Propagation of changes to master shapes?

[John Distai]

Hi.  Can anyone tell me changes to a master shape propagate to the other instances of that shape?  For example, I may need to create a dialog box for an interface, and I include that dialog box in a drawing.  Later, my design guidelines for that dialog may change.  If I have created that dialog box as a master shape, and then edit that master shape, will my drawing be updated with the design of the new master shape?

Thanks!

[Paul Herber]

Unfortunately not. Once a shape has been dropped on a page the master for that shape is placed in the Document Stencil, if changes are made to *that* master then the changes can propagate to the instances on your pages. It does depend on what changes are made to the master though. For example, create your own master consisting of a square and drop that shape on a page. Edit the master in the document stencil and when you close the master you will be asked if you want to update all instances. Now edit the instance, add some text. Now edit the master again, this time edit the text of the master, that change will not show in the instance as the instance has its own version of the text property that overrides the master property. This is standard behaviour with objects.
There is an alternative, you can substitute the new shape for the old shape, I have a utility for doing this:
http://www.sandrila.co.uk/visio-utilities/