How to copy only the shapes & connectors from a cross-functional doc to anothe

[jimpolis]

Hello
I would be most grateful if someone could tell me how do I copy only the shapes and connectors content in a cross-functional document to a new blank Visio document. I tried only selecting the connectors and shapes via the Select Layers Option - yet get the entire contents, including the swim lane information and borders, which I don't want to copy on my new blank document.
Any help would be most appreciative.
Many Thanks,
Jim
 

[JohnGoldsmith]

Hello Jim,

I wasn't able to reproduce your problem I'm afraid.  I took the New / Sample Diagrams / Process Improvement cross-functional flowchart, used Home / Editing / Select / Select by type / Layer (see attached image below), hit Ok and Ctrl + C to get my selection.  I then pasted into a new blank document and only the expected shapes came across (ie, none of the containers).  Does this work for you if use the same sample diagram?

Although I believe this particular scenario works correctly, you might also be interested in David Parker's multiSelect addin, which allows you to create selections based on master type, relationships to another shape and categories:

http://blog.bvisual.net/2012/07/20/multiple-selection-methods-for-visio-diagrams/

Let me know if this works on the sample diagram and then we can investigate what's going on with your specific document.

Hope that helps.

Best regards

John