, and Leroy Lettering kits. 

   Visio was crucial to the commercialization of the three US Patents (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=S&l=50&TERM1=Krawchuk%2C+Kenneth+V&FIELD1=INNM&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=PTXT) I hold, because before Visio there was no way to easily draw models of its internal workings (http://businessarchitectsllc.com/3-D.1.html), let alone the data and process models it renders.  But with Visio, things have progressed to the point where today I'm using Visio's VBA back end as the operating system to automate the patents' creation and execution of hierarchical process flows and data, not to mention using it for more mundane things. 

   Professionally, I started my technical career at the tender age of 17 as a contract COBOL programmer for the Bank of New Jersey, way back in the era of punch cards and paper tape, eventually evolving into a systems programmer coding in assembler.  After joining Toastmasters (http://toastmasters.org) in 1997 I acquired the necessary speaking and leadership skills to transition to business analysis and business architecture, which is where I remain today.

   I'm also pretty busy outside of IT as a professional public speaker, author (http://atlassnubbed.com), and prominent political figure (http://kenk.org), and I'm typically the first hit in search engines when searching on my last name alone.

   There is a lot more I could say, but probably the most important introductory remark I could make to readers of this forum is to say Thank You!  It's here that I learned about shapesheets, VBA, and all the other esoteric details that make Visio dance so artfully.  Chris, John, Paul, Yacine, Wapperdude, June, Nikolai, Aledlund, and so many others, I'm in your debt.

   Be seeing you,

   - Ken

Hi everybody, I'm Dan and I'm an alcoholic.

Oh, wrong forum.  ehem.

A/V guy here from Calamafornia.  Been doing schematics, rack elevations and floor plan layouts for about 6 years now using various iterations of Visio.  Currently in 2013.  Never really did much with shapesheets or linking data until recently.  It's pretty groovy.  Definitely challenging.  I'll be picking all your big brains for help from time to time. 

Yikes,
D

Hi Everybody,

I'm Peter and I'm a newbie for Visio. I'm a Dutch guy and live in Belgium. I'm working as a quality assurance manager in a manufacturing company.
I always made process maps in Visio, but now I want to go into the next step of getting data into my maps and link those maps to our document control software.
Unfortunaltely I'm also a newbie on VBA. That's a hard thing to crack.
I hope I get a little bit of your help on this.
Thanks in advance.  :D

Best regards,

Peter

Hey Cromme123

I am kinda a newbie also but I have cracked some of what you might be getting into.
I could not have done it without the help of the Pro's in this forum.

Look for stuff under my name, that may be a good place to start.

SubPlanner

Hello!  I am a new user.  My name is Linda Goulet and I am in Montreal, Canada ... today, a sunny and cold city  ;D.  I work in a small financial services organization.  My mandate is to document and improve processes.  VISIO is one of my new best tool!  I will mostly ask questions for now but who knows, I may one day help someone else  :P

I am not yet a visio user but would like to become one if it can do what I want it to do.  I appreciate being able to contact other users.

Years ago there was a little program part of Microsoft/Windows Draw.  I could create a motif.  I could block that motif or part of it.  Then I could tile it out on that program.  Subsequent versions of Windows later that program disappeared.  I am searching, so far in vain, for a program that will to the same or similar think.  I want to create a motif.  I want to be able to flip and rotate motifs, to combine motifs and to create a square of other squares that I can then tile out to see what that motif does on the page.  is this possible with visio?  I don't know what to call it.  I don't know if I am using the wrong language.  I don't want bathroom tiles, or a program where I select designs and colors that they provide.  I just want to make a grid of random squares and then see what that produces.  Any information would be great appreciated.  Thank you.  Keubel

Quote from: keubel on January 21, 2016, 05:36:31 PM
I am not yet a visio user but would like to become one if it can do what I want it to do.  I appreciate being able to contact other users.

Years ago there was a little program part of Microsoft/Windows Draw.  I could create a motif.  I could block that motif or part of it.  Then I could tile it out on that program.  Subsequent versions of Windows later that program disappeared.  I am searching, so far in vain, for a program that will to the same or similar think.  I want to create a motif.  I want to be able to flip and rotate motifs, to combine motifs and to create a square of other squares that I can then tile out to see what that motif does on the page.  is this possible with visio?  I don't know what to call it.  I don't know if I am using the wrong language.  I don't want bathroom tiles, or a program where I select designs and colors that they provide.  I just want to make a grid of random squares and then see what that produces.  Any information would be great appreciated.  Thank you.  Keubel

Hi Keubel,
If you are purely after graphic functions, you may want to try Inkscape. Google it. It's free.

