How to Create Stencil Subsections

[tucsonfeuer]

I noticed that some of the built-in stencils have separator lines in them, effectively creating subsections of shapes. I can't figure out how to do this in Visio or in VBA. Anyone know how?

Edit:
An example would be an organizational chart stencil from Visio Standard 2013.

[Paul Herber]

Which stencils? Which version of Visio?

[tucsonfeuer]

I was looking at one of the org chart stencils in Visio Standard 2013.

[Paul Herber]

Assuming it's the same as with Visio 2010 then there is just one dividing line. The top section is the Quick Shapes section. Any shapes within the stencil can be put there. That is all there is to it. No more sections.

[wapperdude]

As a reference, V2007 has no dividing line in the Org Chart shapes stencil.

Wapperdude

[Paul Herber]

It's a feature added in Visio 2010. Pretty much a waste of space.

[wapperdude]

Interesting.  Well, V2010, was the dawn of the more efficient work flow movement.  The ideas made sense, but the implementation and actual benefit was just the opposite.  The ribbon added steps, was illogically organised.  This quick drop idea makes sense if you only use small number shapes per project.  But, it adds clutter.  Do the shapes get added automatically as you use them, or does it takes extra step to drag and drop to the quick drop area, and then onto the drawing page.  Seems useless.

Wapperdude

[tucsonfeuer]

Paul, as an example, if I add the "Belt - Organization Chart Shapes (US Units)" stencil, then Quick Shapes shows up at the top (below "More Shapes"), with some basic shapes. In the Belt stencil area, those shapes show up, plus additional items in the stencil. These additional items are shown below a dividing line.

It seems like the stencil must have some way of dividing the items up. How does Visio know to grab some and put them in the Quick Shapes area? Maybe you're alluding to that, I'm not sure, but doesn't that mean I should be able to segregate a stencil somehow?

[Paul Herber]

The line is the dividing line between the Quick Shapes and the remaining shapes. Visio doesn't decide. For Microsoft's own shapes someone at Microsoft decided. But you can change that, just move the shapes between the two areas. The changes are saved and restored next time you use that stencil. The changes are not kept within the stencil but in the registry so sending the stencil to someone else does not impose your Quick Shape selection on anyone else. The Quick Shapes are stored in the registry at:

Code Select Expand


HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Visio\Quick Shapes

or similar for later Visio versions.
The Quick Shapes are created when Visio is installed by the Visio installer software creating suitable registry keys.