Automatic positioning of Milestones after copying a MS (Data links)

[templar]

Hi guys,
Close to a nervous break down over here 
Up front, I searched the web and the forum and did extensive testing.

Using Visio 2013 pro
1) I set up two timelines
2) I have my data imported from an excel which includes a table with start dates and unique IDs.
3 I now add a milestone to the timeline and link it to the data(start)
4) The milestone get repositioned automatically (Happy days!)
5) I copy the milestone (CTRL+C/V)
6) The copied milestone hops onto the second timeline (Why?)
7) I need to drag & drop it back to the first timeline
8] I now drag and drop the next data row to the copied milestone
9) Milestone does change the description&date, but won't get repositioned

You may ask yourself why I don't put in new milestones from the palette each time. I need to do some formatting and adding a datagraphic rule and don't want to do this for every milestone.

It seems as soon as I drag and drop a milestone it's on a locked position. I can unlink the data row and relink it, it won't move.
Furthermore, I can't resize the textbox of a milestone. (Tried developer > protection off)

Any thoughts on that?
Thanks guys
t

[Yacine]

What about formating the master in the document stencil - at the end of the drawing session. So all the shapes will have the same look?

[templar]

Hi there,

Thank you for your answer!!

Hm yes I can do some basic changes on the master shape. However, I need to add a data graphic where the milestone colour changes based on the linked data. This is not something I can set up in the stencil. Therefore, I need to copy the mile stone.

Can someone help me out with the shape sheet. There are many options to change stuff.

How can I change the milestone shape that the textbox has less margin to the line leading to the milestone?
How can I unlock the textbox containing the description that resizing and text wrap is possible?
How can I change the behaviour of the moving of the text box that it is not restricted to a 45° angle?