Hey people, I am FlowerGirl.
Florida is home for me.
I am just starting to use Visio in my new job and found this forum.
Looks like a great place for Visio knowledge.
I hope I can lean in from time to time to get a little help.


Thanks a bunch.
FlowerGirl   

My name is Glenn. I have followed this page for some time, but never registered before. I used to think I was a Visio pro, until I found that page and realized I was only scratching the surface of its many tools. Thanks for creating this site, it has definitely upped my game in creating Visio drawings.

That being said, has anyone ever created a digital document or portfolio of their drawings to attach with their resume to send to prospective employers? Not sure if Visio has something I can use, or if I should use Power Point or Word to insert pictures in an organized portfolio.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Glenn

Hi, I'm a Software Engineer having build web applications for close to 20 years.  I've used Visio for a long time for everything from application flow charts to web diagrams to building diagrams for network topology.  I love this tool...people look at me like I have 3 heads when I say I like to use Visio.

:D

Quote from: quigtj@gmail.com on March 14, 2016, 07:27:11 PM
I love this tool...people look at me like I have 3 heads when I say I like to use Visio.
:D

I shouldn't say this, but I understand you so much. :D
... and very prolific start. Welcome.

Oddly, I actually have three heads as a direct result of using Visio for so long!  :)

My name is David. I am from Darlington, SC in the US.

I have been using Visio for about a year with my job. So far this site has been pretty helpful. Thanks.

Hi!

I am a software developer and use Visio for interface prototyping and data flow modeling.

My first used version of tool was Visio v4.0 (from Visio Corporation, before product acquired by MS). I was install them from 4 3.5'' floppy disks. Next MS version was bloated to full CD  :)

Hello All,
Been using Visio for a couple of years for managing our lab environment layout. But now realizing how with SharePoint and SCOM I might be able to open a huge door of opportunity for space management and awareness.

Hi All,

Gareth, English but living in Melbourne Australia.

New to Visio but loving the tool and the capabilities while trying to work through some of the frustrations with my diagrams jumping all over the place.  I'm sure I'll figure out why thats happening with a bit more experience/coaching.

Thanks in advance for any responses to my questions.  My fisrt is here:  http://visguy.com/vgforum/index.php?topic=7202.0

Hello!  Im a new visio user.   Love it but need some help from time to time.. 

Hello. I do low voltage work out of south florida. Everything but alarms pretty much. Have been using Visio pro '13 for a few years now. Primarily for marking up floor plans ect.

Hi All

I'm a robotics and systems engineer with the University of Oxford (UK), formerly an electronics designer (so used to PCB CAD etc) but new to Visio so struggling to get my head around learning it!

Hi everyone,

I am a construction manager in the UK undertaking some professional exams at the moment.

I am attracted to Visio because my role involves a lot of complex business/contractual structures, and this is something Vision is good at visually clarifying.

Thanks

Tom

Hello!
I am from Northeast Ohio and work for a manufacturing company. I am the Process Coordinator and have only been in the position for a little over a month. I started using Visio 2010 right away and due to no one at my company being able to help me out (only Visio pro mainly works from home and it's difficult to ask all of my little and big questions via email), I have been using this forum and the Visio Guy site a bunch! I mainly use Visio for creating different types of process maps and value stream maps.

Glad there is a community of people here!

Hi everyone!

I am from the Birthplace of the USA, the City of Brotherly Love, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I have been using Visio off and on for 10 years now, in between using Business Process Management (BPM) diagramming tools.  I work as a consultant and my career has me working in a variety of industries.  I mostly use Visio for cross-functional business process mapping and Business Process Architecture, focusing on business process improvements.  I have earned my grey hairs using Visio. 

I'm excited to find so many fabulous answers posted on this forum.  I was a power user of Visio 2003 and Visio 2010, yet am having a very difficult time with Visio 2013. 

Welcome aboard!!

Yes 2013 is a step back from 2003

Hello From BC Canada!

I work for a company doing Building Controls.  We use excel and visio extensively for engineering and drawing packages.  So it's always nice to sharpen the tools with macros or other useful tricks the software has hiding under the hood.

Been using Visio 2010 for about 3 years.  we recently updated to 2016.   More stable but some growing pains there.  At the 3 year mark i feel like i'm only really starting to understand how much Visio has to offer.

