Visio 2016 + SharePoint 2013 = Template doesn't load stencils.

[pewande]

Hello,

normally we use visio 2013 & sharepoint 2013.

Our template has stencils, which are located on sharepoint.

After upgrading to Visio 2016 our template file dosn't load stencils, anymore.

Is this a known issue?  Ideas how to fix it?

[Paul Herber]

What are the stencil file extensions?

[pewande]

Hello

template = .vstx

stencils = .vssx

[Nikolay]

Is the template and the stencil saved in the same folder on the server?

[Hey Ken]

Pewande:

   I lead a team of three business systems analysts, and we experienced the same problem of SharePoint Visios losing their stencils after a SharePoint upgrade. 

   Not sure about your situation, but ours was caused by a change in the SharePoint URLs that came with the upgrade.  So when we opened a file or template in the upgraded environment, Visio was looking for the stencil using the old URL and could not find it.  We solved the problem by opening the file/template from SharePoint, manually opening the stencil on SharePoint, then re-saving the file/template back to SharePoint.  The result is that the Visio workspace is rebuilt with the proper stencil location using the new URLs.  Next time we opened the file/template, Visio knew where to look.  Problem solved.

   We’re currently using Visio 2013 and SharePoint 2010, but I’m guessing the problem we had could happen with any version.

   Hope this helps,

   - Ken

[Nikolay]

To avoid that, you could have saved Visio and Stencil in the same folder
In this case, even if you move template/stencil to a different document library (i.e. if the stencil URL changes) Visio should still open it.

I've described my experience with setting up things here:
http://unmanagedvisio.com/configuring-sharepoint-library-to-store-visio-documents/

[Hey Ken]

Nikolay:

   Yes, that would work too, but we have dozens and dozens of Visio file scattered across many SharePoint folders and all of them share the same stencil (my “Kencil”, containing a variety of custom shapes and extensive supporting macros).  Creating multiple copies of the stencil would cause its own problems, especially since it needs to get updated every now and again.  Your unmanagedvisio.com article assumes a one-to-one relation between file and stencil; you might want to add mention of handling shared SharePoint stencils.

   - Ken

[Nikolay]

Ah, yes, understood..
if a stencil is used in multiple templates in multiple libraries that would be a problem.

If one could put SharePoint path (url) in "StencilPaths" / "TemplatesPaths" in Visio Settings that would have probably solved it
Of course in reality now that wouldn't work, but looks to me as if that could be something to think of for M$ ?