How to save a 'stencil' in a 'template'

[Budgie]

This is potentially a very dumb question but is there a way to save a 'stencil' inside a 'template' file so that you only need to distribute the one 'template' file?  At present, it seems we have to distribute both the stencil and the template files to new users of our template and stencil combo.

cheers Tony

[JuneTheSecond]

Hi,

I think document stencil may be one of the ways.

[vojo]

why not just zip the template and stencils needed.   Its likely you will have more than one stencil...so just bundle all this up.

I guess for that matter...if you dont have any VBA involved....could make a stencil that has a shape that effectively is the sheet (has all the cells you want added to hit...maybe header/footer...maybe a grid...maybe 200mm x 300mm...whatever).   Then all you really need to do is share the stencil and have a readme that says drop the "page" over the real page.   

If VBA involved, I never got a clear answer on how to tie VBA to a stencil so you could share.  Hence, I believe the only way to share something with VBA macros and such is a template

[Visio Guy]

Like June says, the Document Stencil is a good way to go.

A lot of the downloads that I put on Visio Guy use this technique, as do many of the solutions that I create for customers.

Especially if the set of master shapes is small, and there is no need to group them in stencils, this works.

The document stencil can be seen via File > Shapes > Show Document Stencil. Shapes dragged from "external" stencils onto a page in your document get copied here (anyway). So by shipping shapes+template in one file, you just cut out the middle man, and the potential file hunt.

It also makes it easier for you to develop your template, because you don't have to always replace shapes in your template with new versions (if you happen to pre-drop some of them on the page).  Changes you make in the document stencil's masters will be reflected in instances on the page(s) in the document.

[Budgie]

Thanks heaps guys, I've had a quick test of this and it seems to work as you've explained.  I need to do a little more playing but I think this is an easy (and good) answer to the problem. 

I wish I had posted here earlier as me (and another guy) lost a few hours of our lives trying to find an answer to this in the doco and on Google...

cheers Tony