Hello all. KB here checking in for the first time. Have been lurking on and off for about a year now and see how powerfull this Visio can be (with others  :o ) So I registered. I've seem to have gotten myself into a little deep at work. I was goofing around in my spare time using this software (that I had never heard of before). So I made a floor plan of our data center with 80+ racks and environmentals. I got snitched on and my boss got word of it and liked it. Now I've been tasked of creating Visio/Excel merged diagram? The Visio will have the rack locations in the data center and the Excel sheet will have the server locations within the racks. So here I am trying to gather some VisioMS smarts. I have no MS Visio,Excel and minimal Word smarts.  So please bare with me.
Thanks
KB

Hi everybody! My name is Tommi and I'm from dark and cold Finland. I've been using Visio for about three months actively. I'm an ICT architect and I create a lots of network diagrams with visio.

At the moment I'm working with Visio 2016 and liking it very much!

Thanks,
Tommi

Hi All,

Just a quick hello, I've been coming here quite a lot for answers so it seemed rude not to.

I've only been messing about with Visio for a few weeks but it's got some interesting and frustrating components to it!

I'm enjoying getting under the hood with VBA though.

Not to parrot everyone who comes here but this site is an amazing resource so thanks Paul and all the regular posters!

Cheers!

Rob

Hi all

Long time Visio user ...pretty sure I still have some documentation with Shapeware on the cover - but always been a user of only the most basic functions (using the green stencil template metaphor...)

Now I think I can use the program to help with some more complicated stuff and this forum looks like the place to ask questions to see what is possible ...or not.

Looks like there is a lot of useful info and competent people here to help with my stumbling towards the next level.

Ragnar

I'm an IT architect, been Visio user and only recently trying to make better use of it.  Written some VBA, created some templates, smart shapes, etc. so I'd say I'm at an intermediate level but clearly a lot to learn.  Look forward to helping each other!

Shunyun

Hi,
i´m Niclas, im working for a Media Technology Company and use Visio (nearly) only for work.

Hi guys

After using Visio to create diagrams for years, I'm just starting to delve deeper into learning about the shapesheet, and connecting data to objects.

Patrick :)

Hello from Minnesota

I'm a complete noob trying to get up and running on what seems to be a very useful tool. Dataflow through a Access/Excel application.

Ed

Hi everyone!

I'm new to Visio and learning the ropes.  I've been using it for about a month for technical documentation. This forum seems like a great resource, so I just registered. I've posted a question in the general section already.  :D

Susan
Somewhere in Florida

Greetings all

From Sunny South Africa well it is actually raining at this moment, but it is sunny in general.

Been using Visio off and On for a few years, but mainly for Org charts and the like.
Now i have a bigger project so i have joined you in the hope that you can point me at the right learning resources.


DvW  ;D

Hello everyboby

From the westernmost point of europe, Portugal, I salute you all.

I'm currently working with Visio to basically produce the most part of technical documents in the company I work in.

Hope to get more knowledge around here.

Thank you all

Compared to some of you, I feel like something of a dilatant. 

I've been using Visio for creating process flow charts, organizational charts, and graphics, both professionally and for my hobby, heraldry.  I've been able to create some very workable heraldic designs using Visio.

I joined this forum because I've been asked to do some things with Visio that I haven't done before.

I live and work in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

Hello,

I am Nath and new to Visio.

Want to learn how to put diagrams using visio.

thank you

Hi all

John here from Ireland. I've been using Visio on and off for years. I come here when I want to find answer for a tricky question and find this forum very useful.

Regards

Hi everyone,

My name is Daniel, I've used visio for about three years and have come here to seek answers to the questions that i stumble across when making visio templates and add ins. I am a big fan of the ShapeSheet functionality in particular, I find it so easy and love that it does not prompt "Security Questions!" about macros and scare the people i make templates for!

Hope to chat soon,

Daniel.

 Tomas Larsson from Sweden.
Been using Visio since version 3.
Mainly doing PID and similar types of drawings.

Hey, a PID colleague. There aren't that much around here. Would love to see your work. Welcome to the forum.

I do wood working and other design projects around my house and for other people.  Visio is useful for creating visuals to explain my ideas to my "clients".  I am still using Visio 2007, but it is fine for my needs.  Glad to be part of the group :)

Visio 2007 is quite, quite adequate. Some might say it was the best version.

