Where are my Cisco networking icons?

[tricon7]

I just got Visio 2003 Professional, and I thought that I successfully downloaded Cisco's icon library add-ons fine. In Windows Explorer, I find the Cisco ".vss" icons in a specific folder, but they're all labeled like IDEFO_U.VSS, FURN_U.VSS, etc. - stuff totally unrecognizable, and they're just file listings - no shapes. When I open Visio I just see the basic MS shapes in the taskbar to the left, but no visual shapes of Cisco's to pick and choose from.

Is there a selection I should be opening or something to see Cisco's imported library? What am I missing here?

[Visio Guy]

Hi Tricon,

Lemme see if I can clear up a few things for you!

The ".vss" files are stencils that contain Visio master shapes. You need to open these .vss files from within Visio. So do this:

1. Create a new diagram by clicking, for instance: File > New > Network > Basic Network Diagram
2. Go to File > Open and browse to your Cisco directory
3. Select one or more of the Cisco stencils and open them

You should see on the left side of your Visio drawing window some new, green stencils which are full of Cisco-related shapes.

Visio isn't an icon server, so you don't download 100s of separate icon files. Stencils are the "libraries" that contain sets of related shapes.

[tricon7]

Ok, great, that worked. What a rat's maze of a solution, though..... I don't think I ever would have figured it out on my own.

When I downloaded Cisco's icons, I had only wanted the basics from them. I think they gave me every icon they've ever created. 389 kinds of router, 986 kinds of switches, etc. I just needed the basic forms. Oh well. At least I have more choices than I'll ever need.

Thanks again.

[Visio Guy]

For folks who happen upon this thread via a search engine and are looking for Cisco Visio shapes, my guess is that tricon downloaded the shapes on this page:

http://www.mtmnet.com/visio_icons.htm

Specifically, there's 22.4 MB zip file that you can download, which contains 18 stencils, full of Cisco-related shapes: Cisco_product_icons11.zip

For more Visio network-related content, check out the Visio Guy Shapes page, and look near the bottom where it says: Visio Shapes - Network

[tricon7]

Thanks again for your help.

Also, I remember in my class being able to connect routers via a WAN link (or link outside one's network) icon that looked like a lightning bolt. Is this part of Visio or something I need to download, too?

Btw, I tried to access that link that you provided of the basic networking icons and stencils, but it was a broken link. It would be nice to just have the basic stuff instead of Cisco's entire product line.

[Paul Herber]

You can find several like that within Visio
menu File -> Shapes
and look at Network -> Network and Peripherals
and Visio Extras -> Connectors