default font size

[heynow]

hi,
im using visio pro 2007 on a vista home ultimate machine.
every time i add text to my shapes it comes up as 6 pt arial, i want it to come up with 12 pt trebuchet any and every time i add text. i found this site:
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080501132837AA5SnEn

but the registry settings that it says to change just dont exist in my registry.

ive also tried creating a new document and changing font and font size and saving as a template but when i drag on a shape and click to add text it comes up 6 pt arial again.

thanks!

[Lars-Erik]

When nothing is selected, changing the text size will change it for new text fields, untill Visio is closed.

As for the registry key your looking for:

(Visio 2007 / Vista) try looking here,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Visio\Application\

- Lars

[heynow]

lots of stuff in that part of the registry but the only mention of a font name is 'LastFont1     Trebuchet MS'. nothing about a name that i can change to get Trebuchet to come up instead of Arial. also there is no mention of a default font size...
here are all my defaults for that section of the registry:



thanks for your help!

[Lars-Erik]

Well there is the DefaultFontFamily and DefailtFontCharset, there values don't make sense to me though.

Maybe this page can give you a BMP (think thats whats in the registry) for trebuchet MS
http://www.j-a-b.net/web/char/char-unicode.phtml#Font18

[heynow]

no luck finding the bmp for trebuchet... any other ideas on this? i cant believe that they would make it this difficult for something that should be so easy. there are 19 people in my IT class and we all use Visio and all have this same problem.

[Lars-Erik]

The standard answer for this has always been: "Make your own template, and start with that." The thinking at Visio was that end-users would always be starting with a template specific to their discipline. Org charts for HR people, UML diagrams for coders, flowcharts for accountants, etc.

What they didn't foresee is that lots of us just start with the blank drawing, start adding rectangles and ellipses, then add smart shapes later.

That New button is so darn convenient, but it's hard to get your own template hooked into the system.

And Word has had Normal.dot for ages, people expect that sort of thing in every document-creating application.

That might be a solution, just create a .vst (template) and work from that, instead of using the "New" button.

- Lars

[heynow]

the template thing works if i make a text box, but i really want to label parts of my drawings and those always start off in 6 pt arial... i have no other ideas at this point.

[Visio Guy]

Which shapes are you using? Shapes have default styles applied to them. Like the built-in connector has the "Connector" style applied to it.

You can change style definitions via the Format > Define Style menu. Microsoft is trying to go away from styles, because they think that users don't understand them. So it makes our explanations harder and harder.

You won't see the Define Styles menu in Visio 2007 unless you are running in Developer Mode, which you activate via Tools > Options > Advanced tab.

Then you can select one of your shapes, go to Define Styles and see which style is selected in the list. Then you can redefine the text attributes for that style.

[heynow]

that works! im using various shapes like transistors, power supplies, amplifiers, diodes, capacitors, etc, etc. im using them out of my 'favorites' tab for shapes so if i go through and change the style for my favorite shapes (about 20 that i mainly use) then they come up how i want them to.

thanks so much for all of your help!