Hi,

I am designing Electrical Diagrams. Any forum to help me about how to use MS Visio Electrical? I have installed MS Visio 2013 and I built a lot of stencil of electrical symbols. I tried by myself to draw some diagrams and using the connection point. some of them its come diagonal and I don't know how to fix it. Another thing, I wish to use the cable numbers and I wish to make a list of the numbers that I used and if possible the items in the circuit.

Thank you for this forum I hope someone can help me!! :-)

Hello everyone!
I am researcher in fire service of Russia. And one of my main work is a graphical system (AIGS GraFiS) for drawing firefighting actions diagrams. This system based on MS Visio and allow firefighters in great details describe firefighting actions. Also I managed YouTube channel Vigil IT-video dedicated to using of GRaFiS, Visio, Microsoft office software and development of different simple solutions for firefighters especially using VBA.
I'm working with different versions of Visio since 2010. But I still like Visio 2007.
Here some links (all resources in Russian language):
AIGS GraFiS official site: http://graphicalfiresets.ru/ (http://graphicalfiresets.ru/)
AIGS GraFiS promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99aI5IcrBpo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99aI5IcrBpo)
Vigil IT-video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWlqFPWAKnF61nRxrtk28dw (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWlqFPWAKnF61nRxrtk28dw)

hi there,
I'm Peter, living in Germany, working here and there as electrical construction or testing consultant.
Actually I discoverd that 50% of my documents are made with Visio  :o (the other half is Excel) - mainly technical overviews with lots of layers and mostly caused by lack of general documents.
Currently I try to discover shape-sheet-formulas (very nice feature!).
Personally I use Vectorworks for drawings like this 'cause of 3D-stuff or E3/e-Plan for electrical diagrams - but at work we haven't. Next week I get a Win10PC with Visio 2016(?) or (even worse) V365 and I'm a bit scared...
I love my 2010 version and I recommend this to my collegues with the words: if you want to do it precise - please use Visio.

I would add some graphics - but unfortunately the smallest is about 50MB... sorry...

I take the opprotunity to say thank you to all of the contributors of this forum. Great work!
cu
hl

Hello Guys,

I'm Mat, living in Belgium, working for an engineering company. We develop programs.

I'm using Visio (2019 or 365?) and find myself often in need for special features, so I started messing around with the shapesheet and all that stuff.
I did a few (broken) stencils to represent development code, but nothing too complicated (yet).
I discovered that it was actually a really powerful tool, and to get the most of it, signing up on this forum is probably a good first step.

Thank you to all the help already found on this forum.

Regards,

Hello,
Am Paul V from the netherlands.  am just started to experimate the possibilities of visio with P&ID. I believe am working with 365.
Came to this forum to ask a question. will do that shortly in another topic. cause I already searching for days for an solution.

Greets,

Hi Paul,
I've been working for over a decade with Visio for drawing P&IDs.
The things I learned:

   
• Visio is a one of a kind software, capable of magnificent things
• The built in solutions are not worth exploring. You need to build your own one. My personal choice is a combo of Visio and Access. But the possibilities are endless.
• Building an own solution is mainly a matter of formulating the needs, exploring the possible, then overtaking the tadious implementation
• ... buying a specialised software would have been the better (professional) way, though I don't regret my journey.

Don't hesitate to ask, I'd be pleased to share my experience.
Rgds, Y.

Ulf Herold-Jensen, Bsc. E.
Work as a consultant within energy, waste water and fresh water industries, doing control and functional descriptions and the on/off PLC programming
Experienced Visio user - ever since Intellicad - but only seriuosly for the last year or so.
Use of Visio for documentation of logic diagrams and the off beat PI-diagram. (Anyone ith experience in this product: https://visiopid.com/en/ out there?)
Thanks for all the great knowledge and information on these sites

@UHJ,
I had a look at the link you provided. I didn't know the product, but it looks quite capable.
It reminds me however of https://www.x-visual.com
Both are small solutions, based on Visio. x-visual seems to be more mature and have better tools.

my 2 cents,
Y.

Hi everyone,

I'm a Visio rookie from New York. This is my very first week using Visio. Does everyone remember what their first experience with Visio was like?  ;)

Anyway I've recently taken up a role in business transformation and I will primarily be using Visio to create process flow charts and organization structures. We normally get consultants to do most of this work for us but given the COVID-19 pandemic and everyone here under lockdown, I thought it was a good time to learn a new skillset.

I am very glad to have found this forum and will be posting questions seeking guidance!

Thanks

Good Morning from Western Massachusetts! Doing a quick intro as that is always a good start! Ancient retiree here, I have used older versions of Visio from before it was acquired by MS. Currently running VISIO 10 on a PC that has a new Windows 10 install.  I will note that I'm primarily a Mac user and its my intention to set up one of my two iMacs with a dual boot so I can move Windows 10 and VISIO 10 over to that machine and get rid of the older Shuttle PC.   

I've used VISIO for odd things in the past including laying out floor plans, designing simple woodshop hobby projects, and other weird stuff.  I'm a muscle car enthusiast and right now I'm trying to design an aluminum fan shroud for my '69 Camaro.  I'm having an issue with grouping and ungrouping but I'll discuss that in a separate post.  My background is Industrial Design, and I spent most of my career in the Toy & Game business in the R & D and Market Research areas. Im no expert by any means, and I hope to learn from some of the experts on this Forum.

Being shuttered in here in MA, is not that bad, my wife keeps adding to the "Honey Do" list LOL, and Facetiming my kids and grandkids helps a lot. Its also giving me a chance to do some work on my car and mess with my computers. So thanks in advance for any/all help you folks might offer, and please stay safe and healthy in this terrible time our countries are going through.

Mike

Welcome aboard.

For your fan, wouldn't need more of a CAD program for that?  Unless you are considering getting "close" and using a hammer to make it fit, not sure Visio is your best option for that.  IMHO, I would not even use sketchup for that.   Adobe or solidworks is better for that kind of thing.   

Hello Smartkid

The 1st feature I learned from visio is that the printouts for the shortcuts in your desk's phone at work are exactly as defined. With QuarkXpress it was the same but we hadn't. From this point I was a bit addicted...

imagine, what I know tomorrow ;)

hl

Hello everyone,

I'm a production supervisor just outside of Boston, MA. I began using Visio just within the last couple weeks to make process maps. It's awesome that there's a big community here for this program. Thanks for having me.

Hello everyone,
I'm a Microsoft Office developer (W, E, A, O) and live in Utrecht (NL). I used Visio only as a tool for making flow-charts.
To understand more about Visio, I also started to study this Microsoft product.

Hi Everyone,
I am an HVAC Controls Engineer in the US (NC) and use visio exclusively to develop our controls submittals (wiring diagrams, network architectures, BOM for ordering parts).  We use an Add-in developed by our parent company, but it is extremely clunky so the past couple years i have been developing my own in VBA. Quite the challenge!

I have used the forum during that time for general help but have recently become more active.

Love the forum!

I'm an industrial engineer as well that just ended a tour as a Business Process Architect and Modeler for the Dept. Veteran Affairs Business Architecture Department.

The below story is an excerpt from a specific note where they wanted to hear about my accomplishments and what I had stumbled upon that I no longer have the Accenture flag waving above my head to approach this as a top down initiative and serious problem especially for people like BA at the VHA that had an entire document class of global meta-data objects and library inside RSA that when the licenses were dropped completely disappeared (or powers that be were ignoring the problem)

I have a summary deck of screen shots that illustrate the concept (which sounds easy, but not deciphering meaning of properties as sometimes from is to and to is from and it's mess and probably why they didn't fix it just made a new one).  If I was still in Aerospace and Defense I'd bet every cookie the cookie jar that they hundreds of models in various formats with no solution but for them to be remade to take advantage of Syncing technology. and move forward.  Forgive the extraneous stuff, but it's got the more detailed content that I don't have to rewrite.  I don't think there is a way to upload the deck with the size limits even as a pdf ... if i cut some out of the spreadsheet it might take that ...

I am a formally trained Industrial Engineer and Management Consultant with special skills in a variety of industries and positions. A review of my credentials will confirm my general employment qualifications as well as demonstrate a proven track record for developing and delivering high value services to customers and client organizations.

One of my greatest strengths is my ability to enter a new environment and begin to procure immediate results having both technical and general management skills that are easily transported between different industries and varied working environments. Visio-based Excel applications of VBA being a recent acquired specialty while in my Business Architecture and Modeler role as a contractor to Department of Veteran's Affairs.

In addition to creating and modifying Visio models for my assigned region of VA facilities and the on/off-site elaboration sessions prior to their go-live system integration planning with Cerner EHR, I created a set of programs that semi-automated the companion document required for each of my process models reducing documentation time by 95%*. However, the strong VBA problem solving skills merely serve as an illustration of my refined ability to adapt well and quickly to any preferred set of applications or integration points.

My most subtle (but probably most coveted quality if I had one) would be my ability to recognize transformative value while working as an individual contributor**.  So, I am particularly well suited for roles that have an end-goal but maybe not an actionable plan because that go beyond one system or process. Where executive's may have given approval or taken special interest in a business problem, but a solution design or integration plan is what they are looking to this new resource to identify, analyze, propose, manage or execute options and possibly provide them with work around or ad-hoc solutions in the meantime.


*I am currently completing a prototype of a Visio Process Model Master Metadata Manager utilizing a prebuilt framework I've created via SQL Server, Dev Express, and Visual Studio designed specifically for solution architected designs to be 'rapid prototyped' while simultaneously providing a DevOps team with a detailed simulation of the working functional and technical requirements yet giving users and the business an interim gap application to meet mission-critical needs.


** commercially there is no solution available in the marketplace for the ability to ETL pre-Visio 2016 models into a useful form like Excel, or the ability to auto-write-back any desired changes to Visio models without manually applying them or having the applications/files linked directly. Secondly, a by-product of the algorithm that I created to derive the relationships needed to create my process model summary report (PMSR) required an interim table that after a minor reformat is the Excel spreadsheet data necessary to recreate a Classic Visio model into a 'data-driven model' from scratch using the new Visio Data Visualizer feature and wizard that leaves the data and Visio model permanently "synced." However, Microsoft did NOT provide a conversion feature, so the commercial applications of the solution itself might have use in my next position or business network.

Hello

I work in City Utilities (water and sewer), have very little (nil) experience with Visio, however am required to do a high level map of the cities sewer infrastructure that includes sewer pump stations, sewerpipe mains (just the big ones) and a few other bits.

Am hoping to find some direction as to how to pull down city utilities type shapes (mainly sewer but also water storage reservoirs, water mains, pump stations) if they even exist. Alternatively find out how i can draw them if possible.

thank you

ShapeSource do a set of stencils that may do what you want.
https://www.shapesource.com/water-wastewater-visio-stencil-set (https://www.shapesource.com/water-wastewater-visio-stencil-set)

The users here are always ready, willing and (hopefully) able to assist newcomers to Viso.
Please ask.

Hello everyone! My name is Bryan and I live near Detroit, MI. I currently working as an intern while pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. I began using visio in June and have enjoyed using the program and learning more about it each day. I have been using Visio Guy for help since my first day and am excited to join this helpful community.  :)

Hi.

Been working with MS Visio for a while, but first started to look in to working with formuals.
And hope to learn a lot from your experts.

br. LunJep

Hello I'm a newbie technical writer for a sugar company. We make sugar out of sugar beets.

We use Visio to show the flow of liquids through the sugar making process.

I have very little experience with Visio and I am looking forward to learning how to be more effecient in making process flow diagrams.

Thanks,

Welcom Crystal Sugar there is a lot of expertise on this forum to help you!

Henlo frens ,
I ended up using Visio as the only real visualization tool out there,,,  taking some time off to learn the more advanced features . Visio ftw ! 

I work for a large international corporation that uses Visio for their SharePoint sites.  I was just tasked with the maintenance and updates of our departmental SharePoint site so here I am.  I am brand new to Visio, although I do have experience using VB for MS Access and MS Excel.  Looking forward to the learning.

Thanks,
ODNV

Hello!!!!!

I am in the United States and work for a building automation controls company for HVAC systems.

I use visio everyday, and I am currently working here while in college.
I am trying to learn more about smart shapes and shape sheets!!!!!!!!!!!

This forum has already been such a big help! ;D ;D ;D

G'day everyone

I'm a Telecoms Engineer, working as a project manager, engineer and teamleader at an electrical engineering office in Bern, Switzerland.
I've been using Visio since the early 2000's. I'm the Visio super user for our office and I'm regularly confronted with questions that go far beyond my horizon, reason why I'm constantly looking for answers and to improve my Visio knowledge.

I'm also a woodchopper and Timbersports Athlete, but that has nothing to do with Visio.

Cheers
Dom

Hi Everyone,

Owned an EMR company for 45 years that I sold to Harris Software. Avid Visio User for many years.
Develop Visio VSS templates for Basketball diagrams. It was used by NY Jets and the Houston Rockets 
I attached a Rar file.

David Pollack